- Mystery of Spinning Atomic Fragments Solved at Lastby Charles Q. Choi on February 24, 2021 at 4:30 pm
New experiments have answered the decades-old question of how pieces of splitting nuclei get their spins — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
- New Supernova Alert System Promises Early Access to Spectacles in Spaceby James Riordon on February 22, 2021 at 11:45 am
Upgrades to the SuperNova Early Warning System (SNEWS) detection system offer advance notice of impending blasts — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
- Snowflake Structure Still Mystifies Physicistsby Leslie Nemo on February 11, 2021 at 6:00 pm
Flakes’ final shape depends on an array of temperature, humidity and wind speed variables — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
- A Heroic Effort to Measure Heliumby Christopher Intagliata on February 5, 2021 at 1:00 pm
After an intense game of cat and mouse with different particles, atomic physicists have measured the radius of the helium nucleus five times more precisely than before. Christopher Intagliata reports. — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
- Galaxy-Size Gravitational-Wave Detector Hints at Exotic Physicsby Adam Mann on February 3, 2021 at 5:00 pm
Recent results from a pulsar timing array, which uses dead stars to hunt for gravitational waves, has scientists speculating about cosmic strings and primordial black holes — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
- The Cosmological Constant Is Physics’ Most Embarrassing Problemby Clara Moskowitz on February 1, 2021 at 6:00 pm
Physicists have new ideas about why the energy of empty space is so much weaker than it is predicted to be — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
- Giant Galaxies from the Universe’s Childhood Challenge Cosmic Origin Storiesby Robin George Andrews on January 27, 2021 at 12:30 pm
Large galaxies are thought to form gradually, across billions of years of cosmic time. So why do astronomers keep finding them in the youthful early universe? — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
- The Mind-Expanding Power of Complementarityby Frank Wilczek on January 12, 2021 at 7:00 pm
Embracing divergent perspectives at the same time is a key to understanding reality — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
- New Views of Quantum Jumps Challenge Core Tenets of Physicsby Eleni Petrakou on December 29, 2020 at 12:30 pm
One of the most basic processes in all of nature—a subatomic particle’s transition between discrete energy states—is surprisingly complex and sometimes predictable, recent work shows — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
- Trump Signs Directive to Bolster Nuclear Power in Space Explorationby Mike Wall on December 21, 2020 at 8:45 pm
One goal laid out in the new policy is the testing of a fission power system on the moon by the mid- to late 2020s — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
- Gravitational Waves Probe Exotic Matter inside Neutron Starsby Clara Moskowitz on December 17, 2020 at 7:00 pm
A new analysis of light and gravitational waves from colliding neutron stars helps reveal what’s inside these ultradense objects — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
- Physicists Achieve Best Ever Measurement of Fine-Structure Constantby Dhananjay Khadilkar on December 16, 2020 at 11:45 am
Three times more precise than the previous record-holding determination, the result closely agrees with theoretical predictions but could still reveal pathways to new physics — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
- Quantum Mechanics, the Mind-Body Problem and Negative Theologyby John Horgan on December 15, 2020 at 12:00 pm
Scientists and philosophers should keep trying to solve reality’s deepest riddles while accepting that they are unsolvable — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
- World’s Largest Fusion Reactor Begins Assemblyby Clara Moskowitz on December 14, 2020 at 2:00 pm
The pieces are finally coming together on the long-delayed ITER experiment to create nuclear fusion — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
- Eye Treatment Stretches Mouse Sight Beyond Visible Spectrumby Karen Hopkin on December 12, 2020 at 5:53 pm
Nanoparticles that attach to photoreceptors allowed mice to see infrared and near-infrared light for up to two months. — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
- Light-Based Quantum Computer Exceeds Fastest Classical Supercomputersby Daniel Garisto on December 3, 2020 at 7:45 pm
The setup of lasers and mirrors effectively “solved” a problem far too complicated for even the largest traditional computer system — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
- Inventing Us: How Inventions Shaped Humanityby Ainissa G. Ramirez on December 3, 2020 at 5:07 pm
Materials scientist and science writer Ainissa Ramirez talks about her latest book The Alchemy of Us: How Humans and Matter Transformed One Another. — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
- Are We Real? And Other Questions of Physicsby Andrea Gawrylewski on December 1, 2020 at 2:15 pm
Do we live in a higher being’s computer? Advanced research may tell us — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
- Ultracold Molecule Mystery Solvedby Karmela Padavic-Callaghan on December 1, 2020 at 11:45 am
Lasers slow molecules for a glimpse of the quantum world—and a strange heating is uncovered — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
- Undersea Earthquakes Reveal Sound Warming Infoby Julia Rosen on November 30, 2020 at 11:57 pm
Travel time differences for sound waves produced by undersea earthquakes in the same place at different times can provide details about ocean warming. — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com