Physics & Math, features and articles | Educational Science

Jun 30, 2008

The Top 10 Mad Scientists

Albert Einstein He's certainly got the mad scientist hair thing down. One of the last century's most celebrated scientists, Albert Einstein turned physics on its head with his theories of relativity, and made enormous contributions to the fields of gravitation and quantum theory. He also liked to take his sailboat...

Sep 30, 2009

Physicist: Studying Lizards Since Age 5

Georgia Tech physicist Daniel Goldman recently helped figure out how sandfish — small lizards with smooth scales — move rapidly underground through desert sand. In this first thorough examination of subsurface sandfish locomotion, he and his colleagues used high-speed X-ray imaging to visualize sandfish, formally called Scincus scincus, burrowing into...

May 31, 2009

Deer Disoriented by Power Lines

To aesthetes, high-voltage power lines are a blight on the rural landscape. But zoologists at the University of Duisburg–Essen in Germany welcome them as a tool for testing the power of large ruminants to perceive Earth's magnetic field. Last year, a team led by Hynek Burda and Sabine Begall discovered...

Apr 30, 2009

World's Smallest Light Bulb Created

Some bright researchers say they've created the world's smallest incandescent lamp, so teeny it's invisible except when lit. The lamp's filament is just 100 atoms wide. It is made from a single carbon nanotube. When lit, the itty bitty bulb can be seen with the unaided eye as a point...

Apr 30, 2009

The Truth about Angels, Demons and Antimatter

An antimatter explosion threatens to level the Vatican in the movie adaptation of the thriller Angels and Demons, but real-world physicists are unfazed by this plot. The story features Da Vinci Code hero Robert Langdon racing to recover an antimatter capsule stolen from the CERN particle physics facility in Switzerland....

Feb 28, 2009

Watchmen: The Science of Dr. Manhattan

Among all the characters populating the Watchmen film, the glowing, blue figure of Dr. Manhattan stands out as a god-like being that is seemingly beyond comprehension. Yet when filmmakers approached the character, it was essential to comprehend as much as possible about Dr. Manhattan and his strange powers. So they...

Nov 30, 2010

Crystals With Pleats Reveal Order and Disorder

It turns out seamstresses aren't the only ones who use pleats to gather a flat fabric around a curved surface. Crystals can form pleats too, a recent study found. Getting a flat layer to form around something curved isn't easy: Imagine trying to cover a beach ball with wrapping paper....

Dec 31, 2009

Twisted Physics: Scientists Create Light Knots

Like your shoelaces or electrical cords, light can get twisted into knots. Now, scientists have used a computer-controlled hologram and theoretical physics to turn a light beam into pretzel-like shapes. The twisted feat not only led to some pretty cool images, but the results have implications for future laser devices,...

Nov 30, 2011

The Funniest Theories in Physics

Intro Nobel Prize winner Ernest Rutherford once said, all science is either physics or stamp collecting. (Ironically, Rutherford won his Nobel in chemistry, not physics). Physicists may not be the most modest people out there, but if there's one thing they are good at, it's coming up with names for...

Aug 31, 2011

What would it be like to travel faster than the speed of light?

Physicists at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) have made a mind-bending — and rule-bending — discovery: They've measured strange subatomic particles called neutrinos traveling faster than the speed of light. Superluminal travel may be a common trope in science fiction, but Einstein's theory of special relativity strictly forbids...

Aug 31, 2011

New Experiment Aims to Trap Bizarre Antimatter

A new project is underway at the European physics lab CERN to produce antimatter versions of protons and trap them for study. Antimatter is the spooky cousin of normal matter. For every regular subatomic particle, there is thought to be a corresponding antiparticle with equal mass and opposite charge. When...

Jun 30, 2011

Physicists Discover New Subatomic Particle

High-speed collisions at a giant atom smasher have produced what physicists say is a new particle, a heavier relative of the familiar neutron. The particle is called the neutral Xi-sub-b. When it's formed in the Fermilab Tevatron particle accelerator in Batavia, Ill., the neutral Xi-sub-b lasts just a mere instant...

Mar 31, 2011

Scientists Abuzz Over Controversial Rumor that God Particle Has Been Detected

A rumor is floating around the physics community that the world's largest atom smasher may have detected a long-sought subatomic particle called the Higgs boson, also known as the God particle. The controversial rumor is based on what appears to be a leaked internal note from physicists at the Large...

Sep 30, 2012

How Supersonic Skydiver Will Freefall Through Earth's Atmosphere

Veteran skydiver Felix Baumgartner plans to take a supersonic tour of Earth's atmospheric layers on Tuesday (Oct 9). The Austrian daredevil will attempt the world's highest skydive, a daring leap from 23 miles up that will send him plummeting earthward faster than the speed of sound. On the way down,...

Sep 30, 2012

World's Highest Skydive! Daredevil Makes Record-Breaking Supersonic Jump

This story was updated at 2:22 p.m. EDT. An Austrian daredevil plummeted into the record books today (Oct. 14), breaking the mark for highest-ever skydive after leaping from a balloon more than 24 miles above Earth's surface. Felix Baumgartner stepped into the void nearly 128,000 feet (39,000 meters) above southeastern...