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

    We finally have an image of the black hole at the heart of the Milky Way

    Observations from the Event Horizon Telescope reveal the turbulent region around our home galaxy’s black hole, Sagittarius A*, in new detail.

  2. Physics

    Gravitational waves gave a new black hole a high-speed ‘kick’

    Ripples in spacetime revealed that two black holes united into one, which then sped off at around 5 million kilometers per hour.

  3. Particle Physics

    The Large Hadron Collider has restarted with upgraded proton-smashing potential

    Physicists will start taking data this summer once the revamped Large Hadron Collider gets up to full speed.

  4. Particle Physics

    Muons spill secrets about Earth’s hidden structures

    Tracking travel patterns of subatomic particles called muons helps reveal the inner worlds of pyramids, volcanoes and more.

  5. Particle Physics

    The W boson might be extra hefty. If so, it could hint at new physics

    A new measurement of the W boson’s mass, made by smashing particles together, reveals a potential crack in physics’ standard model.

  6. Physics

    Levitating plastic beads mimic the physics of spinning asteroids

    "Tabletop asteroids," buoyed by sound waves, hint at why some loosely bound space rocks have odd shapes and can’t spin too quickly.

  7. Physics

    Physicists explain the mesmerizing movements of raindrops on car windshields

    Wind and gravity compete to make some raindrops go up while others slide down, a mathematical analysis suggests.

  8. Physics

    Russia’s war in Ukraine raises nuclear risks, physicists warn

    Experts flag the potential for accidents at seized nuclear sites as well as the increased dangers of accidental nuclear warfare.

  9. Astronomy

    Astronomers may not have found a sign of the universe’s first stars after all

    A new study of radio waves from early in the universe’s history finds no hint of the “cosmic dawn” claimed by an earlier study.

  10. Earth

    Weird ‘superionic’ matter could make up Earth’s inner core

    Computer simulations suggest that matter that behaves like a mash-up of solid and liquid could explain oddities of Earth’s center.

  11. Quantum Physics

    The quantum ‘boomerang’ effect has been seen for the first time

    Jostled particles return to their starting points in certain materials, an experiment reveals, confirming theoretical predictions.

  12. Physics

    An ‘everlasting’ bubble endured more than a year without popping

    One of the bubbles, made with water, glycerol and microparticles, lasted 465 days before popping.