Physics
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Physics
Queen bumblebees are poor foragers thanks to sparse tongue hair
The density of fine hairs on bumblebees’ tongues determines how much nectar they can collect — and workers put queen bees to shame.
- Particle Physics
Earth is bathed in droves of neutrinos spewed by the Milky Way’s stars
The subatomic particles are incredibly numerous. About 1,000 neutrinos from stars other than the sun pass through a thumbnail every second.
- Physics
Here’s the science behind nuclear weapons testing
Nuclear weapons haven’t been tested in the United States since 1992. Find out why, and what could happen if the hiatus ends.
- Science & Society
These scientific discoveries brought us joy in 2025
Amidst a tough year for science, glimmers of joy burst through in revelations from the silly to the sublime.
- Physics
'Crush' explores how gravity shapes life as we know it
James Riordan’s new book will help readers wrap their heads around this mysterious, fundamental force of nature.
- Artificial Intelligence
A quantum trick helps trim bloated AI models
Machine learning techniques that make use of tensor networks could manipulate data more efficiently and help open the black box of AI models.
- Physics
How to levitate objects sans magic
It’s possible to defy gravity using sound waves, magnets or electricity, but today’s methods can’t hoist heavy items high in the sky.
- Physics
Twisted stacks of 2-D carbon act like a weird type of superconductor
“Magic-angle” graphene may provide new clues into poorly understood unconventional superconductors, which operate at higher-than-normal temperatures.
- Physics
Here’s how Rudolph’s light-up nose might be possible
Simple chemistry could give the reindeer his famously bright snout. But physics would make it look different colors from the ground.
- Science & Society
If another country tested nuclear weapons, here’s how we’d know
President Trump has argued the U.S. should test nuclear weapons because other countries are doing it. But scientific data suggest they’re not.
- Materials Science
What causes the rainbow shimmer of ammolite gems?
Ammolite gems’ fabulous colors arise from delicate assemblies of crystal plates.
- Physics
Water jets may break up into droplets thanks to jiggling molecules
Streams of liquid form drops thanks to unidentified disturbances. It could be the jiggling of individual molecules.
