Physical Sciences

New Method Developed for Exploring Frustrated Systems
This magnetic-force microscope image shows the magnetic moments of artificial spin ice. The peaks and valleys show the orientations of the magnetic moments. Credit: William McConville and Ruifang Wang, Penn State
Cosmic Jet Looks Like Giant Tornado in Space
NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has revealed an object that looks like a giant tornado in space. The helical structure actually results from shock waves where a powerful protostellar jet hits neighboring gas and dust. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / J. Bally (University of Colorado)
Supernova Survey Explodes with New Findings
SDSS-II images of a Type Ia supernova on the rise
Huge Star Cluster Discovered in Neighborhood of Milky Way
The figure, a map by Mario Juric of Princeton University, shows the counts of faint blue stars selected from a narrow magnitude and color range and corresponding to a distance from Earth of about 10 kpc. Credit: M. Juric/SDSS-II Collaboration
Unified Physics Theory Explains Animals' Running, Flying, Swimming
Fish
A Swift Kick to the Career Path
Cosmic Explosion Could Be Black Hole Swallowing Neutron Star
Scientists, including astronomers and astrophysicists at Penn State, have found evidence of a black hole swallowing a neutron star in the afterglow of a split-second flash of intense energy known as a short gamma-ray burst. The events leading up to the gamma-ray burst are shown here. In the minutes and hours that followed, the black hole gobbled up the remaining remnants of the neutron star, producing a series of X-ray flares. Credit: NASA
A First: Hydrogen Atoms Manipulated Below the Surface of a Palladium Crystal
The writing is less than half an Angstrom (0.00005 microns) "tall" off the surface. The characters are less than 500 Angstrom (0.05 microns) high. They were created when Weiss and his team moved hydrogen atoms underneath a palladium surface using a custom-built, ultrastable, low-temperature, scanning tunneling microscope.
Scientists Find Possible Birth of Tiniest Known Solar System
This artist's conception compares a hypothetical solar system centered around a tiny "sun" (top) to a known solar system centered around a star, called 55 Cancri, which is about the same size as our Sun. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Scientists Discover How to Flip a Molecular Switch
Credit: Lewis et al. Sequential STM images of FAPPB/R1ATC9 obtained at alternating sample biases of +1.0 and -1.0 V. The majority of the FAPPB molecules (apparent protrusions, displayed as bright spots) switch conductance states between OFF at +1.0 V and ON at -1.0 V sample bias. The red and green boxes follow one FAPPB molecule that exhibits this bias dependence. Imaging conditions: 4000 Å × 4000 Å, I = 2 pA.
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