Physics & Chemistry

Why Particle Physicists Are Excited About This Mysterious Inconsistency

Scientists haven’t conclusively spotted any new particles since the Higgs boson, and that’s got some people worried—there are a ton of other physics puzzles remaining, many of which would require the presence of a new particle to resolve. But recently, there have been some tantalizing clues of new physics, perhaps a new particle, that many…

Physics & Chemistry Ryan F. Mandelbaum

How a Dust Plume Turned the Sun Red

On October 16 last year, the Sun turned red over the southern United Kingdom. People across the country documented the strange phenomenon on social media. Meteorologists figured out the reason pretty quickly—plumes of dust from the Sahara desert and the Iberian Peninsula got caught in a cyclone from Hurricane Ophelia. The dust became negatively electrically…

Physics & Chemistry Ryan F. Mandelbaum

Physicists Think the Weather Can Trigger Blackouts in an Unexpected Way

Renewable resources are great, but they bring a new element of uncertainty to a power grid. This element can lead to failure in surprising ways, according to a new paper. A team of researchers built a model of power grids that transport electricity from solar and wind power. That means that there are places where…

Physics & Chemistry Ryan F. Mandelbaum

How to Stop the Sound of a Dripping Faucet Instantly, According to Science

It’s tempting to think that the “plink” sound produced by a falling water droplet on a liquid surface is caused by the droplet itself, but new research points to an unexpected source of this familiar, yet annoying, sound. Excitingly, the researchers have also identified a neat hack to stop it. The sound produced when a…

Physics & Chemistry George Dvorsky

Can Thousands of Smartphones Help Detect Cosmic Rays?

Your smartphone has a particle detector on it, and scientists want you to help them uncover how the universe really works and maybe even discover the true nature of dark matter. There are just a few bugs to work out. High-energy particles from space, called cosmic rays, constantly bombard the Earth. There are all sorts…

Physics & Chemistry Ryan F. Mandelbaum

Scientists Propose a New Kind of Matter Inside the Densest Stars

You might have a pretty rigid understanding of the way stuff should look, at the most basic level. It should have a nucleus that is orbited by electrons. The nucleus should have protons and neutrons, inside each of which reside three quarks. But experiment and theory have demonstrated a quirky nature to the most basic…

Physics & Chemistry Ryan F. Mandelbaum

The Large Hadron Collider Is Getting an Upgrade

Today, workers at the world’s largest atom smasher are breaking ground on a performance-enhancing upgrade that will allow scientists to conduct even bigger and better physics experiments. The upgrade will turn the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva, Switzerland into the High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC). The upgrade will allow the machine to collide even more…

Physics & Chemistry Ryan F. Mandelbaum

Physicists Are Excited About Fresh Evidence for a New ‘Sterile’ Fundamental Particle

Neutrinos are ghostly, mysterious shape-shifters. New evidence bolsters the existence of an even ghostlier, “sterile” version of this strange particle. There are three types of neutrinos in the Standard Model, the blueprint of particle physics. But in past experiments, scientists have thought there could be a fourth, more mysterious type. Results from an experiment called…

Physics & Chemistry Ryan F. Mandelbaum

Experiment Could Help Scientists Predict Avalanches Through Sound

It turns out that 8,000 tiny plastic disks in a rotating drum could help scientists develop a technique to forecast avalanches or earthquakes through sound. A team of researchers studying granular materials at North Carolina State University set up an experiment to recreate stick-slip failure events—jolts of force from two things sliding against one another.…

Physics & Chemistry Ryan F. Mandelbaum

New Results Cast Doubt on Strange Dark Matter Signal

The search for dark matter—the stuff that seems to make up most of the mass in the Universe, but which is invisible to us—is loaded with new ideas, tantalizing hints, and incredibly advanced experiments. Unfortunately, none of science’s best efforts have yielded any definitive proof of dark matter’s identity. One recent dark-matter-hunting experiment in Italy,…

Physics & Chemistry Ryan F. Mandelbaum

The Supposedly Physics-Defying NASA Thruster Doesn’t Work, New Research Confirms

If you want to send something deep, deep into space, it’s impractical to load it up with lots of heavy propellant. Scientists with their eyes on long-distance space travel have contemplated thrusters that wouldn’t need any propellant at all. The EmDrive, a copper cone that would supposedly push forward on the vacuum of space without any…

Physics & Chemistry Ryan F. Mandelbaum

A Eulogy for the Luminiferous Ether

Science is a field of progress, and in order to keep moving forward, you’ve got to break down a few walls. If you’re in New York on June 6, come join us for our Science Wake: Eulogies for Failed Theories. It’s a part of the Underground Science Festival, an alternative science festival meant to spotlight…

Physics & Chemistry Ryan F. Mandelbaum

A Recent Hurricane Shot a Bolt of Antimatter Toward Earth

When you think of an alien world, you might think of a strange, stormy place with an inhospitable environment, frequent lightning strikes, and extreme radiation. But who needs an imagination when the storms here on Earth already beam radiation, including antimatter, down toward the ground? Hurricane Patricia in 2015 was the second most intense tropical…

Physics & Chemistry Ryan F. Mandelbaum

Shuttered Experiment Shares New View of Ghostly Neutrino’s Shape-Shifting Behavior

Can we take a minute to appreciate just how weird neutrinos are? The second most abundant known particle in the universe passes right through most regular matter like a ghost—you get hit with around a quadrillion of them from the Sun every second. Not only that, but neutrinos can even change between three different identities.…

Physics & Chemistry Ryan F. Mandelbaum

Graphic: CERN/Evan-Amos/Ryan F. Mandelbaum

Could the Large Hadron Collider Collide a Sandwich?

