Sound needs a medium (solid, liquid, or gas) to travel. Space is a vacuum, lacking the matter to carry sound waves. No sound in space means no echoes. While a near-perfect vacuum, some sounds can be ...

A research team at City University of Hong Kong (CityU) has discovered a new type of sound wave: the airborne sound wave vibrates transversely and carries both rotation and orbital angular momentum ...

A quiet revolution is taking shape in the world of physics, and it doesn’t rely on exotic particles or massive particle colliders. Instead, it begins with something much more familiar—sound.

The power of sound reaches far beyond your ears. While you're used to hearing sound through music, voices, or noise, your body is also quietly listening—at the cellular level. Recent research shows ...

Scientists at ETH Zurich and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne have developed a device that directs sound waves in one direction without wasting energy. This breakthrough sound wave ...

Chris Impey receives funding from the National Science Foundation. Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to ...

Look at that mountain! Imagine you are standing at the base of a volcano looking up. You were told that the volcano isn’t going to erupt anytime soon, but you notice a little bit of smoke (or is that ...

Yushun Zeng squishes cancer cells in a petri dish at work. No, not with his ungainly, macroscopic human fingers. Zeng, an engineering graduate student at the University of Southern California, has ...

Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Engineers at Switzerland’s École Polytechnique Fédérale de ...

Scientists at MIT have directly captured signs of “second sound” in a superfluid for the first time. This bizarre phenomenon occurs when heat moves like sound waves through an unusual state of matter.