Adding Certainty to Plutonium’s Fission Yield

Posted on June 14, 2024 by rberkowitz

A first-of-its-kind measurement reveals the energy spectrum of the neutrons produced during the fission of plutonium, a common nuclear fuel component. Read more in APS Physics…

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How bats pick out their own calls when flying in enormous swarms

Posted on June 5, 2024 by rberkowitz

Researchers trained a hawk outfitted with microphones to fly through a swarm of 600,000 bats, revealing how they can hear their own voice in a crowd. Read more in New Scientist…

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Spider-Inspired Microphone Detects Tiny Gusts of Sound

Posted on May 30, 2024 by rberkowitz

A small device senses sounds using a spiderweb-like design—a strategy that could lead to chip-size microphones that are less affected by thermal noise. Read more in APS Physics Magazine…

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New Earplugs Won’t Amplify the Sound of Your Own Voice

Posted on May 29, 2024 by rberkowitz

Wearing earplugs, hearing aids and earphones can make your own voice sound booming, but a new design dampens the din. Read more in Scientific American…

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A Cleaner Way to Produce Ammonia

Posted on May 28, 2024 by rberkowitz

New research reveals how a surprising catalyst can help to efficiently convert nitrogen into useful products under ambient conditions. Read more at Berkeley Lab News Center…

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A Better Way to Charge a Quantum Battery

Posted on May 23, 2024 by rberkowitz

Coupling the charger and battery to a common reservoir induces a direct flow of energy into the battery. Read more in APS Physics…

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Icy Secrets

Posted on May 22, 2024 by rberkowitz

Oddly shaped bubbles tell a frozen story. Read more in Scientific American…

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Nanofluidic memristors compute in brain-inspired logic circuits

Posted on May 16, 2024 by rberkowitz

By connecting two memristors that uses changes in ion concentrations and mechanical deformations to store information, researchers have created the first logic circuit based on nanofluidic components. Read more in Physics World…

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Meet HELIX, the High-Altitude Balloon That May Solve a Deep Cosmic Mystery

Posted on May 8, 2024 by rberkowitz

Every now and then, tiny particles of antimatter strike Earth from cosmic parts unknown. A new balloon-borne experiment launching this spring may at last find their source. Read more in Scientific American…

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Filamentation Observed in Wakefield Acceleration

Posted on May 7, 2024 by rberkowitz

A particle-beam-generating method—called wakefield acceleration—uses proton bunches, which can fragment into high-density filaments as a result of their interactions with plasma, new experiments show. Read more in APS Physics…

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