Scientific Fields

Science Articles

The Kavli Foundation publishes articles and papers about the fields of Astrophysics, Nanoscience, Neuroscience and Theoretical Physics, and encourages their use for educational purposes.

Astrophysics

Overview. Today’s scholars of the nighttime sky tell a story of a universe incomprehensibly huge. Once misjudged to be a fixed sphere of stars encircling the sun and planets, the cosmos is now a ballooning expanse of space populated by billions and billions of galaxies, each containing billions and billions of stars. The galaxies aggregate in intricate clusters, forming great walls that envelop vast voids. Light from the most distant galaxies reaches Earth only after a transit time of billions of years. Read Article

Astrophysics Articles

Blowing in the Wind According to one widely accepted model for the makeup of our galaxy, when you look at the constellation Cygnus, you are facing straight into a cosmic wind thousands of times faster than the gusts of a Category 5 hurricane. Scientists at Kavli MIT are working on the ultimate weather vane – a tool to track the movement of dark matter within these cosmic winds. (December 2008)
On the GLAST Track: High-Energy Astronomy Takes a Leap Forward with a New Space-Based Telescope High-energy astronomy takes a leap forward with a new telescope in space, and Stanford’s Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology is at the center of the scientific action. (February 2008)
Eyeing Dark Energy: Can the South Pole Telescope Reveal the Future of Our Universe? Something is pulling the universe apart. What is it, and where will it take us from here? Scientists at the Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, University of Chicago, seek answers to those questions with the newly-commissioned South Pole Telescope. (February 2008)

Nanoscience

Overview. Nanoscience and nanotechnology have captured the public imagination, but they are desperately hard to pin down. They seem to embrace everything from biomedicine to rocket science and computer technology. Some futurologists forecast that nanotechnology could bring doom to humankind, while others that it could be our savior. So what’s the real deal? Read Article

Nanoscience Articles

The Power of Protein Machinery Nanoscience examines some of nature’s most remarkable engineering and nowhere is this engineering more exquisite than in the cell, where thousands of proteins work as tiny motors to power the processes of life. At Delft's Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, researchers are studying the toolkit of a living cell. (December 2008)
Up Close and Individual No two cells are exactly alike, and researchers at Caltech's Kavli Nanoscience Institute have devised a chip to analyze the sometimes surprising differences. (September 2008)
Nanoscience Made Easy At Harvard's Kavli Institute for Bionano Science and Technology, the goal is to make nanotechnology practical for as many people as possible. (May 2008)
The Kavli Futures Symposium: Are Cyborg Cells Coming? Summary: At the first Kavli Futures Symposia, scientists in fields ranging from single molecule physics to system biology gathered to discuss what would happen as nanoscience and biology blended together at the level of cells and molecules. (February 2008)

Neuroscience

Overview. One of the most wondrous things in the universe is the wrinkled lump in every person’s head: the human brain. Weighing about three pounds for the average adult, within the brain are 100 billion neurons that give us the ability to see, smell and move, as well as think, weep, talk and read. Furthermore, all we experience and remember – in essence, every little thing that makes us who we are – is rooted in the neocortex, the seat of the "thinking" brain. Understanding how such a miracle is possible is the vast mission of the relatively young field of neuroscience. Read Article

Neuroscience Articles

Understanding Our Sense of Place Among the vast store of memories we carry around in our heads, there is a large and crucial collection of maps, maps created by grid cells. By uncovering the secrets of the brain’s network of grid cells, the Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology seeks to answer the question, “How do we know where we are?” (December 2008)
Birds, Babies and Words Taking a close look at language, researchers with the Kavli Institute for Brain and Mind at the University of California, San Diego find cross-species common ground. (September 2008)
Mapping the Brain Researchers at the Kavli Institute for Brain Science at Columbia University are pushing imaging to new levels of precision. Cell by cell, they are working toward a real-time map of neural circuits in action. (May 2008)
What Makes Us Human... Uncovering the Secrets of the Cerebral Cortex What is it about our brain that makes us unique? For the answer, researchers at Yale University's Kavli Institute of Neuroscience are looking at the cerebral cortex. (February 2008)

Theoretical Physics

Overview. At the dawn of the 20^th century, the hard-won self-assurance of classical science was shattered by a series of bewildering revelations about the atom that were inexplicable by contemporary ideas. Simultaneously, the geometry of space and the duration of time itself were suddenly revealed to be eerily inconstant, barely resembling the comfortable notions that had served scientists for centuries. Read Article

Theoretical Physics Articles

UCTV Interviews David Gross (Video) UCTV -- the television broadcasting division of the University of California -- visited UC Santa Barbara to interview David Gross, director of the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics. During a thirty minute conversation, Gross discusses the mission and activities of KITP, including why one visiting researcher referred to it as a "mecca" for scientists. (July, 2009)
10-Dimensional Man Theoretical physics has a beauty particularly appreciated by those highly adept in mathematics. One of those who does grasp the beauty and wonder of the quantum world -- and seeks to explain it to the rest of us -- is Hirosi Ooguri, the Fred Kavli Professor of Theoretical Physics at the California Institute of Technology. (March, 2009)
Everything is Physics: How Theory Goes to the Heart of Science (Including the Science of the Heart) The Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara is demonstrating how theoretical physics applies to a wide array of fields, conducting interdisciplinary work in areas ranging from medicine to global warming. (May 2008)

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