The week in physics: Project Hail Mary; Sea urchin spines

The Week in Physics ADVERTISEMENT Ted Pella, Inc., Microscopy Supplies for Science and Industry Manufacturer and supplier for a wide range of equipment, reference standards, supplies and consumables for scanning electron, transmission electron, atomic force, & optical microscopy. Science inspires, but does not limit, Andy Weir's fiction Spreadsheets littered with calculations motivate the science-fiction writer's stories, including Project Hail Mary. Jenessa Duncombe MAR 19, 2026 Sea urchin species discerns surroundings with electrically responsive spines Capitalizing on a mechanoelectrical mechanism that arises from the spines' structure could yield useful sensors for marine environmental monitoring and other applications. Alex Lopatka MAR 18, 2026 ADVERTISEMENT MicroLED Production—Can Hexapods Provide Advantages? Hexapods—six-axis parallel-kinematic platforms—enable precise alignment by controlling all six degrees of freedom simultaneously. Their high stiffness, compact footprint, and user-defined pivot point make them ideal for micro-LED transfer, alignment, and repair applications. Learn more. From the vault Sakharov in his own words "Autobiographical narratives constitute an important part of mankind's memory," Andrei Sakharov says in the preface to his newly published life story, Memoirs. "That is one reason why I took up writing this book." Another, he continues, is "to try to set the record straight." Susan Eisenhower and Z. Roald Sagdeev AUG 01, 1990 Trees can glow during thunderstorms Alex Lopatka MAR 20, 2026 What can physicists do? Ekin Dogus Cubuk runs a startup to accelerate physics R&D using AI Toni Feder MAR 20, 2026 ADVERTISEMENT Science Policy Moves Fast. Don't Fall Behind. FYI: Science Policy News is your trusted source for what's happening now and what's coming next. Get clear, reliable coverage of science policy through content designed for how you read: a weekly planning newsletter, in-depth articles, and a concise monthly recap. Choose one or all three and stay informed! Post a Job Get Job Alerts Browse All Jobs Research Group Leader Max-Planck-Zentrum für Physik und Medizin (MPZPM) (Germany (DE)) View Job AAS Editor in Chief American Astronomical Society (Washington D.C.) View Job Paleoclimate/Paleoceanography/Sediment Geochemistry - Assistant Professor Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego (La Jolla, California) View Job Scientist: Electron Microscopy & Nanomaterials Characterization Unearthly Materials, Inc. (14610, Rochester) View Job Physics Teaching Jobs at K-12 Private Schools ATOMS Placement Services (Nationwide) View Job Postdoctoral or Research Associate NIST Applied Physics Division (Boulder, Colorado) View Job Physics Today is published by the American Institute of Physics. To manage your AIP email preferences and newsletter subscriptions, click here. Or unsubscribe from all AIP emails. © 2026 American Institute of Physics Physics Today 1 Physics Ellipse College Park, MD 20740 +1 301 209 3100

