New Wave in Ultrashort Light
Most of us are familiar with the way time seems to stop under a flickering strobe light. Researchers use a similar trick to study atomic electrons—by pinging atoms with exceedingly short light pulses, they can watch electrons' quantum states evolve in unprecedented detail.
Shhhh: A Real Cone of Silence
Using materials that scatter sound waves, researchers think they have created a covering that could make an object completely soundproof. Cynthia Graber reports.
Digital Forensics: Photo Tampering Throughout History [Slide Show]
New Twist on Nanowires
'Tis the season for nanometer-scale Christmas trees. Researchers from the University of Wisconsin–Madison stumbled onto these pine tree structures by accident as they were trying to shape lead sulfide into slender wires measuring about 100 nanometers (millionths of a millimeter) in thickness.
Fiber-Optic Event Horizon Mimics Black Hole [Slideshow]
Researchers hope to detect faint radiation emanating from a new laboratory version of a black hole event horizon
Holographic Film for 3-D, Sans Those Silly Specs
The world's first reusable 3-D screen debuts, thanks to new photorefractive film that can be written on and erased again and again
A New Way to Help Networks Handle Ever-Heavier Data Loads
Researchers discover a way to briefly store data acoustically to alleviate traffic bottlenecks
SciAm 50: Light Manipulation
New technologies exercise extraordinary control over light
Sitting Too Close to the Computer Screen Can Make You Go Blind
Eyestrain is a common—and occasionally debilitating—effect of staring at screens
Ancient Wine Bottle Reveals History
Archaeologists and physicists worked together to uncover historical information on an ancient wine vessel. Cynthia Graber reports.
Kinder, Gentler Way of Counting Photons Doesn't Annihilate Them
New method pings photons without destroying their quantum state
Traffic Light on a Spoon
Why does pumpkin seed oil appear red in a bottle but green on a plate?