All Stories by Emily Conover
- Physics
Four types of flames join forces to make this eerie ‘blue whirl’
Pinning down the structure of the “amazingly complex” blaze could help scientists control it.
- Cosmology
Scientists can’t agree on how clumpy the universe is
A measurement of 21 million galaxies finds a level of clumpiness that disagrees with estimates based on the oldest light in the universe.
- Physics
A new experiment hints at how hot water can freeze faster than cold
A study of tiny glass beads suggests that the Mpemba effect is real.
- Astronomy
50 years ago, Mauna Kea opened for astronomy. Controversy continues
Current plans to build a new telescope on the volcano sparked the latest conflict.
- Cosmology
‘The End of Everything’ explores the ways the universe could perish
As Katie Mack explains in The End of Everything, the universe’s demise could be disastrously violent or deadly calm.
- Physics
The physics of solar flares could help scientists predict imminent outbursts
Physicists aim to improve space weather predictions by studying the physical processes that spark a solar flare.
- Physics
A black hole circling a wormhole would emit weird gravitational waves
A new calculation reveals the strange gravitational waves LIGO and Virgo could see if a black hole were falling into a hypothetical tunnel in spacetime.
- Cosmology
Despite a new measurement, the debate over the universe’s expansion rages on
The Atacama Cosmology Telescope finds the universe is expanding more slowly than supernova observations suggest.
- Physics
The universe might have a fundamental clock that ticks very, very fast
A theoretical study could help physicists searching for a theory of quantum gravity.
- Physics
Physicists have ‘braided’ strange quasiparticles called anyons
All known particles fall into two classes. Physicists just found new evidence of a third class in 2-D materials.
- Life
Here’s how flying snakes stay aloft
High-speed cameras show that paradise tree snakes keep from tumbling as they glide through the sky by undulating their bodies.
- Space
Colliding black holes may have created a surprising flare of light
A flare-up after a gravitational wave outburst may be the first sighting of light from colliding black holes.
