Random Roads Less Travelled
A uniform city street plan may produce heavy traffic everywhere, whereas a random network of road connections leaves some roads open, according to a mathematical model. Image: A. Chesseron & I. Neri/Univ. of Montpellier 2
Electric Field from a Built-In Flex
Researchers fabricated a material that generates an electric field due to a stretched atomic structure, and they modified its properties by changing its growth conditions. Similar materials may be useful in nanotechnology. Image: SecretDisc via Wikimedia Commons
Landmarks: Ghostly Influence of Distant Magnetic Field
In the Aharonov-Bohm effect, proposed in 1959, quantum particles are affected in measurable ways by the classical electromagnetic potential, previously regarded as a purely mathematical construct. The electromagnetic field is too far from the particles to have any direct influence. Image: Physics To...
Number of Neighbors Determines Granular Structure
The structures within a pile of soil or grain that allows it to bear weight depend only on the average number of neighbors for each particle, not on any details of the types of particles or even on the presence of gravity. Image: iStockphoto/chas53
Temperature Difference Leads to Magnetism
Creating a temperature difference in an arrangement of semiconductors generates a circulating current and a magnetic field, according to simulations. The effect may account for some inefficiency in electronic devices. Image: J. Wu/Univ. of California, Berkeley
Generating Chaos in a New Way
''Explosive'' chaos may occur in a system experiencing a sudden change--like an electric circuit moments after it''s switched on--according to theoretical work. Image: Getty Images
Weighing DNA Down to the Zeptogram
A proposed system for measuring tiny masses could be several times more sensitive than others because it avoids electrical connections, using laser techniques instead. Image: Phys. Rev. B 83 245421 (2011)
Solitary Atoms Are Stiffer than Groups
The stiffness of a single gold atom--measured as a material property--is at least twice that of a macroscopic chunk of gold, according to measurements of a sharp gold point pressed against a gold surface. Image: J. N. Armstrong/SUNY-Buffalo
Particles that Don''t Go with the Flow
Sometimes particles dispersed in a rotating fluid collect into a seemingly rigid filament structure. A new mathematical model explains this mysterious behavior, first observed 15 years ago. Image: Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 234501 (2011)
Gravitational Theory Reproduces Superconducting Circuitry
Theorists created a gravitational model that is mathematically analogous to one for a standard superconducting device, extending the ways that the tools of general relativity can lead to insights into condensed matter physics. Image: iStockphoto/BeholdingEye
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