Physics
Theoretical physicist Werner Heisenberg said, "not only is the Universe stranger than we think, it is stranger than we can think." That doesn't mean some very smart men and women will stop seeking answers as to how the Universe behaves. Here is where we try to make sense of their discoveries.
Latest News
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Think you understand evaporation? Think again, says MIT
April 25, 2024We all know that water evaporates when the temperature climbs, but researchers have just shown that there's another factor at play. The breakthrough could solve long-standing atmospheric mysteries and lead to future technological advances. -
Free software lets you design and test warp drives with real physics
April 16, 2024Warp drives are among the more plausible of science fiction concepts, at least from a physics perspective. Now, a group of scientists and engineers has launched open-source software that lets you design and test scientifically accurate warp drives. -
Professor Peter Higgs, renowned for Higgs boson prediction, dies aged 94
April 09, 2024Professor Peter Higgs has died aged 94. The theoretical physicist was best known for his prediction of a key elementary particle, the Higgs boson, which earned him the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics soon after its discovery. -
Quantum tornado mimics black holes' warped spacetime in the lab
March 21, 2024A giant quantum vortex has been created in superfluid helium in a lab at the University of Nottingham. Its behavior was found to mimic that of black holes and may help astrophysicists gain deeper insight into these galactic gravity gobblers. -
Bizarre time crystal oscillates for an unprecedented 40 minutes
March 04, 2024Time crystals are a strange state of matter with properties that sound impossible, but they have been created. Now, German scientists have made one that lasts 10 million times longer than in previous experiments. -
Fundamental physics rule violated as same-charge particles attract
March 03, 2024It’s a fundamental principle of physics that particles with opposite charges attract each other, while those with the same charge repel. Scientists have now discovered that under certain conditions, particles can attract those of the same charge. -
General Atomics is working on a "small, commercial particle accelerator"
March 02, 2024Using off-the-shelf industrial parts, a team of researchers from the public and private sectors has created a prototype of a small particle accelerator that could have a big impact bringing the technology forward for commercial applications. -
Gravitational pull of half a sand grain measured in physics breakthrough
February 27, 2024The weak gravitational pull on a particle just half the mass of a grain of sand has been measured for the first time. This most precise measurement of its kind is a breakthrough towards the quantum realm and a potential Theory of Everything. -
Heat caught moving like sound waves in a superfluid for first time
February 11, 2024Scientists at MIT have directly captured signs of “second sound” in a superfluid for the first time. This bizarre phenomenon occurs when heat moves like sound waves through an unusual state of matter. -
Some stars could swallow black holes – here's how we can find them
December 18, 2023Black holes are famous for gobbling up everything – but could they ever be swallowed whole? A new study suggests stars could capture very small black holes. There might even be a way to find them, and if so, they could help us understand dark matter. -
Tantalum cold spray boosts potential of fusion reactor chambers
December 15, 2023The insides of nuclear fusion reactors are violent and chaotic places. A new cold-spray coating can take the heat and also trap some rogue hydrogen particles at the same time, potentially making for smaller, better plasma chambers. -
Ancient stars may have forged superheavy elements unknown to science
December 10, 2023Scientists have uncovered hints of a world of new elements beyond the periodic table. A new study has found that ancient stars may have been producing extremely heavy elements that remain unknown to science. -
Hunting spacetime fluctuations could unite Einstein and quantum physics
December 05, 2023A unified Theory Of Everything is the holy grail of physics, but gravity refuses to play ball. A newly proposed theory attempts to unify Einstein’s theory of gravity with quantum mechanics – and importantly, outlines a way to test it experimentally. -
How a "supervoid" and modified gravity could solve a cosmic conundrum
December 03, 2023One of the biggest cosmological mysteries centers on a discrepancy in how fast the universe is expanding. A new study comes to an intriguing solution by applying a modified theory of gravity and an unsettling “supervoid” that our galaxy resides in. -
Ultra-compact particle accelerator does a mile's work with four inches
November 28, 2023The USA has only two accelerators that can produce 10 billion electron-volt particle beams, and they're each about 1.9 miles long. "We can now reach those energies in 10 cm," said the CEO of TAU Systems, which has built an ultra-compact accelerator.
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