A phonon laser formed by coupled optical resonators. Mechanical vibrations in resonator (blue) could be enhanced when the frequency difference of two optical supermodes matches with the frequency mechanical vibrations.
Credit: Micro/Nano Photonics Lab

New laser uses light to create sound. A team of international researchers led by engineers at Washington University in St. Louis has seen the light and now has a lasing system that produces “good vibrations.” They developed a lasing system already adept at producing tiny light packets called photons into a tunable system that also makes little bits of mechanical energy called phonons – the energy products of oscillation, or vibration...

Artist impression of the “reverse shock” echoing back though the jets of the gamma-ray burst (GRB 161219B).
Credit: NRAO/AUI/NSF, S. Dagnello

ALMA creates its first-ever movie of cosmic explosion. In the blink of an eye, a massive star more than 2 billion light-years away lost a million-year-long fight against gravity and collapsed, triggering a supernova and forming a black hole at its center. This newborn black hole belched a fleeting yet astonishingly intense flash of gamma rays known as a gamma-ray burst (GRB) toward Earth, where it was detected by NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory on 19 December 2016.

While the gamma rays from the burst disappeared from view a scant seven seconds later, longer wavelengths of light from the explosion – including X-ray, visible light, and radio – con...

Obstructing lymphatic vessels (in green) in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease significantly increased the accumulation of harmful plaques in the brain. “What was really interesting is that with the worsening pathology, it actually looks very similar to what we see in human samples in terms of all this aggregation of amyloid protein,” said researcher Jonathan Kipnis, PhD. Credit: Courtesy Kipnis lab

Faulty brain plumbing to blame in Alzheimer’s, age-related memory loss – and can be fixed. By improving the function of the lymphatic vessels, scientists at the University of Virginia School of Medicine have dramatically enhanced aged mice’s ability to learn and improved their memories...

A film deflects from a magnetic field when exposed to light.
Credit: SilkLab, Tufts University

Elastomeric composites can flex, grip, release, or rotate when exposed to lasers, diffuse light or sunlight. Researchers at Tufts University School of Engineering have developed magnetic elastomeric composites that move in different ways when exposed to light, raising the possibility that these materials could enable a wide range of products that perform simple to complex movements, from tiny engines and valves to solar arrays that bend toward the sunlight. The research is described in an article published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

In biology, there are many examples where light induces movement or change – think of flowers and leaves turning toward sunlight...