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Single photons are the smallest quantities of light and, despite having no mass, have many properties in common with particles. In fact, physicists often think of photons as particles -- particles that sometimes behave like waves. Physicists sometimes describe all particles as waves -- even those with mass, such as electrons and protons -- in order to better understand certain aspects of their behavior.

Bill Nye and the Discovery Channel give you the greatest discoveries in physics. Nye explores how the universe operates and why things move and work the way they do. He also explains the second law of thermodynamics, electromagnetism, and how superconductors can help accelerate particles to near the speed of light. He illustrates Albert Einstein's theory that clocks tick slower at the speed of light and even on an airplane, and discusses how E=MC2 helped develop nuclear power, the quantum leap, the power of electromagnetic energy, the structure of an atom, and the subatomic particles known as quarks.

"While studying graphene's electronic properties, professor Chris Regan and graduate student Matthew Mecklenburg found that a particle can acquire spin by living in a space with two types of positions -- dark tiles and light tiles. The particle seems to spin if the tiles are so close together that their separation cannot be detected. "An electron's spin might arise because space at very small distances is not smooth, but rather segmented, like a chessboard," Regan said."

"Scientists have simulated the sounds set to be made by sub-atomic particles such as the Higgs boson when they are produced "

Helicoidal motion of a charged particle in a uniform magnetic field

Host Bill Nye looks back over the past two centuries, in which chemistry has brought us from a time when atoms were a hypothesis to an age where scientists may be able to combine particles on the atomic level into micro-machines. Learn how electricity transforms chemicals, elements can combine into more complex molecules, and the combination of nonliving substances produced organic compounds that led to pharmacology. Nye examines the second half of the 19th century, a time dominated by discoveries relating to light, electrons, radioactivity, and the periodic table of the elements as well as 20th century advances in science.

Saturn's tiny, icy moon Enceladus has recently been visited by NASA's Cassini orbiter on several very close approaches - once coming within a mere 25 kilometers (15 miles) of the surface. Scientists are learning a great deal about this curious little moon. Only about 500 kilometers wide (310 miles), it is very active, emitting internal heat, churning its surface, and - through cryovolcanism - ejecting masses of microscopic ice particles into Saturnian orbit.

"Researchers failed to find evidence of so-called "supersymmetric" particles, which many physicists had hoped would plug holes in the current theory. Theorists working in the field have told BBC News that they may have to come up with a completely new idea. Data were presented at the Lepton Photon science meeting in Mumbai."

In September this year, two research groups independently reported the existence of monopoles - "particles" which carry an overall magnetic charge. But they exist only in the spin ice crystals. These crystals are made up of pyramids of charged atoms, or ions, arranged in such a way that when cooled to exceptionally low temperatures, the materials show tiny, discrete packets of magnetic charge.

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