Biological Physics Topic Alert

Read the latest articles in Biological Physics View in Browser OUR JOURNALS MANAGE MY ALERTS ABOUT AIP PUBLISHING Biological Physics  March 2026 Topic Alert Cardiac tissue engineering strategies: Past, present, and future Hazal Gezmis Gokce,Carolyn Carr,Jan Czernuszka READ MORE > Fractal geometry and fractional calculus for integrative morphological mapping of breast cancer complexity Abhijeet Das,Ramray Bhat,Mohit Kumar Jolly READ MORE > Neuromorphic sensing of TDP-43 antigen–antibody binding using an ionic liquid channel field effect transistor Luke A. Sylvander,Enyi Guo,Linda Losurdo,Phuong Y. Le,Cheng Tan,Lan Wang,Dougal G. McCulloch,David R. McKenzie,Jim G. Partridge READ MORE > A portable and low-cost microfluidic POCT device for detecting N protein Taiyi Zhang,Yanting Wang,Xinyao Dou,Zhipeng Xu,Yujing Yang,Chunzi Zang,Weidu Song,Wei Ma,Xiaowen Huang READ MORE > Solution characterization of TraW, a regulatory protein of the F plasmid type 4 secretion system Christina S. Rodriguez,Gerald F. Audette READ MORE > How electric vehicle charging infrastructure shapes urban mobility and eco-efficiency: Evidence from Chinese cities Zhonglin Sheng,Lihui Huang READ MORE > Recent advances in stimulated emission depletion (STED) super-resolution microscopy for in vivo imaging Juliet T. Gopinath,Emily A. Gibson,Brendan M. Heffernan,Stephanie A. Pierce,Catherine A. Saladrigas,Mark Siemens,Diego Restrepo READ MORE > Bioaerosol transport dynamics in cold and warm environments: An experimental study using a three-dimensional-printed human airway model Nicolás Catalán,Salvatore Cito,Sylvana Varela Ballesta,Alexandre Fabregat,Anton Vernet,Daniel Graus,Jordi Pallarès READ MORE > Rigid body rotation and chiral reorientation combine in filamentous E. coli swimming in low-Re flows Richard Z. DeCurtis,Yongtae Ahn,Jane E. Hill,Sara M. Hashmi READ MORE > Principal aerodynamic mechanisms in phonatory flow Feimi Yu,Jubiao Yang,Adam Nickels,Lucy Zhang,Michael Krane READ MORE > A compressible linear theory of Richtmyer–Meshkov unstable interfaces propagating along cylindrical tubes Wenxuan Guo,Shuyan Deng,Qiang Zhang READ MORE > Loschmidt echo and scrambling of systematic errors in tomography—A quantum signature of chaos Abinash Sahu,Naga Dileep Varikuti,Vaibhav Madhok READ MORE > Controlling severe atopic dermatitis dynamics Yoseb Kang,Ying-Cheng Lai READ MORE > Scanning Tunneling Microscopy in high vectorial magnetic fields Jaime Rumeu Ozores,Miguel Águeda Velasco,Edwin Herrera,Pablo García Talavera,Jose D. Bermúdez-Pérez,José A. Moreno,Paula Obladen,Rafael Álvarez Montoya,José Navarrete,Juan Ramón Marijuan,José A. Galvis,Isabel Guillamón,Hermann Suderow READ MORE > Inertial mass measurements at the microscale in liquid Liping Kevin Ge,Zhong Zheng,John E. Sader,Sascha Martin,Zongwen Liu,David Martinez-Martin READ MORE > Aerodynamic forces and vortex-induced vibration characteristics of bark-inspired surface textures on stay cables Shengde Wang,Zhiwen Huang,Lun Yang,Zhengqing Chen,Yuncheng Feng,Xugang Hua READ MORE > Reacting hydrogen jet in crossflow—Flame dynamics under acoustic forcing Ankur Kumar,Sita Ram Sahu,Narsing K. Jha,Anubhav Sinha READ MORE > A multi-parameter overlapping coil with a ring-shaped shielding for improved transcranial magnetic stimulation Xiao Fang,Yan Li,Lirong Cen,Houtao Xu,Yu Lin,Tao Zhang READ MORE > Maple-seed-inspired rotochute Shaobao Liu (刘少宝),刘少宝,Peixing Niu (牛培行),牛培行,Ying Li (李颖),李颖,Chongxi Jiao (焦重熙),焦重熙,Moxiao Li (李墨筱),李墨筱,Yuze Yang (杨宇泽),杨宇泽,Shunan Wang (汪殊楠),汪殊楠,Tian Jian Lu (卢天健),卢天健 READ MORE > Direct nanoscale characterization of polarization-dependent diffusion in non-polar GaN via scanning diffusion microscopy Sha Han,Zhengqian Lu,Kebei Chen,Runnan Zhang,Juemin Yi,Yumin Zhang,Wentao Song,Ke Xu READ MORE > Selenium-containing amino acid passivated deep-red perovskite quantum dot light-emitting diodes Chenhui Su,Siqi Wu,Shuyan Fang,Zhi Tan,Junquan Luo,Zhichao Chen,Yijing Fan,Jibin Zhang,Shijian Su,Ziyang Hu,Lintao Hou READ MORE > Bilayer oxide memristor based on IGZO/IAZO structure for artificial tactile perception system Wenyao Jiao,Caiyang Ye,Yimeng Xu,Ziyi Dai,Chao Li,Kai Qian READ MORE > High-dynamic-range vector magnetometry in solid-state systems Yihua Wang,Jixing Zhang,Magnus Benke,Michael Kübler,Cheuk Kit Cheung,Chenyan Jia,Yutaka Kobayashi,Shinobu Onoda,Junichi Isoya,Jörg Wrachtrup READ MORE > Investigating the roles of hydrophobicity and electrostatics in the particle-scale dynamics and rheology of dense microgel suspensions Sayantan Chanda,Chandeshwar Misra,Ranjini Bandyopadhyay READ MORE > Coarse-grained torsional potential of polypeptide backbone by fragment molecular orbital method: Dependence on coarse-graining scheme Jakub Brzeski,Elizaveta F. Petrusevich,Adam Liwo READ MORE > Phase-interrogation surface plasmon resonance biosensor based on a dynamic spectroscopic ellipsometer I. Choi,G. Hwang,S. Kheiryzadehkhanghah,D. Kim READ MORE > Follow us on social media   Copyright © 2026 AIP Publishing. All rights reserved. 1305 Walt Whitman Rd., Melville, NY 11747 You are receiving this email because you have opted-in to receive alerts from us. To guarantee delivery of this email please add alerts@aip-info.org to your address book and safe senders list. If you no longer wish to receive emails from us then please unsubscribe or amend your settings. Privacy Policy