PhysicsCentral: Podcasts

Light noise can make it difficult for Astronomers to see the objects they want to study. To help this, engineers have created a material that absorbs 99.8% of incoming light.

There is an enormous portion of our universe that we can't see. Some scientists wonder if this so-called dark sector is bigger than we once thought. Are there any other dark forces out there?

Jesse Silverberg is a physicists studying the way plant roots curl. His research contributes to a larger effort to understand how plants live and grow in unusual environments, like sandy or depleted soil. With the booming global population and the rising demand for food, this kind of research could find its way to your refrigerator very soon.

Ever wonder how Argon got it's name? Calla Cofield explores how the elements came to be named some very strange names.

Scientists have strong evidence that there is a black hole at the center of our galaxy. But to be totally sure, scientists need to image the black hole. How soon can we hope to do this? That's today on the physics buzz podcast.

Some of the world's greatest chefs have been lecturing at Harvard to share the science of food with the world.

Soft robots are robots controlled by humans but made of materials that are soft. These robots are so gentle, they can even pick up a mouse.

Calla and Mike pay a visit to the APS March Meeting to learn about scientists studying slithering snakes and to discuss how magnetic fields are leading to better bomb detection.

Did you know that there is a lot of physics that goes into making animated hair look realistic? Today we chat with MIT graduate student Jay Miller who studies how a single hair curls. But this research goes way beyond animation; it turns out you can apply these same principles to a whole bunch of stuff, like the flagella on bacteria and very long steel pipes.

You can never bring the temperature down to absolute zero, but the quest to get as close as possible to the coldest of the cold has spurred other discoveries such as superconductivity.

The Morpho Sulkowsky butterfly uses its flashy iridescent wings to attract attention, but humans could use those wings in applications ranging from homeland security to medical imaging. Researchers at the General Electric Global Research Center attached carbon nanotubes to real Morpho butterfly wings, and used the resulting structures as infrared (IR) light sensors, which have applications in medicine, science, environmental sustainability and the military, to name a few.

Physicists have entangled two diamonds, some of the most ordinary objects ever entangled. Two entangled objects share a connection such that what happens to one impacts what happens to the other. There are many analogies to explain entanglement, but in today's podcast we'll venture into some of the nitty-gritty physics to explain this peculiar and potentially powerful phenomenon.

In the 1880s some amazing recordings were made at Alexander Graham Bell's Volta Labs. A hundred years later, particle physicists decoded them. Listen to history in the remaking.

2011 was a good year in the hunt for planets outside our solar system. The record for smallest extrasolar planet was broken...twice! Scientists found a diamond planet, a planet straight out of science fiction and orphan planets with no solar system to call home. Today we'll recap some of the highlights of the year.

This time of year some areas of the world, including Salt Lake City Utah, experience an inversion, where cold air gets stuck on the ground underneath a layer of warm air. But doesn't cold air sink and warm air rise? Why is this the exception and not the rule? Learn why the consequences could be dire if it was.