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    Plant-based fire retardants may offer a less toxic way to tame flames

    Flame retardants are going green. Using compounds from plants, researchers are concocting a new generation of flame retardants, which one day could replace the fire-quenching chemicals added by manufacturers to furniture, electronics and other consumer products. Many traditional synthetic flame retardants have come under fire for being linked to health problems like thyroid disruption and […] More

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    Quantum physicists have teleported ‘qutrits’ for the first time

    Regular old quantum teleportation wasn’t enough for scientists. So they’ve kicked it up a notch. Previously, physicists had teleported qubits, or quantum bits of information. Just as a standard bit in a desktop computer has two possible values, 0 or 1, a qubit has two possible states. Now scientists have moved on, reporting in the […] More

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    Scientists seek materials that defy friction at the atomic level

    It’s a moonless night. The wind howls outside. A door opens slowly, as if pushed by an invisible hand. “Cre-e-e-a-k.” That sound — a horror movie cliché — is the result of friction. A stealthier entrance calls for oiling the door’s hinges. Friction is everywhere — from a violinist bowing a string to children skidding down […] More

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    In a first, scientists took the temperature of a sonic black hole

    Lab experiments characterize a phenomenon predicted by cosmologist Stephen Hawking NOT BLACK  Stephen Hawking first proposed that black holes (illustrated) aren’t fully black, but emit a faint haze of particles that came to be known as Hawking radiation. Now scientists have measured the radiation’s temperature in a lab analog of a black hole. NASA’s Goddard […] More

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    An experiment hints at quantum entanglement inside protons

    LHC data suggests the subatomic particle’s constituent quarks and gluons share weird links TIED UP  Protons contain smaller particles called quarks and gluons (illustrated). Experimental data suggest that quantum entanglement links those particles with one another. scify/Shutterstock Share this: This article is only available to Science News subscribers. Subscribers, enter your e-mail address to access […] More

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    Antimatter keeps with quantum theory. It’s both particle and wave

    A variation of the classic double-slit experiment is applied to a positron for the first time MAKING WAVES  The famous double-slit experiment (illustrated) has revealed that particles of matter, like electrons, are also waves. Now, researchers have performed a similar experiment to demonstrate antimatter’s wavelike behavior. RUSSELL KIGHTLEY/Science Source Share this: This article is only […] More