Physics
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Astronomy
‘Black Hole’ traces 100 years of a transformative idea
Implied by general relativity and proven by astronomical discoveries, black holes’ existence took decades for physicists to accept.
- Physics
Scientists take first picture of thunder
Scientists precisely capture thunder sound waves radiating from artificially triggered lightning.
- Physics
Nobel laureate foresees mind-expanding future of physics
A Nobel laureate forecasts deeper understanding of physics and new powers for the human mind in the century to come.
- Neuroscience
Zipping to Mars could badly zap brain nerve cells
Charged particles like the ones astronauts might encounter wallop the brain, mouse study suggests.
- Physics
Tiny particles propel themselves upstream
Light-activated, human-made particles can align themselves with the flow of a fluid and swim upstream.
- Physics
Explanation for G’s imprecision stumbles
A surprising new result seems to suggest that subtle changes in Earth’s rotation rate could account for physicists’ difficulty in measuring Newton’s gravitational constant. But some confusion with dates appears to derail the finding.
- Earth
Cosmic rays illuminate lightning
Radio waves emitted by particles zipping through thunderstorms allow physicists to probe thunderclouds and, perhaps eventually, learn what triggers lightning strikes.
- Particle Physics
Particle hunting in space, life in the urban jungle and more reader feedback
Readers discuss wheat's journey to England, share stories about urban wildlife and more.
- Quantum Physics
Atomic clock will keep precise time for 15 billion years
The world’s most precise atomic clock will not lose or gain a second in roughly 15 billion years.
- Physics
An even more precise atomic clock
An atomic clock described April 21 in Nature Communications is about three times as precise as its record-setting predecessor.
- Astronomy
Cosmic rays misbehave in space station experiment
A puzzling feature in a new cosmic ray census may force physicists to rethink which cosmic objects send these speedy particles hurtling across the galaxy.
- Physics
Rubidium atoms used to record coldest temperature — ever
A swarm of rubidium atoms has been cooled to about 50 trillionths of a kelvin, making it the coldest substance ever measured.
