Physics writer Emily Conover joined Science News in 2016. She has a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Chicago, where she studied the weird ways of neutrinos, tiny elementary particles that can zip straight through the Earth. She got her first taste of science writing as a AAAS Mass Media Fellow for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. She has previously written for Science Magazine and the American Physical Society. She is a two-time winner of the D.C. Science Writers’ Association Newsbrief award.

All Stories by Emily Conover

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. 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.

  6. 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.

  7. 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.

  8. Particle Physics

    Physicists spot a new class of neutrinos from the sun

    Researchers with the Borexino experiment in Italy have detected neutrinos produced in the secondary fusion process taking place in the sun’s core.

  9. Quantum Physics

    To live up to the hype, quantum computers must repair their error problems

    Before quantum computers can reach their potential, scientists will need to master quantum error correction.

  10. Particle Physics

    An unexpected result from a dark matter experiment may signal new particles

    An excess of events spotted in the XENON1T experiment could be signs of solar axions or weird, new properties of neutrinos, but not dark matter itself.

  11. Particle Physics

    Measuring the neutron’s lifetime from space could solve an enduring mystery

    Measurements on Earth show that lone neutrons decay after about 15 minutes, and now scientists have measured that lifetime from space.

  12. Quantum Physics

    This weird quantum state of matter was made in orbit for the first time

    Bose-Einstein condensates made on the International Space Station could reach temperatures lower than any known in the universe.