1. Graphene foam invented at Rice University is reinforced with carbon nanotubes. It can hold thousands of times its own weight and still bounce back to its full height. Credit: Tour Group/Rice University
2. Graphene foam invented at Rice University is reinforced with carbon nanotubes. It can hold thousands of times its own weight and still bounce back to its full height. Credit: Tour Group
3. A microscope image of rebar graphene shows carbon shells, multiwalled carbon nanotubes and two-dimensional graphene. Credit: Tour Group

A chunk of conductive graphene foam reinforced by carbon nanotubes can support more than 3000X its own weight and easily bounce back to its original height, according to Rice University scientists...

Coreless optical fibre: If a photonic crystal fibre is twisted, it does not require a core with a different refractive index to trap light at its centre. Credit: Science 2016/MPI for the Science of Light

Researchers have discovered a new mechanism for guiding light in photonic crystal fibre (PCF). PCF is a hair-thin glass fibre with a regular array of hollow channels running along its length. When helically twisted, this spiralling array of hollow channels acts on light rays in an analogous manner to the bending of light rays when they travel through the gravitationally curved space around a star, as described by the general theory of relativity.

Optical fibres act as pipes for light...

Coreless optical fibre: If a photonic crystal fibre is twisted, it does not require a core with a different refractive index to trap light at its centre. Credit: Science 2016/MPI for the Science of Light

Researchers have discovered a new mechanism for guiding light in photonic crystal fibre (PCF). PCF is a hair-thin glass fibre with a regular array of hollow channels running along its length. When helically twisted, this spiralling array of hollow channels acts on light rays in an analogous manner to the bending of light rays when they travel through the gravitationally curved space around a star, as described by the general theory of relativity.

Optical fibres act as pipes for light...

This is an artist’s conceptions of the probable planet orbiting a star called GJ 411. Credit: Courtesy of Ricardo Ramirez

An international team of astronomers released the largest-ever compilation of exoplanet-detecting observations made using a radial velocity method. They demonstrated how these observations can be used to hunt for planets by detecting more than 100 potential exoplanets, including one orbiting the 4th -closest star to our own Solar System, ~8.1 light years away from Earth. The radial velocity method is one of the most successful techniques for finding and confirming planets. It takes advantage of the fact that in addition to a planet being influenced by the gravity of the star it orbits, the planet’s gravity also affects the star...