Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Physics

Cool Finds

This Is Next-Level Origami

From dancing cranes to protective structures, origami is popping up in science and tech

None

New Research

How Praying Mantises Can Jump Faster Than the Blink of an Eye

Stunning slow-mo videos capture juvenile mantises as they corkscrew through the air and precisely land their target

This optical atomic clock uses strontium atoms to tell time.

Send Atomic Clocks to Space to Find Gravitational Waves

A new breed of the hyper-accurate clocks could help scientists detect the elusive ripples in space-time faster and cheaper

New Research

Is Our Universe Supersymmetric?

Scientists hope the rebooted Large Hadron Collider could find supersymmetric particles—the next frontier of particle physics

The World of Chocolate

What Physics Tells Us About Making the Perfect Chocolate

Like carbon, the treat can take on many crystalline forms, so a master chocolatier must know how to temper it in just the right way

New Research

At Last, Make Perfect Popcorn With Science

Physicists now know why popcorn pops

In the garden, Levisticum is a tall plant with dark leaves and greenish-yellow flowers. Under a microscope, however, it can morph into a cellular rainbow. This image was made using polarized light to enhance contrast. Waves in polarized light share an orientation, and special filters can block out any unpolarized waves and make the fine details easier to see.

New Exhibit Showcases the Power of Light in Our Everyday Lives

The open-source show “LIGHT: Beyond the Bulb” crosses disciplines to show the many ways photonics has improved our lives

Your big toe is an example of how "boundary conditions" can affect the curvature of a nail.

Toenail Physics Explains Why Big Toes Are More Likely to Suffer Ingrown Nails

The delicate balancing act between stresses of growth and adhesion can help demystify some painful nail disorders

A satellite image shows the huge snowstorm that blanketed the northeastern United States this week. The blizzard was an example of how storms are getting less common but more intense.

Anthropocene

Climate Change Is Altering the Global Heat Engine

Thermodynamics help explain why storms will become fewer in number but stronger in intensity as the planet warms

No snowman is perfect, but a bit of physics know-how can help in the construction process.

Ask Smithsonian

Do You Want To Build a Snowman? Physics Can Help

Here’s what you need to know about the science of constructing your very own Olaf

The underside of this recently flipped iceberg is glassy and free of debris.

An Iceberg Flipped Over, and Its Underside Is Breathtaking

On vacation in Antarctica, filmmaker and photographer Alex Cornell captured an unusual sight

Trending Today

The Science Behind Deflated Footballs

Could failure to inflate give a team a strategic advantage?

New Research

The Speed of Light Can Vary

By manipulating the structure of light pulses, scientists managed to slow down some photons and challenge textbook wisdom

An atomic clock at the Physical Technical Federal Institution in Braunschweig, Germany.

Trending Today

2015 Will Be One Second Longer Than 2014

Because the Earth is rotating more slowly than the tick of our atomic clocks, says the International Earth Rotation Service

As you pour your Champagne to celebrate the New Year, remember that the physics behind those bubbles has some real-world applications.

The Physics of Champagne Bubbles Could Help Power the Future

Studying the principles that govern bubble formation in sparkling wine could improve power plant boilers

Cool Finds

Snowflakes All Fall In One of 35 Different Shapes

The latest categorization of solid precipitation types inspired a cool graphic

Arachnophobia, coral reefs, artificial cells and strange amphibians starred in some of this year's science finds you might have missed.

Ten Cool Science Stories You May Have Missed in 2014

ICYMI, there’s a newfound coral reef in Iraq, the smallest force has been detected and more in this year’s surprising science

New Research

Blind People Can Echolocate

Echolocation acts as such a close a proxy for vision that it falls victim to the same shortcomings

Both the Hubble Space Telescope (blue) and the ALMA Observatory contribute to this image of the Boomerang Nebula

Cool Finds

This Dying Star Is the Coldest Place We’ve Found in the Universe

The Boomerang Nebula is just one degree above absolute zero

Think Big

Why String Theory Still Offers Hope We Can Unify Physics

Evidence that the universe is made of strings has been elusive for 30 years, but the theory’s mathematical insights continue to have an alluring pull

Page 18 of 29