Physics

Researchers have made a step toward the creation of materials that can be 'tuned' just by shining a light on them - they have succeeded in producing and measuring a coupling of photons and electrons…

"The question is not whether these boards will catch fire or not. The question is when they will". (Said by Fermilab electronics experts who were members of a review panel that provided advice on the…

Yesterday evening I chanced to attend, invited by a friend, the opening of the 2013-2014 academic year of the university of Venice "Ca' Foscari", which was held at the Malibran theater. It was the…

Please note: spoiler information in this article! The recent movie "Gravity", featuring the two hollywood stars George Clooney and Sandra Bullock, is a very interesting experiment in film-making. I…

To many the label "scientist" has a residue of meaning a certain kind of white male.  Western society in particular loves labels and loves to put people in tiny boxes.  This story is about…

Thermonuclear fusion can be achieved through a controlled reaction between two light variants of hydrogen, called deuterium and tritium - that sounds simple enough but improving the ignition stage of…

The president Fernando Ferroni sent today an open, touching message to the personnel of the National Institute of Nuclear Physics, the Italian research organization he directs. The INFN contributed…

Researchers have come one step closer to understanding unstable atomic nuclei. The protons and neutrons inside the atomic nucleus exhibit shell structures in a manner similar to electrons in an atom…

Today I was in the mood of cleaning up some areas of my labyrintic hard drive, after having performed a periodic backup of its contents. I thus came across some pieces of text that had been sitting…

HIGGS AND ENGLERT! Note: this article is being updated in real time as events unfold... Updates are at the bottom. Note in particular the 12.05 update...! --- Everybody is waiting for the…