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

    Andrea Young uncovers the strange physics of 2-D materials

    Physicist Andrea Young has set his sights on the strange ways electrons behave in flat, layered structures.

  2. Quantum Physics

    Rumors hint that Google has accomplished quantum supremacy

    Reports suggest a quantum computer has bested standard computers on one type of calculation, but practical applications are still a distant goal.

  3. Physics

    A new experiment slashes the maximum possible mass of tiny neutrinos

    The KATRIN experiment suggests that the tiny subatomic particles have masses a minuscule fraction of an electron’s.

  4. Space

    The Milky Way’s supermassive black hole reached record brightness this year

    The big black hole at the center of the galaxy recently flared twice as bright as ever seen before in near-infrared wavelengths.

  5. Physics

    Gravitational waves from a ringing black hole support the no-hair theorem

    A new study of gravitational waves from merging black holes agrees with the predictions of the general theory of relativity.

  6. Astronomy

    Giant radio bubbles spew from near the Milky Way’s central black hole

    New structures found at the heart of our galaxy join other bubbles, chimneys and filaments that hint at a turbulent past.

  7. Physics

    Physicists may be a step closer to solving the mystery of proton size

    Multiple measurements now agree that the proton is smaller than previously thought.

  8. Physics

    A new magnetic swirl, or skyrmion, could upgrade data storage

    Magnetic whorls in a new type of material could be easier to control than their predecessors.

  9. Space

    Einstein’s general relativity reveals new features of a pulsar

    Measurements that rely on the physicist’s theory of gravity are letting astronomers view a pulsar in ‘a whole new way.’

  10. Physics

    A predicted superconductor might work at a record-breaking 200° Celsius

    A material made of hydrogen, lithium and magnesium and squeezed to high pressures may be a superconductor even at especially high temperatures.

  11. Physics

    Quantum physicists have teleported ‘qutrits’ for the first time

    The technique could be useful for creating a future quantum internet.

  12. Space

    LIGO and Virgo probably spotted the first black hole swallowing up a neutron star

    In a first, astronomers may just have detected gravitational waves from a black hole merging with a neutron star.