Philip Ball

2 weeks ago | wired.com | Philip Ball

The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine. In 1950 the Italian physicist Enrico Fermi was discussing the possibility of intelligent alien life with his colleagues. If alien civilizations exist, he said, some should surely have had enough time to expand throughout the cosmos. So where are they? Many answers to Fermi’s “paradox” have been proposed: Maybe alien civilizations burn out or destroy themselves before they can become interstellar wanderers.

2 weeks ago | flipboard.com | Philip Ball

11 hours agoGroundbreaking new study finds that dark energy doesn’t existModern cosmology is stepping into a bold new era. Cutting-edge observatories are now capturing the Universe in ways once thought impossible. Tools …12 hours agoWhat is the Speed of Light? Since ancient times, philosophers and scholars have sought to understand light.

1 month ago | chemistryworld.com | Philip Ball

A new theory proposes how chiral amplification could happen Why ‘life is handed’ – why the chiral amino acids that make up proteins and the chiral sugars in nucleic acids are present only in one of the two possible enantiomeric forms – is one of the most tantalising questions for chemistry. It’s tantalising precisely because, in contrast to the origin of life itself from abiotic chemical resources, it seems to be a question simple and clear enough to resolve, after a fashion.

1 month ago | physics.aps.org | Philip Ball

May 23, 2025• Physics 18, 107For a wide range of complex fluids, the transition from solid-like at rest to liquid-like when pushed can be predicted from properties of the at-rest state. ×Complex fluids such as ketchup or toothpaste can switch from a solid-like state to a liquid-like state when subjected to a stress, such as shaking or squeezing. The details of this change can be crucial in areas such as food science and cosmetics.

1 month ago | spektrum.de | Philip Ball

Hintergrund Lesedauer ca. 13 Minuten DruckenTeilen Zellbiologie: Lebenswichtige MolekülklumpenWas lange als kuriose Randerscheinung galt, könnte der Schlüssel zu neuen Behandlungen sein: »biomolekulare Kondensate« in unseren Körperzellen. Immer deutlicher zeigt sich: Diese Molekülansammlungen haben eine zentrale Bedeutung im zellulären Geschehen. Erste Start-ups arbeiten bereits an medizinischen Wirkstoffen, die dort ansetzen.