James R. Riordon

James Riordon is a freelance science writer who covers physics, math and astronomy, and coauthor of the book Ghost Particle – In Search of the Elusive and Mysterious Neutrino.

All Stories by James R. Riordon

  1. spiral galaxy NGC 5584
    Cosmology

    New JWST images suggest our understanding of the cosmos is flawed

    JWST data don’t resolve a disagreement over how fast the universe is expanding, suggesting we might need strange new physics to fix the tension.

  2. A photo of a small space capsule parachuting down to land in Utah.
    Space

    NASA’s OSIRIS-REx has returned bits of the asteroid Bennu to Earth

    Asteroid dirt from Bennu could help reveal clues about the material that came together to make the solar system — and possibly where life comes from.

  3. An illustration of a hand dropping a weight with a blue sky background.
    Physics

    Centuries on, Newton’s gravitational constant still can’t be pinned down

    A new experiment could finally answer the question 'What is the strength of gravity?' But it's a hard test to do.

  4. A photo of the IceCube neutrino detector in Antarctica with a view of the Milky Way and aurora australis lights.
    Physics

    Neutrinos offer a new view of the Milky Way

    Physicists turned to AI to help map out the newfound origins of ghostly neutrino particles coming from deep in the Milky Way.

  5. An illustration of sound waves showing peaks and valleys in different colors
    Physics

    Physicists split bits of sound using quantum mechanics

    New experiments put phonons — the tiniest bits of sound — into quantum mechanical superpositions and show they are as weird as other quantum entities.

  6. An illustration of the Parker Solar Probe heading towards the sun with orange light streaks shooting around it.
    Astronomy

    The Parker Solar Probe may have spotted the origin of high-speed solar winds

    Kinks in the magnetic fields near the surface of the sun appear to be the cause of fast-moving flows in the solar wind.

  7. An image showing multiple galaxies and stars in deep space. An inset closeup shows the supernova Refsdal as a bright smudge
    Astronomy

    A reappearing supernova offers a new measure of the universe’s expansion

    Supernova Refsdal blew up once but burst into view at least five times. The timing of its appearances provides clues to how fast the universe is growing.

  8. An image of the inner Fomalhaut disk.
    Astronomy

    The James Webb telescope revealed surprise asteroids in the Fomalhaut star system

    New images of Fomalhaut confirm that an alleged planet is probably just dust while also revealing a new asteroid belt and a “Great Dust Cloud.”

  9. An illustration of a giant orange star eating a much smaller red planet and a giant burst of bright white dust expanding outward from the tiny planet.
    Astronomy

    For the first time, astrophysicists have caught a star eating a planet

    A burst of light and a cloud of dust are signs that a star 12,000 light-years away swallowed a planet up to 10 times the mass of Jupiter.

  10. A microscopic image of columns of black particles. The top row has gold dots in the center
    Physics

    Videos of gold nanoparticles snapping together show how some crystals grow

    Real-time electron microscopy shows gold nanoparticles tumbling and sliding in a fluid before snapping together in crystalline structures.

  11. A photo from the ATLAS experiment at CERN's Large Hadron Collider.
    Physics

    The W boson might not be heavier than expected after all

    A new and improved look at the mass of the W boson is in close alignment with theory, but it doesn’t negate an earlier, controversial measurement.

  12. An overhead photo of blotchy vegetation taking up the entire frame.
    Math

    Chia seedlings verify Alan Turing’s ideas about patterns in nature

    New experiments confirm that complex patterns in plants emerge from a model proposed by mathematician Alan Turing.