Physical Science - Structures and properties of matter

  • Tracking frozen methane
    Tracking frozen methane

    Vast deposits of a strong greenhouse gas are frozen under the ocean. As the ocean warms, this methane is releasing. How much more methane is on the way, and how will it affect climate?


    Thursday, October 25th, 2012
  • Galactic rays
    Galactic rays

    Scientists have tracked a light beam that’s half-a-million light years long to a monster black hole and found that the hole and its disk of orbiting junk are spinning in parallel. Their new, supersize radio telescope promises more details on black holes at the center of most galaxies, including ours.


    Thursday, September 27th, 2012
  • Reading magma, predicting giant eruptions
    Reading magma, predicting giant eruptions

    Volcanic eruptions are unpredictable, but here’s a new view of the historic eruption of a Mediterranean monster. About 3,500 years ago, Santorini’s eruption left a giant caldera and 60-meter layers of pumice. A new study of tiny crystals tracks the movement of molten magma before the cataclysm.


    Thursday, February 2nd, 2012
  • Chasing neutrinos at the South Pole
    Chasing neutrinos at the South Pole

    Neutrinos are odd: Extremely difficult to see, they travel through mass with scarcely a trace. A 1-billion ton detector in South Pole ice is now counting neutrinos, intent on understanding their origin and role in the universe, and even spotting echoes of the Big Bang.


    Thursday, January 26th, 2012
  • Spider silk: Material of the future?
    Spider silk: Material of the future?

    Strong, tough, sticky, elastic and biodegradable, silk may be used for a mesh to support injured tissues, or as a temporary container for drugs, stem cells and growth factors. As scientists divine the secret of how spiders and silkworms make silk, they are finding ways to engineer silk into medical devices.


    Thursday, July 29th, 2010
  • Graphene tubes look like rolled chicken wire
    Nanotech

    Adding nanotubes makes a stronger plastic, but adding several nano-structures greatly increases the benefit, according to a new study from India. Read about the frontier of material science.


    Thursday, July 30th, 2009
  • Running short of copper, phosphorus, rare elements

    Elements rule! Without phosphorus fertilizer, millions starve. Copper = electricity shortage. And U.S. imports more than 95% of “rare-earth” elements needed for LCDs, cell phones, green energy. Risky?


    Thursday, September 11th, 2008
  • Laser: The invention that just won’t quit!

    Lasers read and write CDs and DVDs, form the heart of fiber-optics, and are being used in climate prediction, chemical identification, high-tech manufacturing, even the battle against influenza.


    Thursday, July 17th, 2008
  • Big ideas from the smallest world

    New snowflake generator reveals nature’s design principles; anti-reflective coating is nearly perfect, and so is mother-of-pearl inside an abalone. Dive into the nitty gritty of the itty bitty!


    Thursday, January 31st, 2008
  • Spallation Neutron Source: Scientist’s Tool

    The Spallation Neutron Source, a mammoth science project involving the collaboration of six national laboratories, is scheduled to be completed 2006.


    Thursday, November 27th, 2003
  • Particles Get Entangled: Weird Quantum Interaction

    Austrian researchers show quantum entanglement across the Danube River, providing new promise in cryptography and computing. At the smallest scale, you can throw out the usual rules of engagement. What’s up with spooky action at a distance?


    Thursday, June 26th, 2003
  • Telescopes: Tomorrow’s Technology

    New technology in ground-based telescopes will give better picture of the universe and detect deadly asteroids.


    Thursday, June 5th, 2003
  • Gamma Ray Bursts

    Chandra links gamma-ray bursts to supernovas. What really causes these gigantic explosions?


    Thursday, April 3rd, 2003
  • Glow indicates intense X-rays created in the Z-pinch device.
    Nuclear Weapons: New ‘n improved?

    Existing nukes may not exhaust the possible nukes. What other weapons could appear on the nuclear shelf?


    Thursday, December 5th, 2002
  • Nanotech Advance: 1 Crystal, 1 Belt

    Nanobelts join nanotubes in the world of nanotechnology.


    Thursday, March 8th, 2001


Twitter Facebook Email RSS
The Weather Guys
Curiosities
Cool Science Images Virtual Science! Paper Bound: Book Reviews

©2013 University of Wisconsin
Board of Regents