ScienceNow: Physicists and electrical engineers around the world are pushing hard to make materials that twist a fundamental law of optics and bend light the “wrong way.” Such “left-handed” materials could be used to make lenses that focus light much more tightly than ordinary lenses can, as well as other novel devices. But a critical aspect of the current approach won’t work because it violates the principle that cause must precede effect, one theorist argues.
The finding that the Saturnian moon may host layers of icy slush instead of a global ocean could change how planetary scientists think about other icy moons as well.
Modeling the shapes of tree branches, neurons, and blood vessels is a thorny problem, but researchers have just discovered that much of the math has already been done.
January 29, 2026 12:52 PM
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