You’d be surprised at how many times someone has asked whether the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) could collide mundane things, like a sandwich. The answer is, not quite… but almost! It’s sort of a long story, and the explanation might surprise you. In fact, physicsts recently put something unusual into the LHC in Geneva, Switzerland.…

Physics & Chemistry Ryan F. Mandelbaum

How NASA Will Unlock the Secrets of Quantum Mechanics Aboard the ISS

An Antares rocket launched from Virginia before sunrise this morning and is on its way to the International Space Station. Its 7,400 pounds of cargo include an experiment that will chill atoms to just about absolute zero—colder than the vacuum of space itself. The Cold Atom Laboratory (CAL) is set to create Bose-Einstein condensates on…

Physics & Chemistry Ryan F. Mandelbaum

Scientists Calculate the Pressure Inside a Proton and It’s Higher Than in a Neutron Star

The pressure inside the particles that make up every atom in the universe could be greater than the pressure inside the densest stars, according to a new measurement. Scientists at Jefferson Lab in Virginia calculated the pressure using the lab’s Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility, or CEBAF, and some tricky mathematics. The measurement will mainly…

Physics & Chemistry Ryan F. Mandelbaum

100,000 Video Game Players Helped Scientists Prove Einstein Wrong

On November 30, 2016, around 100,000 people all over the world logged online and played a video game. Together, they surely would have frustrated Albert Einstein. The physics that governs the most basic aspects of our universe relies on math that seems to work really well, but one concept, quantum entanglement, can seem downright upsetting.…

Physics & Chemistry Ryan F. Mandelbaum

Physicists Measure Precise Value of Proton’s ‘Weak Charge’ for the First Time

Scientists at Jefferson Lab in Virginia have precisely measured an important and innate property of the ubiquitous proton for the first time, according to a new paper. The proton property, called its “weak charge,” determines how strongly this subatomic particle interacts with one of physics’ four fundamental forces. It could potentially guide physicists toward ways…

Physics & Chemistry Ryan F. Mandelbaum

The US Will Fund Another Super-Sensitive and Expensive Dark Matter Experiment

The US Department of Energy will fund the most sensitive search yet for theorized dark matter particles. It will sit over a mile underground, in a nickel mine near the Canadian city of Sudbury, according to a release. The proposed Super Cryogenic Dark Matter Search at SNOLAB, or SuperCDMS SNOLAB, would be a detector held…

Physics & Chemistry Ryan F. Mandelbaum

Why Particle Physicists Are Excited About This Mysterious Inconsistency

How a Dust Plume Turned the Sun Red

Physicists Think the Weather Can Trigger Blackouts in an Unexpected Way

How to Stop the Sound of a Dripping Faucet Instantly, According to Science

Can Thousands of Smartphones Help Detect Cosmic Rays?

Scientists Propose a New Kind of Matter Inside the Densest Stars

The Large Hadron Collider Is Getting an Upgrade

Physicists Are Excited About Fresh Evidence for a New ‘Sterile’ Fundamental Particle

Experiment Could Help Scientists Predict Avalanches Through Sound

New Results Cast Doubt on Strange Dark Matter Signal

The Supposedly Physics-Defying NASA Thruster Doesn’t Work, New Research Confirms

A Eulogy for the Luminiferous Ether

A Recent Hurricane Shot a Bolt of Antimatter Toward Earth

Shuttered Experiment Shares New View of Ghostly Neutrino’s Shape-Shifting Behavior

Could the Large Hadron Collider Collide a Sandwich?

How NASA Will Unlock the Secrets of Quantum Mechanics Aboard the ISS

Scientists Calculate the Pressure Inside a Proton and It’s Higher Than in a Neutron Star

100,000 Video Game Players Helped Scientists Prove Einstein Wrong

Physicists Measure Precise Value of Proton’s ‘Weak Charge’ for the First Time

The US Will Fund Another Super-Sensitive and Expensive Dark Matter Experiment

Two Songs We Really Wish Were the Anime Outros for ‘Steel Ball Run’

AI Training Data Giant Mercor Is Reportedly Looking to Buy the Work You Did at Your Old Job

Utah Is Giving Dr. AI the Power to Renew Drug Prescriptions

Here’s the Perfect Excuse to See ‘Project Hail Mary’ Again

US Airlines Are Hiking Bag Fees Amid Iran War Oil Crisis

This Ridiculously Simple Trick Might Stop Gulls From Nabbing Your Lunch

‘Starfleet Academy’ Season 3 Could Have Done the ‘Voyager’ Sequel Episode of Robert Picardo’s Dreams

Judge Kills Lawsuit Against Infamous Study That Might Have Increased Teen Suicides

AirPods Max 2 vs. Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen): Which ANC Headphones Win?

The Best Gadgets of March 2026

AirPods Max 2 Review: Still Ridiculously Expensive and Ridiculously Nice

DJI Osmo 360 Review: The Best 360 Camera for the DJI-Pilled

Aqara Smart Lock U400 Review: Hands-free Unlocking at Its Best

MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ Review: A Solid 2-in-1 Laptop With Some Glaring Flaws

Sonos Play Review: Call It a Comeback

Sonos Era 100 SL Review: The Cheapest Way Into Wired Sonos Sound

Let us help find what you are looking for...