Fifty years after the invention of the laser, a team of scientists from Yale University (USA) has built the world's first anti-laser. At one centimeter in diameter, this development could have applications in the new generation of "optical" computers and in radiology.
The question seems simple, but it is not. A group of scientists has met this week in London, summoned by the prestigious Royal Society, to try to redefine this universal unit of measure, which is currently defined in terms of a cylinder composed of 90% platinum and 10% of iridium.
Can you imagine a glass that is stronger and more resistant than steel? This is what American scientists from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have just created. In fact, in the first tests in the laboratory the new metallic glass has proven to be the hardest and most resistant material known to date.
One of the evolutionary secrets to the success of sharks is hidden in one of their smallest features: the flexible scales that line their bodies. These scales make them better hunters, because they allow them to change direction while moving at high speed.
American researchers from the MIT Institute, Virginia Tech and Princeton University have analyzed how domestic and wild cats drink using their tongues. And they have concluded that their strategy defies the laws of gravity.
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has managed to create a 'mini Big Bang' in its first experiments with lead ion collisions, achieving a temperature a million times hotter than that found in the center of the Sun.
In November 1895, the German physicist Röntgen discovered a "mysterious ray" that had the power to produce an image after passing through meat, clothing, wood or metal, and which he baptized with the unknown "X". Since then the applications of X-rays have multiplied.
Scientists at St Andrews University (Scotland) have developed a new flexible and intelligent material called Metaflex that allows us to manipulate the behavior of light and could bring us one step closer to the long-awaited dream of creating an invisibility suit.
Danni Büchner is invited to Sam Dylan's Halloween party. But the "Goodbye Germany" emigrant has no desire for many other party guests. And find clear words.
