Physics
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Climate
Zapping clouds with lasers could tweak planet’s temperature
Breaking up the ice particles inside cirrus clouds could make them reflect more light, turning them into a tool to combat global warming.
- Astronomy
Stephen Hawking finds the inner genius in ordinary people
Ordinary people wrestle with big questions in science and philosophy in Genius, a new television series hosted by Stephen Hawking.
- Quantum Physics
Physicists smash particle imitators
A new quasiparticle collider smashes together the faux-particles that appear in solid materials.
- Particle Physics
Large Hadron Collider starts its 2016 physics run
Experiments at the Large Hadron Collider are taking data for the first time in 2016.
- Quantum Physics
Communicating covertly goes quantum
Researchers are working to make quantum messages that are undetectable.
- Particle Physics
Readers ponder gravity wave physics
Gravitational waves, the benefits of fat and more reader feedback.
- Particle Physics
A weasel has shut down the Large Hadron Collider
A tiny furball brought Earth’s most powerful particle accelerator to its knees this morning.
- Particle Physics
Theorists perplexed by hints of unexpected new particle
Hints of a potential new particle at the LHC have scientists excited, and theoretical physicists are beginning to converge on explanations.
- Cosmology
New sky map charts previously unknown gamma-ray sources
A new map of the sky from the High-Altitude Water Cherenkov Observatory charts the cosmic origins of high-energy photons.
- Quantum Physics
Information is physical, even in quantum systems, study suggests
A thermodynamic principle says that deleting information generates heat, and now, scientists say that goes for quantum systems, too.
- Physics
Itty bitty engine puts a single atom to work
Scientists have created a miniature heat engine out of a single atom.
- Quantum Physics
Gamers outperform computer at quantum task
Quantum mechanics may be weird, but a new video game shows that human intuition can still best computers at quantum tasks.
