Physics

Magnets can levitate over superconductors, which expel a magnetic field.

Paper That Claimed a Room-Temperature Superconductor Breakthrough Is Retracted by the Journal 'Nature'

The discovery, which would have revolutionized energy, was surrounded in controversy from the start

The winners of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry are displayed on a screen at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm during the award announcement on October 4. At the front are five vials filled with glowing quantum dots.

Explaining the Colorful Quantum Discoveries That Earned the Nobel Prize in Chemistry

Moungi Bawendi, Louis Brus and Alexei Ekimov won the award for their work developing tiny “quantum dots” that light TV displays and enable medical imaging

From left to right, pictures of the three winners of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physics: Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L’Huillier. L’Huillier is just the fifth women to receive the physics prize since the award's inception in 1901. 

Scientists Studying High-Speed Electrons With Lasers Win Nobel Prize in Physics

Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L’Huillier created pulses of light so short that they can be used to observe the behavior of electrons

The James Webb Space Telescope captured this long-wavelength color composite image of the Orion Nebula using its Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) instrument.

Mysterious Planet-Like Objects in the Orion Nebula Are Baffling Astronomers

The James Webb Space Telescope has observed dozens of Jupiter-mass, often paired objects, nicknamed JuMBOs, raising questions about how they formed

Morris “Moe” Berg in 1933. Dubbed the “brainiest man in baseball” due to his knack for languages and quick wit, the catcher joined the OSS in 1943.

The Baseball Player-Turned-Spy Who Went Undercover to Assassinate the Nazis' Top Nuclear Scientist

During World War II, the OSS sent Moe Berg to Europe, where he gathered intel on Germany's efforts to build an atomic bomb

An image of the Ring Nebula captured by the James Webb Space Telescope. The interior of the ring is filled with hot gas and the ring itself is a complex structure made up of thousands of dense clumps of hydrogen gas.

James Webb Telescope Captures the Glowing Ring Nebula in Magnificent Detail

The colorful ring, located some 2,600 light-years away from Earth, is made from the remnants of a dying star

Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer in Christopher Nolan's new film

The Real History Behind Christopher Nolan's 'Oppenheimer'

The "father of the atomic bomb" has long been misunderstood. Will the new film finally get J. Robert Oppenheimer right?

The IceCube Neutrino Observatory first detected evidence of neutrinos originating from outside the Milky Way a decade ago.

Scientists Find Ghostly Neutrino Particles From the Milky Way

It's no surprise that neutrinos come from within our galaxy, but the tiny, chargeless particles are very hard to detect

The Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, one of the radio telescopes used to detect the pulses from pulsars in the new research. The telescope started to fall apart in 2020 and was decommisioned.

Gravitational Waves Create a Constant 'Hum' Across the Universe

Breakthrough research suggests the continuous ripples in spacetime could be caused by pairs of supermassive black holes, spiraling toward collisions

GUN SITE Gun Site was constructed on the former Anchor Ranch, a 320-acre property to the west of the main research site. The area had a flat, empty space where scientists studied projectiles and ballistics. Its main drawback was its proximity to a road, but efforts to blockade traffic during tests were largely successful.

An Exclusive Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Los Alamos Lab Where J. Robert Oppenheimer Created the Atomic Bomb

In never-before-seen photographs, explore the secret U.S. facility and home to the Manhattan Project scientists who developed the first nuclear weapon

A three-to-four-minute exposure captures the light of a drone as it traces the shape of two cones in the sky along California's coast.

This Physicist Uses Drones to Create Giant Light Cones in the Desert

Evoking a key concept in relativity, Elliot McGucken traces out hourglass-like shapes in the sky that stretch as high as a seven-story building

Xander Bogaerts hits his first home run with his new team, the San Diego Padres, at Petco Park in San Diego on April 1, 2023. 

Climate Change Is Making Home Runs Easier to Hit

A new study attributes more than 500 homers since 2010 to increased global average temperatures, an effect that will only increase the hotter Earth gets

From left to right: actor Stephanie Hsu, director Daniel Kwan, actor Jamie Lee Curtis, director Daniel Scheinert, actor Michelle Yeoh, producer Jonathan Wang and actor Ke Huy Quan at the 2023 Film Independent Spirit Awards.

The Science Behind the Multiverse in 'Everything Everywhere All At Once'

The movie that won Best Picture imagines a reality composed of an uncountable number of universes

The strategy an animal uses to track a scent depends upon a number of factors, including the animal’s body shape and the amount of turbulence in the odor plume.

Scientists Are Trying to Figure Out How Animals Follow a Scent to Its Source

Uncovering the varied strategies that animals employ could help engineers develop robots that accomplish similar tasks

Researchers used Barbie dolls to test liquid nitrogen's effectiveness at removing Moon dust simulants from a replica spacesuit. (Left: before spraying; center: after spraying; right: after spot cleaning)

NASA's Moon Dust Problem Might Finally Have a Solution

Researchers sprayed liquid nitrogen at spacesuit-clad Barbie dolls to test their novel idea

Sharpshooters use an appendage called an anal stylus to catapult droplets of pee.

These Tiny Bugs Urinate by Flinging Droplets of Pee

Sharpshooters are the first example of “superpropulsion” in a living organism, according to new research

A kindergartner frolics on a jungle gym during a festival in Louisville, Kentucky, in September 2017.

The Surprisingly Scientific Roots of Monkey Bars

A century ago, a Princeton mathematician created what would become a mainstay of the American playground

For 25 years, skeptics have been insisting that Jack and Rose could have both survived on their makeshift raft.

Did Jack Really Need to Sacrifice Himself for Rose?

James Cameron commissioned a study to prove that his characters' tragic ending was inevitable

J. Robert Oppenheimer led the Manhattan Project, a mission to develop nuclear weapons during World War II.

U.S. Reverses 1954 Removal of J. Robert Oppenheimer’s Security Clearance

The “father of the atomic bomb” was accused of being a communist

When flushed, commercial toilets can spew airborne particles at speeds of up to 6.6 feet per second.

Here's What Really Happens When You Flush a Toilet

Using lasers and cameras, scientists visualized the plume of tiny, aerosolized particles ejected from commercial toilets during flushing

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