nanoscale views

As I mentioned previously, the National Science Board was summarily fired on April 25.  The NSB nominally advises the National Science Foundation.  There have been a number of pieces written about this:

A science story first, then a US research ecosystem story later.

When we think about using molecules to store energy, it's usually in the context of food or fuel, so that chemical reactions take place - bonds are broken and remade, and in an exothermic reaction, the products end up with more kinetic energy (center of mass motion, molecular vibrations and rotations) than...

We've all seen a traditional compass.  A ferromagnetic, magnetized needle is mounted on a rotating bearing (or floated on the surface of a liquid) so that it can rotate in the \(x-y\) plane.  If there is an in-plane magnetic field \(\mathbf{B}\), the needle will rotate to align with that component of the field.  (It stops in the aligned state because of frictio...