IN 1905, Albert Einstein published five papers that shook the world of physics. His elegant arguments and conclusions were marvels of physical intuition that addressed dilemmas raised by experimental ...

In the initial setup, the particles are evenly distributed. But when the disc is placed on the particle bed and subjected to vibration, it spontaneously begins to spin in one direction, demonstrating ...

A schematic diagram showing the observation of particles moving through a generic porous material. Haichao Wu is the lead author on a new paper that describes a model system that can be used to help ...

A new kind of laser uses tiny moving particles to produce beams of light. The laser is more programmable than standard lasers and the approach could be used to create visual displays that are sharp ...

Active matter: this microscope image shows part of a cluster of self-propelled particles, colour-coded according to their distance from the centre. (Courtesy: Jie Zhang, Ricard Alert, Jing Yan, Ned S ...