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(PhysOrg.com) -- Under a microscope, a tiny droplet slides between two fine hairs like a roller coaster on a set of rails until — poof — it suddenly spreads along them, a droplet no more.

(PhysOrg.com) -- Superconductivity is a rare physical state in which matter is able to conduct electricity -- maintain a flow of electrons -- without any resistance. This phenomenon can only be found in certain materials at low temperatures, or can be induced under chemical and high external pressure conditions. Research to create superconductors at higher temperatures has been ongoing for two decades with the promise of significant impact on electrical transmission.

(PhysOrg.com) -- Sometimes knowing that a new technology works is not enough. You also must know why it works to get marketplace acceptance

A new phenomenon might make computing devices faster, smaller and much more energy-efficient. Moving so-called skyrmions needs 100,000 times smaller currents than existing technologies and the number of atoms needed for a data bit could be reduced significantly. Now a team of physicists from the Technische Universitaet Muenchen and the University of Cologne developed a simple electronic method for moving and reading these skyrmion data bits

Over the decades X-ray crystallography has been fundamental in the development of many scientific fields. The method has revealed the structure and function of many biological molecules, including vitamins, drugs, proteins and nucleic acids such as DNA.

(PhysOrg.com) -- As every young science student knows, moving objects have kinetic energy. But just how much energy does something need to move? In a new study, a pair of physicists has shown that it’s theoretically possible for a system in its lowest energy state, or ground state, to exhibit periodic motion.

(PhysOrg.com) -- Finding evidence for dark matter – the unknown substance that theoretically makes up 23% of the universe – has been one of the biggest challenges in modern cosmology. Several experiments are underway to detect dark matter candidates known as Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) as they travel through the Earth.

Physicist John P. Davis is counting the days until he takes delivery of equipment that will give the University of Alberta the distinction of having the coldest laboratory in Canada.

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have solved one of the printing industry's greatest challenges - whether a liquid thread will break up into drops.

New research, published by the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), takes a significant step towards changing the international definition of the kilogram – which is currently based on a lump of platinum-iridium kept in Paris. NPL has produced technology capable of accurate measurements of Planck's constant, the final piece of the puzzle in moving from a physical object to a kilogram based on fundamental constants of nature. The techniques are described in a paper published in Metrologia on the 20th February.

Dilute magnetic semiconductors (DMS) have recently been a major focus of magnetic semiconductor research. A laboratory from the University of Science and Technology of China explored the feasibility of doping manganese (Mn) into zinc sulfide (ZnS) to obtain magnetic semiconductors.

(PhysOrg.com) -- In the United States, ultrafast trading in financial markets between 2006 and 2011 was the underlying factor for over 18,000 extreme price changes, according to a new study.

Quantum cryptography is the ultimate secret message service. Now new research, presented at the 2012 AAAS Annual Meeting, shows it can counter even the ultimate paranoid scenario: when the equipment or even the operator is in the control of a malicious power.

Just as NASA engineers test new rocket designs in computer studies before committing themselves to full prototypes, so physicists will often model matter under various circumstances to see whether something new appears. This is especially true of atomtronics, a relatively new science devoted to creating artificial tailored materials consisting of neutral atoms held in an array with laser beams, or atoms moving along a desired track under electric or magnetic influence

A Griffith University PhD candidate has been highly awarded for his innovative image of the shadow of a single atom.