1.8 milliseconds per century

Earth days are getting longer – by 1.8 milliseconds per century. I thought it was getting dark later and later!

Diamond radio

World’s smallest radio receiver has building blocks the size of two atoms. The radio is made from atomic-scale defects in diamond.

Top ten?

A year in review: The top 10 stories the Solid State Technology audience read the most during 2016.

Don’t sleep on it

Never go to bed on an argument," so the saying goes. And according to a new study, we should take note of this age-old advice.

Sleep matters

Why sleep matters: Quantifying the economic costs of insufficient sleep.

International number ones

Because every country is best at something

Worth a look

From little acorns ...

Space cleaners

Japan has launched an experimental space scavenger into orbit that will examine the possibility of getting rid of cosmic junk using a 700 metre electrodynamic tether.

Making waves

The Physics World 2016 Breakthrough of the Year has gone to the LIGO Scientific Collaboration for the direct observations of gravitational waves. The separate Breakthrough Prize has seen over $25 million awarded for a wide range of work including gravitational waves, string theory and cell division.

Ultra-low-cost, hand-powered centrifuge is inspired by whirligig toy

A human-powered centrifuge made of paper can generate centrifugal forces of 30,000 g and separate blood into its component parts in less than two minutes.

Big bucks for books

A 1687 first edition of Newton’s Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica was auctioned last month for $3,719, 500. Setting a new world auction record for a printed scientific book.

Have people had enough of experts?

The public is more likely to ignore experts if science is too easy. Reading popular science articles causes non-scientists to overrate their expertise, concludes a research study at the University of Münster.

2016 really was a big year

You thought that 2016 was a bad year? The timelords at the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service announced some months ago there would be an extra second added to the end of 2016, so the clocks read 23:59:60 on 31 December and we all got an extra second. Such leap seconds are occasionally need to ensure Coordinated Universal Time, the official measure of time, stays in sync with changes in the Earth’s rotation.

Too much of a good thing?

Following an open access theme, a statement from three national Academies makes interesting reading. Opening with the sentence: Researchers are increasingly overwhelmed by the growth of the number of publications that they have less time to read; the Academies note the proliferation of “pseudo-journals” creating a damage to the scientific community with the demand for low quality articles (or even worse, for falsified or plagiarized manuscripts). The Academies set out four fundamental principles in order to earn the label of “scientific journal”.

Thought for the month

“I think that the truth is a really stern taskmistress.” Carrie Fisher, actress and writer (1956 – 2016).