News
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Breath test identifies bacteria's 'fingerprint'
Scientists have identified the chemical ‘fingerprints’ given off by specific bacteria when present in the lungs, potentially allowing for a quick and simple breath test to diagnose infections such as tuberculosis. Publishing their study today, 11 January, in IOP Publishing’s Journal of Breath Research, the researchers have successfully distinguished between different types of bacteria, as […]
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New antimatter method to provide 'a major experimental advantage'
Researchers have proposed a method for cooling trapped antihydrogen which they believe could provide ‘a major experimental advantage’ and help to map the mysterious properties of antimatter that have to date remained elusive. The new method, developed by a group of researchers from the USA and Canada, could potentially cool trapped antihydrogen atoms to temperatures […]
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January's Physics World highlight: A eulogy to Herschel
With its 2160 litres of liquid helium about to run out, the Herschel Space Observatory will, by the end of March, become just another piece of space junk. In January’s Physics World, Steve Eales, a University of Cardiff astronomer who leads one of the telescope’s largest surveys, explains how this space facility has advanced our […]
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Physics World celebrates the best of this year's books
This month’s Physics World boasts a bumper books section, providing a useful resource for those on the lookout for stocking fillers this Christmas. Five books are reviewed in depth and another five are given shorter reviews in the regular “Between the lines” section of the magazine. Three of the books reviewed – The Idea Factory: […]
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Shrubs lend an insight into a glacier's past
The stems of shrubs have given researchers a window into a glacier’s past, potentially allowing them to more accurately assess how they’re set to change in the future. Their findings have been published today, 27 November, in IOP Publishing’s journal Environmental Research Letters, and show how a glacier’s history of melting can be extended way […]
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Pond skating insects reveal water-walking secrets
This month’s special issue of Physics World is devoted to animal physics, and includes science writer Stephen Ornes’ explanation of how pond skaters effortlessly skip across water, leaving nothing but a small ripple in their wake. As Ornes writes, our current understanding of the mechanisms adopted by the pond skater is down to the efforts […]
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Formula unlocks secrets of cauliflower's geometry
The laws that govern how intricate surface patterns, such as those found in the cauliflower, develop over time have been described, for the first time, by a group of European researchers. In a study published today, 24 October, in the Institute of Physics and German Physical Society’s New Journal of Physics, researchers have provided a […]
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Japanese spacecraft to search for clues of Earth's first life
In a Physics World special report on Japan, Dennis Normile reports on how the Japanese space agency JAXA plans to land a spacecraft onto an asteroid in 2018 to search for clues of how life began on Earth. Hayabusa 2 will be JAXA’s second attempt at collecting material from an asteroid, after its first mission […]
