Physics in Action
Our Very Own Black Hole
The Milky Way is a vast spiral, similar to our neighbor the Andromeda galaxy.
Optical Tweezers
Unwind a chromosome to see how it’s put together? Sort cells with a light beam? Make a model of a molecular motor? All these and more—welcome to the world of optical tweezers, where cells and even individual molecules are manipulated with laser light.
Planet Pluto Goes Poof
Pluto—now reclassified as a "dwarf planet"—was discovered after American astronomer Percival Lowell predicted that a "Planet X" was perturbing the orbits of Uranus and Neptune.
Quark-Gluon Plasma
A millionth of a second after the Big Bang, the universe was an incredibly dense plasma, so hot that no nuclei nor even nuclear particles could exist.
Through a Lens Darkly
What limits the sharpness of an image? The answer has to do with the wave nature of light.