Physicists Jackson Matteucci and Will Fox with poster displaying their research.

Feature describes unexpected discovery of a role the process that seeds magnetic fields plays in mediating a phenomenon that occurs throughout the universe and can disrupt cell phone service and knock out power grids on Earth. Magnetic forces ripple throughout the universe, from the fields surrounding planets to the gasses filling galaxies, and can be launched by a phenomenon called the Biermann battery effect. Now scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) have found that this phenomenon may not only generate magnetic fields, but can sever them to trigger magnetic reconnection – a remarkable and surprising discovery.

The Biermann battery effect, a possible s...

Booze on the brain
Studying fruit flies, researchers at Brown University found that alcohol hijacks a conserved memory pathway in the brain, forming the cravings that fuel addiction. The pink areas are the fly’s memory centers and the green dots are where the first molecular signaling “domino” Notch has been activated.
Kaun Lab/Brown University

Researchers have found that alcohol hijacks a conserved memory pathway in the brain and changes which versions of genes are made, forming the cravings that fuel addiction. One of the many challenges with battling alcohol addiction and other substance abuse disorders is the risk of relapse, even after progress toward recovery...

The new optical gyroscope — shown here with grains of rice — is 500 times smaller than the current state-of-the-art device.
Credit: Ali Hajimiri/Caltech

Engineers create an optical gyroscope smaller than a grain of rice. A new tiny optical gyroscope fits on the tip of your finger and could find its way into drones and spacecraft in the future. Gyroscopes are devices that help vehicles, drones, and wearable and handheld electronic devices know their orientation in three-dimensional space. They are commonplace in just about every bit of technology we rely on every day. Originally, gyroscopes were sets of nested wheels, each spinning on a different axis...

A mile-long sediment core drilled by the International Ocean Discovery Program helped researchers uncover how the Chicxulub crater formed.
Credit: International Ocean Discovery Program

Extremely strong vibration during large impacts, landslides and earthquakes allow rock to flow. About 99% of the Sun’s energy emitted as neutrinos is produced through nuclear reaction sequences initiated by proton-proton (pp) fusion in which hydrogen is converted into helium, say scientists including physicist Andrea Pocar at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Today they report new results from Borexino, one of the most sensitive neutrino detectors on the planet, located deep beneath Italy’s Apennine Mountains.

“Neutrinos emitted by this chain represent a unique tool for solar and neutrino physics,” the...