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10/17/2012

Developing the Next Generation of Microsensors

Kimm Fesenmaier

Setting the stage for a new class of motional sensors, Caltech researchers have developed a new ultrasensitive, microchip-scale accelerometer that uses laser light to measure displacement.

10/16/2012

New Caltech Fellows

Marcus Woo

Two Caltech faculty members have been awarded Packard Fellowships for Science and Engineering. Biologist Alexei Aravin and astronomer John Johnson each were awarded $875,000, to be distributed over five years.

09/05/2012

Happy 35th Birthday, Voyager!

Kimm Fesenmaier

Today, September 5, marks the 35th anniversary of the launch of Voyager 1, which lifted off in 1977 on a Titan III–Centaur launch system just 16 days after its twin, Voyager 2. Now 11 billion and 9 billion miles from the sun, respectively, the spacecraft are the farthest-flung man-made objects, traveling every 100 days a distance equal to that between sun and Earth.

08/26/2012

Weighing Molecules One at a Time

Marcus Woo

A team led by scientists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) has made the first-ever mechanical device that can measure the mass of individual molecules one at a time.

08/20/2012

It's Always Sunny in Caltech Lab

Katie Neith

Large solar flares—or plasma that erupts from the sun's surface—can cause widespread damage, both in space and on Earth, which is why researchers at Caltech are working to learn more about the possible precursors to solar flares called plasma loops.

08/01/2012

Physicist Wins $3 Million Physics Prize

Katie Neith

Alexei Kitaev, professor of theoretical physics, computer science, and mathematics at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), has been named an inaugural winner of the Fundamental Physics Prize—a $3 million award that represents the largest academic prize given to an individual in the history of science.

07/22/2012

Caltech-led Team Reverse Engineers a Jellyfish

Katie Neith

When one observes a colorful jellyfish pulsating through the ocean, Greek mythology probably doesn't immediately come to mind. But the animal once was known as the medusa, after the snake-haired mythological creature its tentacles resemble. The mythological Medusa's gaze turned people into stone, and now, thanks to recent advances in bio-inspired engineering, a team led by researchers at Caltech and Harvard University have flipped that fable on its head: turning a solid element and muscle cells into a freely swimming "jellyfish."

07/19/2012

An Earthquake in a Maze

Kimm Fesenmaier

The powerful magnitude-8.6 earthquake that shook Sumatra on April 11, 2012, was a seismic standout for many reasons, not the least of which is that it was larger than scientists thought an earthquake of its type could ever be. Now, Caltech researchers report on their findings from the first high-resolution observations of the underwater temblor.

07/13/2012

A New Kind of Amplifier

Marcus Woo

Researchers at Caltech and JPL have developed a new type of amplifier for boosting electrical signals. The device can be used for everything from studying stars, galaxies, and black holes to exploring the quantum world and developing quantum computers.

07/12/2012

Peering Into the Heart of a Supernova

Kimm Fesenmaier

Using computer simulations, Caltech researchers have determined that if the interior of a dying star is spinning rapidly just before it explodes in a magnificent supernova, two different types of signals emanating from that stellar core will oscillate together at the same frequency.

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