Cutting-edge physics has driven military innovation for over a century, from Marie Curie’s x-ray machines of World War I to the quest for the atomic bomb during World War II. But these days, government defense departments are funding even more esoteric pursuits. We learned recently that the US Department of Defense is…
Eerie similarities unite vastly different scientific ideas in sometimes utterly surprising ways. One of these similarities may have allowed scientists to recreate the expanding universe—on a countertop.
A team of physicists has figured out how to bend diamonds, according to a new paper. Okay, we’re talking about nano-scale diamond needles here. But it’s an impressive feat, because while diamonds are known for their hardness, these rocks will break if they are bent even a tiny bit.
There’s a reason that many natural things look unbelievably cool: Evolution. Given the stresses of existing on this turbulent spinning orb, some organisms must adapt in literally dazzling ways. Like this alga, which is basically a living opal.
Strong skepticism should always accompany strong claims. One such recent claim has generated a ton of talk about a strange, fuzzy galaxy that appears to be missing its dark matter.
You may make fun, but Ivanka Trump’s very dumb science photo op is actually what most people think when they hear “chemistry.” And it’s not a wrong idea. You mix some chemicals with some other chemicals, and you get molecules—multiple atoms bonded together.
NASA’s TESS, or the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, will launch on Monday aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, if everything goes to plan. People are excited.
What makes something red, or blue, or green? It’s all in the way light bounces off its surface. Something that primarily reflects light with shorter wavelengths will appear bluer, while something that reflects longer wavelengths will appear redder. By playing around with that principle, scientists have created a…
Randomness rules the very fabric of reality. So it only makes sense that scientists have figured out how to use nature’s randomness as a tool in our mundane world.
You might think you have gravity pretty well figured out. If you drop a ball out of a window, a short time later it will hit the ground. The higher up you drop it, the faster it travels before it hits the ground.
Scientists are turning the tuning knob on an experiment that’s essentially a radio receiver inside of a magnet. It’s been around for years, but now it might finally be sensitive enough to hear a whole new kind of particle—one that could explain the mystery of the Universe’s dark matter.
There’s something hiding in the center of the red ring in this colorful circle of gas and dust. But it’s only hiding if you don’t know how to look for it. In fact, at the center if this image is a tiny neutron star that is spewing out x-rays.
Quantum computers are currently best at doing a subset of tasks that regular computers can also do, except in a more expensive, esoteric, and inaccurate way. But this won’t be the case for much longer, as the field of quantum computing continues to hit new milestones. And new partnerships between IBM and some…
There are few easier ways to get people to read your website than to scare them. That’s how we ended up with the media frenzy surrounding Tiangong-1, and it’s why InfoWars continues to exist. It’s also how we’ve ended up with folks telling you the universe is due to end. Heck, we’re guilty ourselves.
Astronomers have long predicted that as many as 20,000 black holes could be hiding in our galaxy’s center, but so far no one has been able to spot them. Until now.
Birds probably know quantum physics better than many humans—it just comes to them innately.
On April 16, NASA is planning to launch its Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. TESS is an Earth-orbiting instrument meant to spot faraway planets circling some 200,000 stars within 300 light-years of Earth. Astronomers hopes that TESS will help them learn whether or not there…
Physicists in Switzerland are on a subatomic hunt that, they hope, will reveal some entirely new results beyond the limits of their theories.
I love clicks as much as the next online journalist. I love that there is an uncertain thing happening, with infinite angles to write about and to scare people with. But as the Chinese Tiangong-1 satellite nears its final descent to Earth this weekend, I need to remind you: It’s not a big deal.
For decades, scientists have debated the cause of the popping sound when we crack our knuckles. Using computer models, a research team from France may have finally reached the answer.
