A vacuum is by definition a space entirely devoid of matter, so one might naturally assume that objects in a vacuum do not encounter friction. However, quantum physics implies that the vacuum is not actually completely empty, but is rather … Continue reading
Journal Club
Highlighting recently published papers selected by Academy members
Author Archives: Charles Choi
Journal Club: New ability to measure the recoil from single photons could help address fundamental physics mysteries
Scientists have for the first time directly measured the recoil that single photons exert on levitating nanoparticles in a vacuum. The work that could help lead to more sensitive measurements of ultra-weak forces, according to research detailed online June 13 … Continue reading
Categories: Journal Club | Physics
Tagged laser cooling, nanoparticles, optical tweezers, photons, ultraweak forces
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Journal Club: Even infants intuitively infer how others minimize costs and maximize rewards
A growing body of research suggests that people have a commonsense psychology — an intuitive way to infer what others want and might decide — that is already sophisticated from infancy. Now researchers have proposed a model for this commonsense … Continue reading
Categories: Journal Club | Psychological and Cognitive Sciences
Tagged Bayesian, commonsense psychology, utility
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Journal Club: Ancient fish moving to land used their tails as crutches
The evolution from fish living in water to vertebrates living on land was one of the most pivotal moments in the history of the animal kingdom. Now scientists using robot fish suggest that these ancient pioneers may have used their … Continue reading
Categories: Developmental Biology | Engineering | Evolution
Tagged locomotion, mudskipper, robot, tail
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Journal Club: Landscape connectivity key to future animal migration needs in the United States
As the climate changes, plants and animals worldwide are migrating to follow their preferred conditions. Human activity, however, can impede these movements. Now researchers are mapping out ways to help species escape to more suitable climes. The scientists detailed their … Continue reading
Categories: Applied Biological Sciences | Ecology | Journal Club | Sustainability Science
Tagged climate change, migration
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Journal Club: Peering beneath Jupiter’s uppermost clouds
Astronomers have trained telescopes on Jupiter since Galileo, but much about what lies under the giant world’s uppermost clouds was a mystery. Now the most detailed radio map yet of Jupiter’s atmosphere reveals it is dynamically active beneath these clouds, … Continue reading
Journal Club: Synchronizing clocks to record precision
Precisely synchronized networks of clocks are key not only to modern everyday services such as GPS networks, but also to scientific endeavors such as giant telescope networks and tests of gravitation. Scientists now have devised a way to use laser … Continue reading
Categories: Journal Club | Physics
Tagged clocks, lasers, NIST, relativity, synchronization
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Journal Club: Copper offers novel clues to ancient Earth’s “Great Oxidation Event”
Roughly 2.4 billion years ago, oxygen gas began suffusing Earth’s atmosphere in what scientists call the Great Oxidation Event. Much remains uncertain about this critical moment in history, but now researchers find that copper in ancient sediments could help track … Continue reading
Categories: Chemistry | Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences | Journal Club
Tagged atmosphere, copper, great oxidation event, oxygen
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Journal Club: Ancient Chinese may have cultivated grass seeds 30,000 years ago
Typically, archaeological research into the origins of agriculture has focused on western Asia, in areas such as the Fertile Crescent (the present-day Middle East). Now scientists report that intentional collection of grass seeds may be traced back about 30,000 years … Continue reading
Categories: Agriculture | Journal Club | Plant Biology
Tagged agriculture, archaeobotany, China, millet, rice, seeds
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Journal Club: Charred fossilized eggs suggest that humans contributed to Australia’s megafaunal extinction
A huge flightless bird known as Genyornis newtoni once roamed the Australian Outback along with a host of other giant animals. Now scientists have unearthed what may be the first reliable evidence that humans contributed to the extinction of these … Continue reading
Categories: Anthropology | Applied Biological Sciences | Evolution | Journal Club
Tagged Australia, birds, fossils, megafauna
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