All Stories by Emily Conover
- Physics
Listening to soap bubbles pop reveals the physics behind the bursts
The quiet, high-pitched sound made by a popping soap bubble reveals the forces that occur during the bubble’s demise.
- Space
NASA icon Katherine Johnson has died at the age of 101
The “Hidden Figure” captured the public’s admiration after the story of her career was publicized in a 2016 book and film.
- Physics
This fundamental constant of nature remains the same even near a black hole
A number that sets the strength of electromagnetic interactions isn’t altered by the extreme gravity around the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole.
- Particle Physics
Antimatter hydrogen has the same quantum quirk as normal hydrogen
Atoms of antihydrogen are affected by the Lamb shift, which results from transient particles appearing and disappearing.
- Physics
The fastest way to heat certain materials may be to cool them first
A theoretical study reveals that, in certain situations, some materials might heat up more quickly after first being cooled.
- Quantum Physics
Scientists entangled quantum memories linked over long distances
The entanglement of quantum ‘hard drives’ is a crucial step toward creating a quantum internet.
- Physics
How to make the best fried rice, according to physics
Researchers show exactly how rocking and sliding a wok can launch fried rice into the air, letting it cook at a high temperature without burning.
- Physics
A barrier to colliding particles called muons has been smashed
Future particle accelerators could slam muons together to reach higher energies than any before.
- Particle Physics
Misbehaving kaons could hint at the existence of new particles
Certain extremely rare decays seem to be happening more often than expected, and scientists don’t know why.
- Physics
Scientists cooled a nanoparticle to the quantum limit
Physicists decreased a nanoparticle’s motion to the lowest level allowed by quantum mechanics.
- Physics
A quantum strategy could verify the solutions to unsolvable problems — in theory
A quantum technique for verifying solutions to difficult problems could apply to an “unbelievably huge” class of puzzles.
- Chemistry
A dance of two atoms reveals chemical bonds forming and breaking
Two rhenium atoms approach and retreat from one another in an electron microscope video.
