All Stories by Emily Conover
- Physics
Wiggling metal beams offer a new way to test gravity’s strength
A new experiment aims to get a better handle on “Big G,” the poorly measured gravitational constant.
- Particle Physics
A supersensitive dark matter search found no signs of the substance — yet
The LZ experiment’s first measurement raises hopes that scientists are closer than ever to finding the source of much of the universe’s mass.
- Quantum Physics
Aliens could send quantum messages to Earth, calculations suggest
Scientists are developing quantum communications networks on Earth. Aliens, if they exist, could be going further.
- Particle Physics
How physicists are probing the Higgs boson 10 years after its discovery
The famous particle may point to cracks in the standard model and new physics beyond.
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‘Elusive’ profiles the physicist who predicted the Higgs boson
Peter Higgs, as Frank Close reveals in his new book, was just one of many physicists who helped crack the mystery of mass’s origins.
- Physics
Physicists may have finally spotted elusive clusters of four neutrons
Long-sought clumps of four neutrons called tetraneutrons last less than a billionth of a trillionth of a second, an experiment suggests.
- Physics
How fast a row of dominoes topples depends on friction
Computer simulations reveal that two types of friction are important in determining how quickly dominoes collapse.
- Physics
Scientists created ‘smoke rings’ of light
A swirling doughnut of light shows that vortex rings aren’t just for fluids anymore.
- Quantum Physics
Quantum physics exponentially improves some types of machine learning
It wasn’t entirely clear if quantum computers could improve machine learning in practice, but new experiments and theoretical proofs show that it can.
- Space
50 years ago, the United States and Soviet Union joined forces for science
In 1972, U.S. and Soviet leaders agreed to work together on science. Now, Russia’s war in Ukraine is straining that decades-long partnership.
- Particle Physics
How neutrinos could ensure a submarine’s nuclear fuel isn’t weaponized
Nuclear submarines could be monitored with the help of neutrinos to ensure that the fuel isn’t diverted to nuclear weapons programs
- Computing
The world’s fastest supercomputer just broke the exascale barrier
The Frontier supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee clocked in at more than 1.1 quintillion calculations per second.
