Europe’s LHC collider finds traces of what could be the Higgs boson, a theoretical entity that explains why matter has mass. (p. 10)

Time is an ancient and contrary mystery. Augustine of Hippo, writing his Confessions in a North African monastery, asked “Who can even in thought comprehend it, so as to utter a word about it? But what in discourse do we mention more familiarly and knowingly, than time?” More than 16 centuries later, many scholars share the feeling, if not the prospect of sainthood. “We don’t even know what time is. But we can measure it really, really well,” says Chris Oates, a physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Boulder, Colo., campus. His team operates a ytterbium... (p. 22)

Graphene’s two dimensions offer new physics, novel electronics. (p. 26)

Math trick that reverses spirals and other shapes that twist and turn should provide new ways to understand and design materials. (p. 8)

A powerful new laser technique promises to reveal the cell’s molecular components in detailed, 3-D images. (p. 12)