Physics

Let there be light, sound, fluids and quantum weirdness

We love physics in all its forms, from new research on mind-bending concepts like quantum weirdness and spooky action at a distance to the science of sounds and fluids to all the forces that push, pull, stick and slip. Here we tackle the macroscopic, the subatomic, the strange, the cool, the groundbreaking and the obscure.

It bounces, but it breaks likes glass and can flow like a liquid.
Karin Heineman, Executive Producer
What links a wildfire raging across a forest to the electric signals rippling through our hearts? Enter the world of waves in excitable media.
Yuen Yiu, Staff Writer
Particle physicists have overcome one of the biggest obstacles to a collider that would smash particles for less.
Meredith Fore, Contributor
Refined instruments reduce noise at the quantum level, allowing for discoveries of more distant gravitational waves.
Ramin Skibba, Contributor
Researchers create a 10-qubit register that can hold its quantum state for more than a minute.
Yuen Yiu, Staff Writer
A next-generation atom smasher would cost billions of dollars. Europe and China both plan to build one, but scientists are debating if it's worth it.
Yuen Yiu, Staff Writer
The new laureates discovered the first planet orbiting a solar-type star and improved our understanding of how the universe evolved.
Yuen Yiu, Staff Writer
Explore the applications of state-of-the-art clocks -- and the math that describes their performance and limitations.
Yuen Yiu, Staff Writer
The cloaked objects leave no wake.
Charles Q. Choi, Contributor
Regular improvements in so-called optical clocks are setting the stage for a redefinition of the second and powering searches for new laws of physics.
Catherine Meyers, Editor
Researchers can now measure individual phonons -- a single unit of sound.
Yuen Yiu, Staff Writer
A new paper proposes two experiments to test if the steadiest components in physics are really kind of shifty after all.
Yuen Yiu, Staff Writer