Physicists may have finally spotted elusive clusters of four neutrons
Physicists have found the strongest sign yet of a fabled four of a kind. For six decades, researchers have hunted for clusters of four neutrons…
Category: Physics
Gravitational wave ‘radar’ could help map the invisible universe
It sounds like the setup for a joke: If radio waves give you radar and sound gives you sonar, what do gravitational waves get you?…
How fast a row of dominoes topples depends on friction
It may seem like fun and games, but understanding how dominoes topple isn’t child’s play. “It’s a problem that is so natural; everybody plays with…
Why even small sonic booms are more annoying in cities
Sonic booms can be particularly annoying in cities, where tall buildings and narrow streets boost noise levels and cause the noise to linger, new research…
Scientists created ‘smoke rings’ of light
Smoke rings are being seen in a new light. Doughnut-shaped structures called vortex rings are sometimes seen swirling through fluids. Smokers can form them with…
Quantum physics exponentially improves some types of machine learning
Machine learning can get a boost from quantum physics. On certain types of machine learning tasks, quantum computers have an exponential advantage over standard computation,…
How neutrinos could ensure a submarine’s nuclear fuel isn’t weaponized
Nuclear submarines might provide rogue nations with a path to nuclear weapons. But neutrinos could help reveal attempts to go from boats to bombs. Neutrinos,…
Here’s why pipe organs seem to violate a rule of sound
A speck of gold dancing to a pipe organ’s tune has helped solve a long-standing mystery: why certain wind instruments violate a mathematical formula that…
A galactic smashup might explain galaxies without dark matter
Two mysterious galaxies, devoid of dark matter, could have a smashing origin story. About 8 billion years ago, researchers propose, two dwarf galaxies slammed into…
High-energy neutrinos may come from black holes ripping apart stars
When a star gets too close to a black hole, sparks fly. And, potentially, so do subatomic particles called neutrinos. A dramatic light show results…
We finally have an image of the black hole at the heart of the Milky Way
There’s a new addition to astronomers’ portrait gallery of black holes. Astronomers announced May 12 that they have finally assembled an image of the supermassive…
Gravitational waves gave a new black hole a high-speed ‘kick’
This black hole really knows how to kick back. Scientists recently observed two black holes that united into one, and in the process got a…
The Large Hadron Collider has restarted with upgraded proton-smashing potential
After a hiatus of more than three years, the Large Hadron Collider is back. Scientists shut down the particle accelerator in 2018 to allow for…
The W boson might be extra hefty. If so, it could hint at new physics
There’s something amiss with a mass. A new measurement of the mass of an elementary particle, the W boson, has defied expectations. The result hints…
Levitating plastic beads mimic the physics of spinning asteroids
Some asteroids can barely hold it together. Rather than solid lumps of rock, ‘rubble pile’ asteroids are loose collections of material, which can split apart…
How light from black holes is narrowing the search for axions
The search for a hypothetical subatomic particle that could signal new physics just narrowed a bit — thanks to the light swirling around a gargantuan…
This fabric can hear your heartbeat
Someday our clothing may eavesdrop on the soundtrack of our lives, capturing the noises around and inside us. A new fiber acts as a microphone…
Physicists explain the mesmerizing movements of raindrops on car windshields
Staring at raindrops on a car windshield is more than just a way to get in touch with your emo side. You might also learn…
How lizards keep detachable tails from falling off
Lizards are famous for losing their tails, but perhaps the bigger question should be: How do their tails stay on? The answer may lie in…
Core memory weavers and Navajo women made the Apollo missions possible
The historic Apollo moon missions are often associated with high-visibility test flights, dazzling launches and spectacular feats of engineering. But intricate, challenging handiwork — comparable…
Astronomers may not have found a sign of the universe’s first stars after all
A new study casts a haze over a hint of the universe’s first glimmers of starlight. In 2018, researchers claimed that a subtle signature in…
A new gravity sensor used atoms’ weird quantum behavior to peer underground
The best way to find buried treasure may be with a quantum gravity sensor. In these devices, free-falling atoms reveal subtle variations in Earth’s gravitational…
Russia’s war in Ukraine raises nuclear risks, physicists warn
Russia’s war with Ukraine is heightening nuclear fears on two fronts. Attacks on nuclear facilities have raised concerns about accidents, and threats from Russian President…
An ‘everlasting’ bubble endured more than a year without popping
If you hate having your bubble burst, you’ll love these “everlasting” bubbles. While soap bubbles are known for their fragile constitutions, the new bubbles can…
Here are the Top 10 science anniversaries of 2022
Even though it’s only even odds that 2022 will turn out to be less of a disaster than 2021 (or 2020), at least 2022 is…
The quantum ‘boomerang’ effect has been seen for the first time
