Category Archives: Physics Today

California’s recent weather extremes

Posted on April 20, 2017 by rberkowitz

A planetary-scale pattern of atmospheric waves may be responsible for California’s droughts and floods. Continue reading →

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Sea turtles don’t just go with the flow

Posted on March 22, 2017 by rberkowitz

Satellite data reveal that the marine reptiles change their behavior to interact with currents. Continue reading →

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Separating pebbles from boulders on asteroid Itokawa

Posted on March 1, 2017 by rberkowitz

Collisions between fragments may lead to size segregation of rock piles during asteroid formation. Continue reading →

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Exploring the environmental impact of quantum dots

Posted on January 20, 2017 by rberkowitz

The speed with which microbes in a simplified ecosystem absorb the nanomaterials is raising concerns about the effect on organisms higher in the food chain. Continue reading →

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Using cellular networks to measure air quality

Posted on December 29, 2016 by rberkowitz

The propagation of microwaves offers an effective, low-cost means of detecting polluted air. Continue reading →

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A hard rain’s a-gonna fall

Posted on December 6, 2016 by rberkowitz

A high-resolution climate model predicts an almost across-the-board increase in extreme precipitation events throughout North America. Continue reading →

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Finding the magma source for Mount St Helens

Posted on November 1, 2016 by rberkowitz

Seismic imaging reveals a cold mantle beneath the volcano and suggests that magma migrates from the east. Continue reading →

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Carbon speeds through the ocean’s twilight zone

Posted on September 23, 2016 by rberkowitz

New measurements show how the sinking velocities of organic matter in the water vary with depth, region, and season. Continue reading →

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Optimizing Solar Cells

Posted on July 6, 2016 by rberkowitz

New materials and innovative synthesis methods address problems with solar cell efficiency and cost. Continue reading →

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Sharp images from fuzzy concepts

Posted on June 3, 2016 by rberkowitz

Developments in snapshot imaging and computational processing improve resolution at unprecedented frame rates. Continue reading →

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