All Stories by Emily Conover
- Particle Physics
Physicists dream big with an idea for a particle collider on the moon
A lunar particle collider that dwarfs any such facility on Earth might not be impossible, according to new calculations.
- Physics
Nuclear clocks could outdo atomic clocks as the most precise timepieces
Better clocks could improve technologies that depend on them, such as GPS navigation, and help test fundamental ideas of physics.
- Planetary Science
Laser experiments suggest helium rain falls on Jupiter
Compressing a hydrogen and helium mixture with lasers shows that the two elements separate at pressures found within gas giant planets.
- Particle Physics
In a first, neutrinos were caught interacting at the Large Hadron Collider
Despite the LHC’s fame, all its detectors were oblivious to neutrinos. But not anymore.
- Astronomy
Record-breaking light has more than a quadrillion electron volts of energy
Hundreds of newly detected gamma rays hint at cosmic environments that accelerate particles to extremes.
- Physics
A newfound quasicrystal formed in the first atomic bomb test
Material formed in the wake of the first atomic bomb test contains a strange material that is ordered but that is not a standard crystal.
- Astronomy
A study of Earth’s crust hints that supernovas aren’t gold mines
Supernovas aren’t the main source of gold, silver and other heavy elements, a study of deep-sea crust suggests.
- Materials Science
Morphing noodles start flat but bend into curly pasta shapes as they’re cooked
Shape-shifting pasta could potentially cut down on packaging and save space during shipping.
- Physics
A clock’s accuracy may be tied to the entropy it creates
A clock made from a thin, wiggling membrane releases more entropy, or disorder, as it becomes more accurate.
- Particle Physics
The thickness of lead’s neutron ‘skin’ has been precisely measured
At 0.28 trillionths of a millimeter thick, the shell of neutrons around the nucleus of an atom of lead is a bit thicker than physicists had predicted.
- Particle Physics
The already tiny neutrino’s maximum possible mass has shrunk even further
At less than an electron volt, neutrinos are by far the most lightweight massive particles known, a new measurement confirms.
- Astronomy
Neutron stars may not be as squishy as some scientists thought
NASA’s NICER X-ray telescope finds that the most massive known neutron star has an unexpectedly large diameter.
