* Astronomy

Physicists have invented an electronic thermometer that ties temperature directly to a fundamental number--namely, the Boltzmann constant, a value related to the kinetic energy of molecules. (The constant is typically abbreviated in high school chemistry as k or kB.) The device centers on the fact that in an array of tunnel junctions--thin, insulating layers sandwiched between electrodes--the electrical conductance can change in a manner directly proportional to the Boltzmann constant multiplied by the temperature.

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