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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.

07/04/2012

Physicists Discover a New Particle that May Be the Higgs Boson

Marcus Woo

Physicists at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Geneva, Switzerland, have discovered a new particle that may be the long-sought Higgs boson, the fundamental particle that is thought to endow elementary particles with mass.

07/04/2012

Caltech at the LHC

Marcus Woo

Maria Spiropulu and Harvey Newman, both professors of physics at Caltech, lead the Caltech team of 40 physicists, students, and engineers that is part of the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) collaboration at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Geneva, Switzerland.

06/29/2012

X-ray Telescope Takes First Image

Marcus Woo

NASA's NuSTAR space telescope has taken its first image, snapping a shot of the high-energy X rays from a black hole in the constellation Cygnus. NuSTAR will explore black holes, the dense remnants of dead stars, energetic cosmic explosions, and even our very own sun.

06/28/2012

JPL: Cassini Finds Probable Ocean Below Titan's Surface

Kimm Fesenmaier

By studying the way Saturn's moon Titan squeezes and stretches as it orbits the ringed planet, researchers using data from NASA's Cassini orbiter have determined that a layer of liquid water likely exists beneath the moon's frozen exterior.

06/27/2012

The Physics of Going Viral

Kimm Fesenmaier

Caltech researchers have been able, for the first time, to watch viruses infecting individual bacteria by transferring their DNA, and to measure the rate at which that transfer occurs.

06/19/2012

L.A. Times Shines Spotlight on HSS

Kimm Fesenmaier

Caltech's core curriculum is designed to prepare students for the interdisciplinary nature of contemporary research in science and technology and requires that they complete what amounts to a class each quarter in the Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS). The Los Angeles Times recently focused the spotlight on this aspect of the Caltech experience, featuring several of the division's students.

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