Physics
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Cosmology
Voyager 2 spacecraft enters interstellar space
Voyager 2 just became the second probe ever to enter interstellar space, and the first with a working plasma instrument.
- Physics
A satellite screw-up reaffirms Einstein’s theory of gravity
Two spacecraft confirm that time passes more slowly closer to Earth’s surface.
- Materials Science
Magnets make a new soft metamaterial stiffen up in a flash
Scientists can dial the stiffness of a bizarre new type of synthetic material up or down using magnets.
- Particle Physics
A controversial sighting of dark matter is looking even shakier
Two dark matter experiments disagree despite using the same type of detector material.
- Physics
Readers inquire about a Neptune-sized moon, nuclear pasta and more
Readers had questions about a Neptune-sized moon, nuclear pasta and the search for extraterrestrial life.
- Physics
Scientists’ collection of gravitational waves just got a lot bigger
The biggest black hole merger yet seen created one set of the spacetime ripples.
- Particle Physics
The Large Hadron Collider is shutting down for 2 years
The world’s largest particle accelerator will restart in 2021 at higher energy.
- Particle Physics
Physicists finally calculated where the proton’s mass comes from
New study indicates that the proton is much more than just the sum of its parts.
- Particle Physics
Why a chemistry teacher started a science board game company
Subatomic is the latest game from John Coveyou, whose company Genius Games wants people to find the joy in science.
- Tech
A new airplane uses charged molecules, not propellers or turbines, to fly
A small aircraft prototype is powered by ionic wind flowing in one direction and pushing the plane in the other.
- Particle Physics
Nuclear ‘knots’ could unravel the mysteries of atoms
Skyrmions might help loosen scientific snarls in studies of atomic nuclei.
- Math
It’s official: We’re redefining the kilogram
In May 2019, the system of measurement will be upgraded to rely on fundamental constants.
