Conflicting Neutron Decay Results

Physicists have found conflicting results for the natural decay of the neutron that depend upon the type of experiment used, with discrete lifetimes of 887.7 seconds and 878.5 seconds from two different methods lying outside experimental error and that may point to new physics not yet understood.

Redefining the Ampere

In an effort to revise the current 1948 definition of the SI unit of electrical current (ampere) that relates current to a given force through a thought experiment, researchers have succeeded in tracking single electron charges (e) as they travel across barriers driven by voltage pulses.

Weak Force Directly Measured

Researchers with the Q-weak experiment at the Jefferson National Accelerator Facility have made the first direct measurement of the value of the weak force, one of the four fundamental forces described in the Standard Model, for the proton, the neutron, and the up and down quarks.

Smaller Measurements of Proton

New high-precision measurement techniques have consistently produced a result for the radius of a proton (muonic hydrogen) of 0.84 femtometers, a value 4% smaller (0.03 femtometers) than the accepted constant value determined by other techniques and possibly involving unknown physics.

Gas Below Absolute Zero

Physicists have developed an ultracold quantum gas made up of potassium atoms trapped in a magnetic field and manipulated by lasers into a reversal of energy states, creating a gas that measures a few billionths of a Kelvin below absolute zero.

Atomic Bonds Visualized

Scientists have developed a variant of an imaging method called atomic force microscopy (AFM) to take single-molecule images so detailed that the types of atomic bonds and local distortions in atomic arrangement can be seen.

Room-Temperature Maser

Researchers have developed a maser (microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation) using a simple crystal called doped p-terphenyl, the first practical design to work at room temperature instead of requiring strong magnetic fields that depend upon complex cooling equipment.

Heavier and Faster Electrons

Scientists have shown that electrons in certain crystalline substances can behave as if they were a thousand times more massive due to a phenomenon known as quantum entanglement, while at the same time retaining their superconducting properties when cooled.

Measurement of Yarkovsky Effect

Scientists working with NASA's OSIRIS-REx space probe to measure asteroid 1999 RQ36 have done so with such accuracy as to measure a force known as the Yarkovsky effect, the tiny push generated by the body absorbing sunlight and emitting that energy as heat.

Maxwell's Demon Disproven

An exception to a thermodynamics problem dubbed "Maxwell's demon" after James Clerk Maxwell has been disproven by experiment due to the fact that the eventual erasure ("forgetting") of stored information releases a small amount of heat and thus increases entropy, affirming the second law of thermodynamics.

"Twisted" Waves Boost Capacity

A new technique has been demonstrated to exploit the orbital angular momentum of radio waves with a "twist," allowing many data streams to occupy each frequency range (bandwidth) in an electromagnetic spectrum that has become increasingly crowded with the growth of technology.

Molecular Charge Distribution

Using a technique known as Kelvin probe microscopy, scientists have imaged for the first time the electronic charge distribution surrounding a single molecule, which matched neatly with the theoretical values.

Oxygen Survives High Pressures

Using computer models, researchers have shown that the oxygen molecule (O₂) is remarkably stable under pressures up to 19 million times atmospheric pressure (1.9 terapascal) and displays some unique chemical properties, unlike other gases which do not survive such high pressures.

Graphene Transparent to Water

A new laminate membrane created from graphene oxide is thinner than a human hair yet displays some unique physical properties, such as being an excellent electrical and thermal conductor and impermeable to many gases and liquids but fully transparent to the passage of water vapor.

New Phase of Water

Unable to be tested with today's technology, researchers have used an advanced computer simulation to discover a new liquid-liquid phase transition for ordinary water that may exist below −54°F with the liquid having a greater capacity for heat conduction.

"Antimagnet" Developed

Researchers have developed an "antimagnet" that is effectively invisible to magnetic fields and even shields magnetic items within from superconducting and newly developed metamaterials, with potential applications in both security and medical technology.

Electrically Charged Ice

Researchers have found that when cooled to extreme temperatures such as 60 K, the normally unordered polar molecules of ordinary water ice (type Ih) align and create distinct regions of electrical charges (type XI), a change in ice's physical properties with implications for models of planetary formation.

Tsunami Airglow Signature

Using a ground-based camera, researchers detected a distinct airglow signature 250 km above Earth's surface that preceded the March 11th earthquake and subsequent tsunami near Japan by about an hour, suggesting a new method for an early warning system.

Moving Mirrors Create Light

Physicists have developed a method of drawing light from an empty vacuum by causing tiny superconducting mirrors to "wiggle" at around 5% the speed of light, collecting virtual photons into a light source and confirming a basic tenet of quantum mechanics.

Ozone Hole Recovery

Twenty-two years after the Montreal Protocol banned the use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFC), the first recovery in baseline springtime ozone levels has been detected, signalling the beginning of successful repair of the hole in the ozone layer over the Antarctic.