Physics
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Materials Science
This ‘thermal cloak’ keeps spaces from getting either too hot or cold
A new thermal fabric prototype could help keep cars, buildings and other spaces a comfortable temperature during heat waves while reducing CO₂ emissions.
- Chemistry
Tear-resistant rubbery materials could pave the way for tougher tires
Adding easy-to-break molecular connectors surprisingly makes materials harder to tear and could one day reduce microplastic pollution from car tires.
- Physics
Electrons are extremely round, a new measurement confirms
The near-perfect roundness deepens the mystery behind how the universe came to be filled with matter as opposed to antimatter.
- 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.
- Astronomy
A newfound gravitational wave ‘hum’ may be from the universe’s biggest black holes
Scientists reported evidence for a new class of gravitational waves, likely created by merging supermassive black holes.
- Quantum Physics
Quantum computers could break the internet. Here’s how to save it
Today's encryption schemes will be vulnerable to future quantum computers, but new algorithms and a quantum internet could help.
- Physics
Julian Muñoz has a ‘ruler’ that could size up the early universe
The measurement tool could lay out a distance scale for cosmic dawn —and offer clues to the nature of dark matter.
- 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.
- Chemistry
One photon is all it takes to kick off photosynthesis
A single particle of light is the spark that begins the process of turning light to chemical energy in photosynthetic bacteria, a new study confirms.
- 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.
- Astronomy
Weird black holes may hold secrets of the early universe
Big black holes in little galaxies, rogue black holes and other behemoths could offer clues to cosmic evolution.
- Physics
Measurements of a key radioactive decay nudge a nuclear clock closer to reality
In a step toward building a nuclear clock, scientists measured light emitted when a special type of thorium nucleus decayed.
