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. Astronomy

    50 years ago, pulsars burst onto the scene

    Thousands of pulsars have been discovered since the announcement of their detection 50 years ago.

  2. Physics

    Some meteorites contain superconducting bits

    Scientists find materials that conduct electricity without resistance in two meteorites.

  3. Quantum Physics

    Google moves toward quantum supremacy with 72-qubit computer

    Google’s 72-qubit quantum chip may eventually perform a task beyond the ability of traditional computers.

  4. Physics

    Knotted structures called skyrmions seem to mimic ball lightning

    Skyrmions in a quantum state of matter have something surprising in common with ball lightning — linked magnetic fields.

  5. Cosmology

    Here’s when the universe’s first stars may have been born

    The first stars lit the cosmos by 180 million years after the Big Bang, radio observations suggest.

  6. Particle Physics

    The quest to identify the nature of the neutrino’s alter ego is heating up

    The search is on for a rare nuclear decay that could prove neutrinos are their own antiparticles and shed light on the universe’s antimatter mystery.

  7. Quantum Physics

    Two-way communication is possible with a single quantum particle

    One photon can transmit information in two directions at once.

  8. Quantum Physics

    Quantum computers go silicon

    Scientists performed the first quantum algorithms in silicon, and probed quantum bits with light.

  9. Materials Science

    Skyrmions open a door to next-level data storage

    Skyrmions are tiny magnetic swirls that are hard to undo and may be perfect for miniaturizing electronics.

  10. Physics

    Laser experiment hints at weird in-between ice

    Scientists spot signs of an unusual phase of water called superionic ice.

  11. Physics

    Gravity doesn’t leak into large, hidden dimensions

    Gravitational waves from a recently observed neutron star merger offer no evidence of large, unknown dimensions.

  12. Particle Physics

    Clumps of dark matter could be lurking undetected in our galaxy

    Dark matter, assumed to form featureless blobs, might clump together into smaller objects.