(AP) — Sally Ride, who blazed trails into orbit as the first American woman in space, died Monday of pancreatic cancer. She was 61. Ride died at her home in the San Diego suburb of La Jolla, said Terry McEntee, a spokeswoman for her company, Sally Ride Science. She was...
Category: Physics for Girls
New machine learning tool diagnoses electron beams in an efficient, non-invasive way
Beams of accelerated electrons power electron microscopes, X-ray lasers, medical accelerators and other devices. To optimize the performance of these applications, operators must be able to analyze the quality of the beams and adjust them as needed. For the past few years, researchers at the Department of Energy's SLAC National...
Study finds no link between gender and physics course performance
A new data-driven study from Texas A&M University casts serious doubt on the stereotype that male students perform better than female students in science—specifically, physics. A team of researchers in the Department of Physics and Astronomy analyzed both the midterm exam scores and final grades of more than 10,000 Texas...
Researchers develop first self-cooling laser made with a silica fiber
Researchers have toiled for years, unsuccessfully, in pursuit of a silica optical fiber that would cool itself when excited with infrared laser light. Such a fiber would make it possible to use the most ubiquitous type of laser fiber—silica—without having to cool it externally and, theoretically, produce laser-based devices with...
Scientist discovers a new type of ‘bi-molecule’ with applications for quantum sensors
Dr. Rosario González-Férez, a researcher at the Department of Atomic, Molecular and Nuclear Physics and the Carlos I Institute of Theoretical and Computational Physics of the University of Granada, has published an article titled "Ultralong-Range Rydberg Bi-molecules" in Physical Review Letters. The results of the study show a new type...
Physics camp has proven benefits for high school girls
Even a small effort up front can boost the abilities and confidence of girls as they anticipate taking challenging science courses. A long-running summer program at Rice University and elsewhere that trains high school girls in basic physics concepts has proven successful in helping them thrive when they take on...
Motivation is a key factor in whether students cheat
Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic caused many U.S. colleges to shift to remote learning in the spring of 2020, student cheating has been a concern for instructors and students alike. To detect student cheating, considerable resources have been devoted to using technology to monitor students online. This online surveillance has...
Physics degree
What to expect from a physics degree Alongside practical work and experimentation, physics degrees will also include lots of theoretical learning and complex mathematics – so make sure that’s something you’re prepared for. Physics students will learn about the history of the profession and the physicists who paved the way...
Meet Physics Girl, the YouTuber who makes a living explaining science
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA—Dianna Cowern—a.k.a. Physics Girl—has one of those invent-it-yourself jobs that exist only in the age of the internet. In 2011, she graduated with an undergraduate degree in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. That year she also began a YouTube channel, posting videos explaining various...
New physics lessons help girls catch up
Many school pupils fail at physics because they misunderstand the fundamental concepts. A new teaching method can change this – ETH researchers have now proven its effect. It particularly helps intelligent girls to learn more effectively. What is the difference between mass and weight? How is force defined in physics?...