A bullet fired into a disk of polyurethane — a type of plastic — may not burst out the other side. In some instances, the bullet will stop in its tracks, frozen by the plastic and sealed inside. How a simple plastic can do this has left researchers scratching their heads. Until now. Read more […]
How to stop a speeding bullet Read More »
Fly free! Fly fast! Just not too fast… This show aired August 31 on the Loh Down on Science.
A speed limit for birds Read More »
Almost anyone can tell the difference between a liquid and a solid. A liquid flows. A solid stays put. You pour a liquid and push a solid. The difference seems as clear as water and ice. But some stuff doesn’t fit neatly into either group, like the goop you get by dissolving cornstarch in
Almost every device that needs energy also wastes energy. Cars get their zip by burning gasoline, but that process heats up the car — and that heat is wasted energy. Computer batteries get hot when they’re in use; so do cell phones and kitchen appliances. All that hot air adds up: The U.S. Department of Energy estimates
If aliens ever sent us a message, scientists hope to pick it up in a remote part of northern California. There, in a clearing nestled amid the volcanoes of the Cascade Range, 42 radio dishes point together at the sky. The dishes, each 20 feet across, form a single, giant scientific instrument called
As the world waits for the next installment of news in the hunt for the Higgs boson, a simple smart phone game encourages players to hide, not hunt, the world’s favourite particle. Read more in this New Scientist article.
Agent Higgs game turns real particle hunt on its head Read More »
Unlike Luke Skywalker, maybe you can’t feel the force. But can you see it? Listen to this Loh Down on Science episode to find out.
The density of junk orbiting the Earth is at or near a critical value beyond which this man-made debris will self-perpetuate, forming many smaller pieces that are even more of a problem.I wrote this article for Physics World about the latest ideas about how to bring down the trash.
Bringing down the trash Read More »
If all goes according to Mark Post’s plan, he will appear on television in October and devour a hamburger that costs about twice as much as most houses do in the United States. Yes, as Charlotte the spider might have written, that’s some burger. “It’s not something you’d flip every day on the barbecue,” admits
Icebergs look like towering, frozen mountains that drift through water. Their peaks may soar hundreds of feet above the surface and large ones cover as much area as major cities. When one of these blocks of ice flips over, it causes a great splash. In recent experiments at the University of Chicago, scientists have calculated
