Physics

Ice Quakes Are Real And They Are Terrifying

Winter is coming, and it’s never too early to start being afraid. One thing to fear in the coming season is ice earthquakes. They’re called cryoseisms, and they are what happens when the weather heats up and cools off too often and too much. A cryoseism happens when a winter season warms up and cools…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Sep 29

Just How Accurate Are Science Fictional Space Battles?

In the latest installment of It’s Okay to be Smart, Joe Hanson talks about the physics of fictional space battles. This is pedantry at its best, easily one of my favorite IOTBS episodes in recent memory. Contrasting the propulsive and directional abilities of fictional spacecraft with real-world examples was particularly crafty. Definitely worth a watch.…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Sep 27

A Single Cosmic Ray Can Cause An Air Shower Of Billions Of Particles

Cosmic rays rain down on the Earth every day. Most of them don’t have that much of an effect, but some cause a chain reaction that makes an “air shower,” raining billions of particles down onto the ground. When a cosmic ray hits the atmosphere it is going to make a few changes, but usually…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Sep 25

“Space Bubbles” Caused a Deadly Firefight Between the U.S. and al-Qaida

One of the bloodiest rescue missions in Afghanistan in 2002 was caused by a tactical error. But that error could have been prevented if it hadn’t been for “space bubbles” that prevented a military helicopter from getting crucial intel from a remote command post. Illustration of the battle by KEITH ROCCO New data about what…

io9 Annalee Newitz Sep 24

The Mysterious Phenomenon Of “Gravity Darkening”

Astronomy is the one science in which the phrase “the possibilities are endless” really means something. There are all kinds of strange phenomena in space — one of which uses gravity to brighten and darken certain stars. With so much historical emphasis on establishing the fact that the Earth revolves, rotates, precesses, and otherwise acts…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Sep 24

Physicists Are Backing Away From the Biggest Discovery of This Century

Back in March, a group of physicists announced the first direct evidence of the Big Bang in a splashy press conference followed by Nobel prize forecasts and champagne. But scientists have since questioned the discovery, and a new paper suggests the signal detected was not evidence of the Big Bang but instead largely, if not…

Physics & Chemistry Sarah Zhang Sep 22

Evidence For The Big Bang Theory May Have Just Been Dust

Earlier this year — and in a discovery that screamed Nobel Prize — Harvard physicists announced that they’d found evidence of gravitational waves in the early universe, potential proof that our universe began with a bang. The claim was duly criticized, but a new analysis may be the most damning yet. https://gizmodo.com/have-physicists-detected-gravitational-waves-yes-1545591865 https://gizmodo.com/recently-discovered-big-bang-smoking-gun-could-be-a-b-1575597952 Top image:…

io9 George Dvorsky Sep 22

Here’s Everything We Know About The Chelyabinsk Meteor

When a 4.5 billion year old relic from the dawn of the solar system hurtled through the skies above the Russia in 2013, we all heard about it. Now after over a year of poking through bushes for lost fragments and analyzing data, we’ve got a good idea of what happened. Top image: Meteor over…

Physics & Chemistry Mika McKinnon Sep 20

Baby Poop Sausage, And Other Winners From The 2014 Ig Nobel Awards

Last night, scientists from around the world gathered at Harvard’s iconic Sanders Theatre for the “24rd First Annual” Ig Nobel Awards, the wonderfully peculiar annual awards ceremony that recognizes those achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think. The Ig Nobels are the brainchild of Marc Abrams, and are perhaps the only…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Sep 19

Though It Seems Crazy Now, the Neutron Bomb Was Intended to Be Humane

Until the day he died, physicist Samuel Cohen declared that his invention, the neutron bomb, was a “moral” and “sane” weapon that would kill enemy combatants, while sparing civilians and cities. But, despite the support of fans like Ronald Reagan, this weapon of not-as-much mass destruction proved to be a hard sell. Although Samuel Cohen…

io9 Mark Strauss Sep 19

An Astrophysicist Came Up With A Better Way To Destroy Alderaan

Considering the Death Star’s ruinous design flaw, it’s hardly surprising that the Empire developed a rather inefficient way to blow up planets. According to astrophysicist Ethan Siegel, the massive-green-energy-beam approach might look cool, but to get the job done right, you need something else. That would be antimatter. Writing at his blog, Starts With A…

io9 Mark Strauss Sep 18

How A Look Tells Us The Temperature of Distant Stars

One of the incredible things about astronomy is how much we can tell about stars that we can never, ever approach. But we can take the temperature of a star with our eyes, thanks to the Doppler effect. This, of course, is the effect that causes the horn of a car speeding by to drop…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Sep 16

This Rube Goldberg Machine Runs On Light

Mirrors, lenses and reflective surfaces are combined to arresting effect in this commercial for au Hikari, a Japanese high-speed optical ISP. The machine’s optics work as one to reflect, focus, and diverge a single beam of light through a series of tasks, causing it to singe, melt and illuminate as it goes. This commercial, which…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Sep 14

