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Computer scientists’ daydreams have revealed the power of quantum mechanics. Imagine meeting omniscient beings who claim to have the solution to a complex problem that no computer could ever solve. You’d probably be at a loss to check the answer. But now, computer scientists report that quantum mechanics provides a way to quickly verify the […] More
Hotter objects typically glow brighter than cooler ones, making them stand out in infrared images. But a newly designed coating bucks the rule that hotter equals brighter. For certain wavelengths of infrared light, the material’s brightness doesn’t change as it warms, researchers report December 17 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Made of […] More
Like Schrödinger’s cat, a 2019 claim of quantum supremacy seems to be simultaneously alive and dead. Thanks to the rules of quantum mechanics, the fabled feline occupies two contradictory states at once, and the same applies to this year’s most prominent quantum advance. In October, researchers from Google claimed to have achieved a milestone known […] More
For the first time, scientists have measured the heat transferred by the quantum effervescence of empty space. Two tiny, vibrating membranes reached the same temperature despite being separated by a vacuum, physicists report in the Dec. 12 Nature. The result is the first experimental demonstration of a predicted but elusive type of heat transfer. Normally, […] More
A newly proposed type of time crystal could stand alone. Time crystals are structures that repeat regularly in time, just as a standard crystal is composed of atoms arranged in a regularly repeating pattern in space. Scientists first created time crystals in 2016 (SN: 10/26/16). But those crystals require periodic blasts from a laser to […] More
Lead performs under pressure. Under normal conditions, the metal is relatively soft, easily scratched with a fingernail. But when compressed under extreme pressures, lead becomes hard and strong — even stronger than steel, scientists report November 11 in Physical Review Letters. To study how lead’s strength changed under pressure, researchers rapidly compressed a lead sample […] More
As the sun moves across the sky, sunflowers continually orient themselves to soak up the most light (SN: 8/4/16). Now a type of human-made material can do that, too. This is the first artificial material capable of phototropism, researchers report November 4 in Nature Nanotechnology. Stemlike cylinders of the material, dubbed SunBOTs, maneuvered to capture […] More
When things heat up, most solids expand as higher temperatures cause atoms to vibrate more dramatically, necessitating more space. But some solid crystals, like scandium fluoride, shrink when heated — a phenomenon called negative thermal expansion. Now, by measuring distances between atoms in scandium fluoride crystals, scientists think that they have figured out how that […] More
