Physics writer Emily Conover joined Science News in 2016. She has a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Chicago, where she studied the weird ways of neutrinos, tiny elementary particles that can zip straight through the Earth. She got her first taste of science writing as a AAAS Mass Media Fellow for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. She has previously written for Science Magazine and the American Physical Society. She is a two-time winner of the D.C. Science Writers’ Association Newsbrief award.

All Stories by Emily Conover

  1. Physics

    A star orbiting the Milky Way’s giant black hole confirms Einstein was right

    An oddity previously seen in Mercury’s orbit has been spotted in a star circling the supermassive black hole at the Milky Way’s center.

  2. Quantum Physics

    New quantum computers can operate at higher temperatures

    Silicon chips operate at higher temperatures than many others, raising hopes for building quantum integrated circuits.

  3. Math

    To cook a perfect steak, use math

    As a steak cooks in an oven, movement of liquid within the meat causes it to become extra juicy in the center in a way that can be predicted by mathematics.

  4. Science & Society

    How materials science has changed humankind — for better and worse

    As people began wielding new materials, the technologies fundamentally changed humankind, the new book ‘The Alchemy of Us’ argues.

  5. Physics

    Collisions reveal new evidence of ‘anyon’ quasiparticles’ existence

    Scientists report evidence that a class of particle called an anyon appears in two-dimensional materials.

  6. Quantum Physics

    Quantum mechanics means some black hole orbits are impossible to predict

    Computer simulations reveal that foreseeing the paths of three orbiting objects sometimes requires precision better than the quantum limit.

  7. Physics

    A mysterious superconductor’s wave could reveal the physics behind the materials

    Scientists finally spotted a pair-density wave in a high-temperature superconductor.

  8. Particle Physics

    Particles called axions could reveal how matter conquered the universe

    Axions, if they exist, may solve not one, not two, but three pressing puzzles of particle physics.

  9. Physics

    New telescopes could help spot ‘photon ring’ of the first black hole ever imaged

    Expanding the Event Horizon Telescope by adding telescopes in space could help capture the rings around galaxy M87’s supermassive black hole.

  10. Physics

    How slime mold helped scientists map out the cosmic web

    Tapping a similarity between a slime mold’s lacy web and the vast threads of matter that connect galaxies, astronomers visualized the cosmic web.

  11. Physics

    Even a weird hypernucleus confirms a fundamental symmetry of nature

    A particle accelerator experiment reveals that a symmetry of nature holds up and hints at what could lurk at the heart of a neutron star.

  12. Particle Physics

    Physicists have narrowed the mass range for hypothetical dark matter axions

    In two new studies, scientists search for axions within new mass ranges but the particles remain elusive.