Physics
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Particle Physics
Physicists have confirmed a new mismatch between matter and antimatter
Charge-parity violation is thought to explain why there’s more matter than antimatter in the universe. Scientists just spotted it in a new place.
- Quantum Physics
Physicists are mostly unconvinced by Microsoft’s new topological quantum chip
Majorana qubits could be error resistant. But after a contentious talk at the Global Physics Summit, scientists aren’t convinced Microsoft has them.
- Physics
Calls to restart nuclear weapons tests stir dismay and debate among scientists
Many scientists say “subcritical” experiments and computer simulations make nuclear weapons testing unnecessary.
- Quantum Physics
A quantum computing milestone is immediately challenged by a supercomputer
A quantum processor solved a problem in 20 minutes that would take a supercomputer millions of years. A supercomputer then did a part of it in about 2 hours.
- Math
The einstein tile rocked mathematics. Meet its molecular cousin
Chemists identify a single molecule that naturally tiles in nonrepeating patterns, which could help build materials with novel electronic properties.
- Physics
The sound of clapping, explained by physics
The “Helmholtz resonator” concept explains the frequencies of sound produced by clapping the hands together in different configurations.
- Tech
Robots are gaining new capabilities thanks to plants and fungi
Biohybrid robots made with plant and fungal tissue are more sensitive to their surroundings.
- Archaeology
Mount Vesuvius turned this ancient brain into glass. Here’s how
Transforming the brain tissue to glass would have required an extremely hot and fast-moving ash cloud, lab experiments suggest.
- Physics
Squishy materials reveal new physics of static electricity
The charge transferred when identical objects touch depends on their history, scientists find.
- Physics
A weird ice that may form on alien planets has finally been observed
High-pressure experiments generated the first direct observation of plastic ice, which has qualities of both crystalline ice and liquid water.
- Physics
A cosmic neutrino of unknown origins smashes energy records
A deep-sea detector glimpsed a particle with 220 million billion electron volts of energy — around 20 times as energetic as any neutrino seen before.
- Animals
How mantis shrimp deliver punishing blows without hurting themselves
A mantis shrimp's punch creates high-energy waves. Its exoskeleton is designed to absorb that energy, preventing cracking and tissue damage.