Some quantum particles gotta get right back to where they started from. Physicists have confirmed a theoretically predicted phenomenon called the quantum boomerang effect. An…
Vinegar eels can synchronize swim
Trapped within a bead of water, thousands of tiny worms wiggle in hypnotic synchrony as they stream around the globule’s rim. And at the center…
A century of quantum mechanics questions the fundamental nature of reality
Scientists are like prospectors, excavating the natural world seeking gems of knowledge about physical reality. And in the century just past, scientists have dug deep…
Antiprotons show no hint of unexpected matter-antimatter differences
It’s confirmed: Protons and antiprotons are well-matched. The two types of subatomic particles mirror each other in the ratios of their electric charge to mass,…
The only known pulsar duo sheds new light on general relativity and more
The only known duo of pulsars has just revealed a one-of-a-kind heap of cosmic insights. For over 16 years, scientists have been observing the pair…
Physicists have coaxed ultracold atoms into an elusive form of quantum matter
An elusive form of matter called a quantum spin liquid isn’t a liquid, and it doesn’t spin — but it sure is quantum. Predicted nearly…
Scientists finally detected a quantum effect that blocks atoms from scattering light
A cloud of ultracold atoms is like a motel with a neon “no vacancy” sign. If a guest at the motel wants to switch rooms,…
New high-speed video reveals the physics of a finger snap
It all happens in a snap. New high-speed video exposes the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it physics behind snapping your fingers. The footage reveals the extreme speed at which…
A new particle accelerator aims to unlock secrets of bizarre atomic nuclei
Inscribed on an Italian family’s 15th century coat of arms and decorating an ancient Japanese shrine, the Borromean rings are symbolically potent. Remove one ring…
A stunning simulation re-creates how M87’s black hole launches plasma jets
From the maw of the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy M87, two enormous jets stream thousands of light-years into space. Scientists…
Neutron star collisions probably make more gold than other cosmic smashups
The cosmic origins of elements heavier than iron are mysterious. One elemental birthplace came to light in 2017 when two neutron-rich dead stars collided and…
A rush to watch a supernova exposed its last gasp before exploding
A mad scramble to observe the moments after a star’s death is helping scientists understand how the star lived out its last year. Astronomers reported…
Doubt cast on theorized ‘sterile’ particles leaves a neutrino mystery unsolved
For decades, physicists have suspected an interloper. A reclusive, hypothetical subatomic particle might be creeping into studies of neutrinos, nearly massless particles with no electric…
Here’s the physics of why ducklings swim in a row behind their mother
There’s physics to having your ducklings in a row. By paddling in an orderly line behind their mother, baby ducks can take a ride on…
An atomic clock measured how general relativity warps time across a millimeter
A millimeter might not seem like much. But even a distance that small can alter the flow of time. According to Einstein’s theory of gravity,…
Scientists are one step closer to error-correcting quantum computers
Mistakes happen — especially in quantum computers. The fragile quantum bits, or qubits, that make up the machines are notoriously error-prone, but now scientists have…
These colorful butterflies were created using transparent ink
You’ve heard of disappearing ink. Now get ready for suddenly appearing ink. Using a clear liquid, researchers can print a full rainbow of colors on…
Whirling maple seeds inspired these tiny flying sensors
Like helicoptering maple seeds, tiny new fliers whirl gracefully as they glide. The miniature aircraft, which can be made as small as a grain of…
One of nature’s key constants is much larger in a quantum material
A crucial number that rules the universe goes big in a strange quantum material. The fine-structure constant is about 10 times its normal value in…
New ‘vortex beams’ of atoms and molecules are the first of their kind
Like soft serve ice cream, beams of atoms and molecules now come with a swirl. Scientists already knew how to dish up spiraling beams of…
Physicists caught protons ‘surfing’ on shock waves
Protons can surf some truly gnarly waves. A new experiment suggests that the subatomic particles can be accelerated by a process akin to surfers catching…
‘Flashes of Creation’ recounts the Big Bang theory’s origin story
Flashes of CreationPaul HalpernBasic Books, $30 The Big Bang wasn’t always a sure bet. For several decades in the 20th century, researchers wrestled with interpreting…
50 years ago, physicists thought they found the W boson. They hadn’t
The W particle may have been found — Science News, August 21, 1971 Physicists distinguish four different kinds of force by which objects in the…
With a powerful laser blast, scientists near a nuclear fusion milestone
With a powerful laser zap, scientists have blasted toward a milestone for nuclear fusion. A fusion experiment at the world’s biggest laser facility released 1.3…
How particle detectors capture matter’s hidden, beautiful reality
At every moment, subatomic particles stream in unfathomable numbers through your body. Each second, about 100 billion neutrinos from the sun pass through your thumbnail,…