A cook’s reaction to cockroaches in the kitchen is a good approximation of a physicist’s reaction to friction: not only is it undesirable, it is hard to get rid of. OK, our analogy falls at a last ...

Friction is an intrinsic physical phenomenon to curling. Without it, objects in motion would move endlessly, without slowing down. This would cause many safety-related problems: Cars or trains could ...

Chemists and physicists shed light on a crucial aspect of friction: how things begin to slide. Using fluorescence microscopy and dedicated fluorescent molecules, they are able to pinpoint how and when ...