Wired: Because it passes through clothes, terahertz radiation can reveal hidden weapons and explosives. Unfortunately, water vapor absorbs in the THz band, making it difficult to measure reflected THz signals remotely. Now, Xicheng Zhang of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and his colleagues have developed a way of circumventing that limitation. In a paper published on 11 July in Nature Photonics, they describe an ingenious method for what amounts to converting the THz signal into a more penetrating UV signal.
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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