Periodical cicadas, insects best known for their 17-year long life cycle, are emerging four years early in several Atlantic states. The emergence was first noticed in Greensboro, NC, early in May and has since been reported in Maryland.
A new way of reading light will sharpen the view of exoplanets. Researchers have created an "astro-comb" to help astronomers detect lighter planets, more like Earth, around distant stars.
Scientists have developed an efficient method to detect entanglement shared among multiple parts of an optical system. They show how entanglement, in the form of beams of light simultaneously propagating along four distinct paths, can be detected with a small number of measurements. Entanglement is an essential resource in quantum information science, which is the study of advanced computation and communication based on the laws of quantum mechanics.
Scientists have found that global warming was inadvertently curbed in the past by atmospheric lead pollution. Apparently lead stimulates the production of ice clouds, which radiate atmospheric heat more efficiently.
Two physicists have used string theory to argue that all subatomic particles are in fact tiny black holes.
Researchers have successfully captured a single electron in a highly tunable carbon nanotube double quantum dot. This was made possible by a new approach for producing ultraclean nanotubes. Moreover, the researchers discovered a new sort of tunneling as a result of which electrons can fly straight through obstacles.
Applying innovative measurement techniques, researchers have directly measured the unusual energy spectrum of graphene, a technologically promising, two-dimensional form of carbon that has tantalized and puzzled scientists since its discovery in 2004.
Scientists have developed a new polymer that reduces the amount of radioactive waste produced during routine operation of nuclear reactors.