Physicists have cracked the riddle of the uncannily well-ordered hexagonal columns at popular tourist spots like Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland and California's Devil's Postpile, using water, corn starch, and a heat lamp.

Japanese Nobel Physics laureate Toshihide Maskawa, an introvert devoted to thinking about the universe, has no passport to go to Stockholm to accept the prize, his wife revealed on Wednesday.

Yoichiro Nambu, Makoto Kobayashi and Toshihide Maskawa were named for the year's Nobel Laureates in Physics during a press conference at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm.