What governs the speed at which raindrops fall, sediment settles in river estuaries, and matter is ejected during a supernova? These questions circle around one, deceitfully simple factor: the rate at ...

Quantum computers are beginning to become powerful tools for studying some of the most fundamental forces in the universe – and some of the trickiest to understand. Two experiments have used them to ...

The measuring tip of an atomic force microscope with a specially designed holder in which a spherical particle is “trapped”. Lacquers, paint, concrete—and even ketchup or orange juice: Suspensions are ...

Scientists have long seen a puzzling pattern in tokamaks, the doughnut-shaped machines that could one day reliably generate electricity from fusing atoms. When plasma particles escape the core of the ...

Materials scientists are measuring the rolling friction of tiny, micrometer-sized particles. These measurements permit them to better understand everyday products such as concrete. For the first time, ...