Physics Buzz

Amazing Spider Silk
Friday, February 03, 2012
Spiders are amazing creatures for all sorts of reasons, but their webs are what truly set them apart. The silk they build their homes of is so strong and flexible that it puts our crude ropes, wires, and chains to shame. Unfortunatel... more

Crowd-Sourced Star Wars: Combining 500 Clips into One Film
Thursday, February 02, 2012
Star Wars fans are dedicated. Look around online, and you'll find a plethora of fan fiction, fan films and custom costumes. Building on this dedication, filmmaker and web developer Casey Pugh solicited the help of Star Wars fans from across the globe to ... more

Disease Outbreaks: Modeling the Mayhem
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
In recent years, epidemics caused by HIV, SARS, and swine flu have worried health experts across the globe. While public health officials and epidemiologists have been tasked with combating these outbreaks, physicists have also lent support by modeling d... more

Discovery of 'Bioelectric' Arteries Opens Path to Heart Disease Treatment
Monday, January 30, 2012
A peculiar electrical property in arteries could lead to non-invasive heart disease treatments. Electrical response overlaid on the arterial wall. Credit: American Physical Society/Jiangyu Li et al. (ISNS) -- Bionic eyes and limbs made television's six ... more

How Complicated is Scrabble?
Friday, January 27, 2012
According to new research, pretty complex. Word lovers have long touted the cleverness required to win scrabble matches. Now they have proof. Theoretical computer scientists have crunched the numbers to determine the computational complexity of a play... more

"Touch" TV Series Uses Numbers to Connect People
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Mathematician explains how series can make use of actual patterns that exist in nature. Credit: Brian Bowen Smith/FOX. L-R: Cast members David Mazouz, Kiefer Sutherland and Gugu Mbatha-Raw. Think about all of the different people that you come in contac... more

State of the Union on Science
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
As many of you know, President Obama gave the State of the Union address last night. I, of course, was listening for the word "science." He made some interesting statements and I would like to sum them up here. First off, I'm very glad he mentioned it... more