What is the muon #gminus2 anomaly, and why is it exciting? Physics magazine teamed up with Jorge Cham of @PHDcomics, who explains today’s news via cartoon.
Schrödinger argued that organisms form ordered states far from thermal equilibrium by minimizing their own disorder. Now researchers have generalized the second law to derive important thermodynamic quantities and relations for living systems. go.aps.org/4fuMQEV
Do try this at home: Swirling the liquid inside a bottle before dropping it can nearly eliminate the bounce when it hits the floor. Read the story by @dehrenstein. physics.aps.org/articles/v16/1…
Various anticipated effects of quantum gravity could be detectable thanks to a new tabletop interferometer that counts photons rather than measuring interference patterns. go.aps.org/4b3RgBY
The 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics recognizes research on complex systems. Half the prize went to two researchers for their work on identifying factors that drive climate change. The other half honored research on frustration's role in disordered systems.
Astronomers call on the @IAU_org and other institutions to rename galaxies and facilities bearing the name of Ferdinand Magellan, a colonial explorer who enslaved and murdered Indigenous people. Read more in this Opinion by @MiaDoesAstro. physics.aps.org/articles/v16/1…
Happy Friday! We hope you enjoy this strangely satisfying video of a steel tool cutting a smooth, continuous strip from a block of polyoxymethylene plastic. (video is ~4x speed)
This was part of a series of experiments to study when materials chipped—and when they cut smoothly.
A highly unstable nucleus that decays by emitting five protons has been observed, offering an extreme case for testing nuclear models.
physics.aps.org/articles/v16/1…
A group of physicists has independently assessed work on superconductivity in hydrogen-rich compounds or hydrides. Despite allegations of fraud in the field, the group concludes that there is overwhelming evidence for hydride superconductivity. go.aps.org/3DumcPk
Researchers have measured vortices in superconducting samples of various thicknesses and found larger-than predicted vortices in films made up of six or fewer atomic layers. The finding challenges physicists’ understanding of how superconductors behave. go.aps.org/44s7ZxD
Stephen Hawking predicted that the area of a black hole's event horizon cannot decrease over time. By analyzing gravitational-wave data from @LIGO, @maxisi and colleagues tested this theorem and found that the "black hole area law" seems to hold.
