

Top physics breakthroughs of 2014 - jakobsbiz
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-30415007

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kamobit
Here is the list:

 __The Philae spacecraft 's touchdown on comet 67P: was named as the year's
most significant advance by Physics World. It was singled out for its
"fundamental importance to space science".

 __Light on the cosmic web (January): Researchers used the radiation emitted
by a quasar as a "cosmic flashlight" to illuminate the hidden tendrils of dark
matter that underlie the visible Universe.

 __Neutrinos from the Sun (August): The Borexino experiment in Italy detected
neutrino particles from the main nuclear reaction that powers the Sun. The
number of neutrinos it saw agrees with theories, suggesting we do understand
what 's going on inside our parent star.

 __Laser fusion milestone (February): Scientists at the National Ignition
Facility (NIF) in California made a breakthrough in the long road to self-
sustaining fusion when they managed to get more energy out of fusion reactions
than was deposited in the fuel by NIF 's powerful laser.

 __Acoustic tractor beam (May): Once the preserve of science fiction, tractor
beams are now a reality - at least in the lab. Physicists built a device that
can pull objects by firing sound waves at them. The beam could have medical
uses, such as manipulating objects within the body.

 __Supernovas in the lab (June): The Vulcan Laser Facility in Oxfordshire was
used to recreate miniature star explosions, offering a window into some of the
most powerful and unpredictable events in the cosmos.

 __Electron magnetism (June): Researchers in Israel were the first to measure
the extremely weak magnetic interaction between two separate electron
particles.

 __A better fibre for images (March): Scientists in the US used a physical
effect called Anderson Localisation to develop a better optical fibre for
transmitting images.

 __Holographic memory (February): American and Russian physicists built a new
type of holographic memory device that stores data in the form of magnetic
"bits".

 __Quantum compression: (September): The ability to compress quantum
information was demonstrated for the first time by physicists in Canada and
Japan.

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rpwverheij
didn't know about the tractor beams. That's pretty cool

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delinka
Definitely awesome, but I was so hoping for "...in a vacuum" with that one.

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KhalilK
It already said "Acoustic"[0] ;)

0\. = "Definitely not in a vacuum"

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delinka
Right. So I see this comment mentioning tractor beam, I get my hopes up, and
read "acoustic" in the article and come back here to express mild
disappointment. Does the fact that I omitted that detail somehow mean I
misunderstood?

