Physical Sciences

Super-dense Star is First Ever Found Suddenly Slowing Its Spin
A neutron star is the densest object astronomers can observe directly, crushing half a million times Earth's mass into a sphere about 12 miles across -- roughly the size of Pittsburgh, or the distance between the Penn State University Park Campus and Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, as shown in this illustration. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and Penn State University
Record-Breaking High-Energy Particles from Space Detected by Telescope Buried in the Antarctic Ice
Sensor descends down a hole in the ice as part of the installation of the IceCube telescope. IceCube is among the most ambitious scientific construction projects ever attempted. Credit:NSF/B. Gudbjartsson
Brendan Mullan Selected as a 2013 National Geographic Emerging Explorer
Brendan Mullan
College marshal composes both musical compositions, chemical equations
Josh Laughner
AMON: An Eye on the Universe
Credit: Courtesy AMON
Probing Question: Are We Running Out of Helium?
Moses Chan, Evan Pugh Professor of Physics at Penn State. Credit: Greg Grieco, Penn State
White-Dwarf Star, Blown Apart in 1604, Now Reveals New Secrets
This composite of images from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory shows the remnant of Kepler's supernova in low-energy (red), intermediate-energy (green) and high-energy (blue) X-rays. Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/NCSU/M.Burkey et al.; optical: DSS
Crucial Step in Human DNA Replication Observed Using Fluorescent Tags
Stephen J. Benkovic, Mark Hedglin, and other members of Professor Benkovic's research team have studied the importance of “clamp loader” enzymes and their activities during DNA replication. In this image, the clamp loader is represented, for illustrative purposes, by a hand, which is loading the sliding clamp ring onto DNA. Credit: Benkovic lab, Penn State University
Penn State researching ways to improve computer speed, efficiency
Nitin Samarth, department head of physics at Penn State, works with the molecular beam epitaxy equipment in his lab. He conducts research to design and build new materials needed for radically new kinds of computer chips that could open the door to a new era of super-fast quantum computers. Credit: Fredric Weber, Penn State University
Remnants of a Shattered Star Discovered in Milky Way
This composite image of supernova remnant G306.3-0.9 merges Chandra X-ray observations (blue), infrared data acquired by the Spitzer Space Telescope (red and cyan) and radio observations (purple) from the Australia Telescope Compact Array. The image is 20 arcminutes across, which corresponds to 150 light-years at the remnant's estimated distance. Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ. of Michigan/M. Reynolds et al; Infrared: NASA/JPL-Caltech; Radio: CSIRO/ATNF/ATCA
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