Hot Jupiters Create Chaos for Their Stars

New research shows that star-snuggling hot Jupiters, despite being only a thousandth of the mass of their host suns, make their host stars wobble like a spinning top. Top image: Artistic impression via Hubble Space Telescope. Hot Jupiters were among the very first exoplanets ever discovered. Their existence caught astronomers completely off-guard, not only because…

io9 George Dvorsky Sep 12

Scientists Have Recorded the Sound of a Single Atom

What’s the sound of one atom moving? That might sound a bit like a silly philosophical question, but actually it’s a scientific puzzle that’s now been solved. If you’re wondering why the headline isn’t a more click bait-like “Listen to the Sound a Single Atom Makes,” it’s because you won’t be able to hear it.…

Physics & Chemistry Jamie Condliffe Sep 12

Physicists Are Making Solid Light

A team of researchers from Princeton University has started doing some very strange things with light. Instead of letting it zip by at incredibly high speed, they’re stopping it dead: freezing it into crystal. Crucially, they’re not shining light through crystal; rather, they making light into crystal. It’s a process that involves fixing the particles…

Physics & Chemistry Jamie Condliffe Sep 12

Why Does The Universe Exist?

Here’s philosopher Jim Holt delivering a TED talk with one of the TED-talkiest titles ever (just listen to the audience laugh in a paroxysm of absurd self-awareness): “Why does the Universe Exist?” And yet it’s a pretty great presentation. In all seriousness, I know it’s popular these days to give TED a hard time for…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Sep 11

A Gigantic Pendulum Wave Made From 16 Bowling Balls

We’re used to seeing pendulum waves generated on tiny scaffolds with itty-bitty balls. But as this awesome demonstration points out, the same physics applies even at the largest scales. The key to pendulum waves — and understanding why the balls appear to move in and out of synch with each other — is that the…

io9 George Dvorsky Sep 11

A Black Hole Doesn’t Die — It Does Something A Lot Weirder

Black holes are basically “game over, man,” for anything that gets too close to them, but they aren’t invincible. In fact, they’re always in the process of self-destructing. We’ll look at how they fizzle out, and see if we can help them do it faster. The Event Horizon Realistically speaking, you are dead as soon…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Sep 9

How Long Humans Can Live in Space—and What Happens if We Stay Too Long

How long can humans live in space? We don’t know the answer to that. But every crew that resides on the International Space Station provides us information that we use to adjust our protocols and extends that period of time. The longest contiguous amount of time a human has spent in space is 437 days.…

Space & Spaceflight Robert Frost - Quora Sep 9

Ice Quakes Are Real And They Are Terrifying

Just How Accurate Are Science Fictional Space Battles?

A Single Cosmic Ray Can Cause An Air Shower Of Billions Of Particles

“Space Bubbles” Caused a Deadly Firefight Between the U.S. and al-Qaida

The Mysterious Phenomenon Of “Gravity Darkening”

Physicists Are Backing Away From the Biggest Discovery of This Century

Evidence For The Big Bang Theory May Have Just Been Dust

Here’s Everything We Know About The Chelyabinsk Meteor

Baby Poop Sausage, And Other Winners From The 2014 Ig Nobel Awards

Though It Seems Crazy Now, the Neutron Bomb Was Intended to Be Humane

An Astrophysicist Came Up With A Better Way To Destroy Alderaan

How A Look Tells Us The Temperature of Distant Stars

This Rube Goldberg Machine Runs On Light

Hot Jupiters Create Chaos for Their Stars

Scientists Have Recorded the Sound of a Single Atom

Physicists Are Making Solid Light

Why Does The Universe Exist?

A Gigantic Pendulum Wave Made From 16 Bowling Balls

A Black Hole Doesn’t Die — It Does Something A Lot Weirder

How Long Humans Can Live in Space—and What Happens if We Stay Too Long

On ‘Maul: Shadow Lord’, Not Everyone’s Willing to Learn a Lesson

PhD Student Uses Turntable to Create the Most Impractical Drum Machine Ever

A Diarrhea-Causing Superbug Is on the Rise, Health Officials Warn

Mark Zuckerberg Is Officially a Bot

Hollywood’s Stars Are Beginning to Turn Against the Paramount-Warner Deal

AI Jesus Might Be the Thing That Finally Breaks MAGA’s Faith

‘Rise of the TMNT’ Could’ve Introduced Even More Turtles

Amazon Fire TV Soundbar With Dolby Audio Finds a Prime Day–Level Price Point Outside the Sale Window

Anker’s EufyMake E1 Finally Brings Printers Out of the Dark Ages

This Loud-Ass Party Speaker Almost Got Me High AF

Asus Zenbook A16 Review: Start Considering Snapdragon on PC, for Real

Aqara Thermostat Hub W200 Review: Almost Better than My Ecobee

HP Omen Max 45L Review: 4K60 Gaming Has Never Been So Easy

Ecovacs Winbot W3 Omni Review: Window Cleaning Robots Have a Long Way to Go

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