Physics
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Earth
Particles from space provide a new look inside cyclones
Cosmic rays that smash into the atmosphere make muons that are sensitive to changing air pressure inside storms.
- Physics
Protons may be stretchier than physics predicts
Studying how quarks inside protons move in response to electric fields shows that protons seem to stretch more than theory says they should.
- Health & Medicine
Cooperative sperm outrun loners in the mating race
Sperm that swim in clusters travel more directly toward the uterus, while overcoming fluid currents in the reproductive tract.
- Humans
Here’s where jazz gets its swing
Swing, the feeling of a rhythm in jazz music that compels feet to tap, may arise from near-imperceptible delays in musicians’ timing, a study shows.
- Physics
Quantum experiments with entangled photons win the 2022 Nobel Prize in physics
Three pioneers in quantum information science share this year’s Nobel Prize in physics.
- Physics
Despite a retraction, a room-temperature superconductor claim isn’t dead yet
A high-profile retraction called a superconductivity result into question. But a new experiment appears to support it.
- Particle Physics
Carlos Argüelles hunts for particles beyond the standard model
Carlos Argüelles overcame hardship and discrimination to pursue a passion for physics.
- Science & Society
Big questions inspire the scientists on this year’s SN 10 list
These scientists to watch study climate change, alien worlds, human evolution, the coronavirus and more.
- Particle Physics
How ghostly neutrinos could explain the universe’s matter mystery
If neutrinos behave differently from their antimatter counterparts, it could help explain why our cosmos is full of stuff.
- Quantum Physics
This environmentally friendly quantum sensor runs on sunlight
Quantum sensors often rely on power-hungry lasers to make measurements. A new quantum magnetometer uses sunlight to measure magnetic fields instead.
- Physics
Falling objects in orbit show Einstein was right — again
For more than two years, a pair of metal cylinders fell at the same rate in space, confirming the equivalence principle, a key tenet of general relativity.
- Particle Physics
50 years ago, physicists got a whiff of what glues together protons
In 1972, particle smashups hinted at the gluon, which we now know not only holds together the innards of the proton, but also makes up more than a third of its mass.
