Examining how animal swarms respond to threats

A herd of antelope feeds peacefully on a meadow. Suddenly, a lion shows up, and the herd flees. But how do they manage to do so collectively? Konstanz physicist Chun-Jen Chen and Professor Clemens Bechinger, a member of the Cluster of Excellence "Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behavior," asked themselves how animals must behave in order to initiate an efficient flight response. In a study using microrobots that act like a group of animals, the researchers demonstrate: A swarm of animals—taken as a whole—completes an optimum flight response, even if individual animals do not notice the threat or they react the wrong way. The study was published on 7 March 2022 in the New Journal of Physics. 

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Neutrons help researchers observe real-time stress reduction in 3D printed parts

The heat, pressure, and force that materials experience during manufacturing processes, such as forming, casting, and molding, can cause internal inconsistencies in manufactured metal parts. These inconsistencies include distortions and uneven microstructures, or "strain," which can lead to the parts cracking and failing.

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Tracing the diffusion of carbon isotopes using atomic-scale vibrational spectroscopy

A team of researchers affiliated with multiple institutions in Japan has developed a technique for tracing the diffusion of carbon isotopes using atomic-scale vibrational spectroscopy. In their paper published in the journal Nature, the group describes how they used isotopic imaging of 12C carbon atoms embedded in 13C graphene to monitor self-diffusion. Jordan Hachtel, with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has published an outline of recent research involving attempts to detect isotopes with high spatial resolution and the work done by the team in Japan in the same journal issue.

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Physics race pits Usain Bolt Against Jurassic Park dinosaur

With each new semester, thousands of students dive into introductory classes in physics. One persistent problem that dogs instructors, however, is keeping students engaged in math-heavy classes.

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Dark energy: Neutron stars will tell us if it's only an illusion

A huge amount of mysterious dark energy is necessary to explain cosmological phenomena, such as the accelerated expansion of the Universe, using Einstein's theory. But what if dark energy was just an illusion and general relativity itself had to be modified? A new SISSA study, published in Physical Review Letters, offers a new approach to answer this question. Thanks to huge computational and mathematical effort, scientists produced the first simulation ever of merging binary neutron stars in theories beyond general relativity that reproduce a dark-energy like behavior on cosmological scales. This allows the comparison of Einstein's theory and modified versions of it, and, with sufficiently accurate data, may solve the dark energy mystery.

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Researchers show corkscrew elastic waves carry well-defined orbital angular momentum

A team of researchers from the University of Exeter and Piazza Leonardo da Vinci, has shown, theoretically, that corkscrew elastic waves carry well-defined orbital angular momentum. In their paper published in the journal Physical Review Letters, the group describes experiments they conducted with aluminum pipe and simulations they built that showed the possibility of using waves of vibration moving along the walls of a pipe in new types of applications.

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Local nuclear reactor helps scientists catch and study neutrinos

A nuclear reactor at an Illinois energy plant is helping University of Chicago scientists learn how to catch and understand the tiny, elusive particles known as neutrinos.

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