All Stories by Emily Conover
- Math
To cook a perfect steak, use math
As a steak cooks in an oven, movement of liquid within the meat causes it to become extra juicy in the center in a way that can be predicted by mathematics.
- Science & Society
How materials science has changed humankind — for better and worse
As people began wielding new materials, the technologies fundamentally changed humankind, the new book ‘The Alchemy of Us’ argues.
- Physics
Collisions reveal new evidence of ‘anyon’ quasiparticles’ existence
Scientists report evidence that a class of particle called an anyon appears in two-dimensional materials.
- Quantum Physics
Quantum mechanics means some black hole orbits are impossible to predict
Computer simulations reveal that foreseeing the paths of three orbiting objects sometimes requires precision better than the quantum limit.
- Physics
A mysterious superconductor’s wave could reveal the physics behind the materials
Scientists finally spotted a pair-density wave in a high-temperature superconductor.
- Particle Physics
Particles called axions could reveal how matter conquered the universe
Axions, if they exist, may solve not one, not two, but three pressing puzzles of particle physics.
- Physics
New telescopes could help spot ‘photon ring’ of the first black hole ever imaged
Expanding the Event Horizon Telescope by adding telescopes in space could help capture the rings around galaxy M87’s supermassive black hole.
- Physics
How slime mold helped scientists map out the cosmic web
Tapping a similarity between a slime mold’s lacy web and the vast threads of matter that connect galaxies, astronomers visualized the cosmic web.
- Physics
Even a weird hypernucleus confirms a fundamental symmetry of nature
A particle accelerator experiment reveals that a symmetry of nature holds up and hints at what could lurk at the heart of a neutron star.
- Particle Physics
Physicists have narrowed the mass range for hypothetical dark matter axions
In two new studies, scientists search for axions within new mass ranges but the particles remain elusive.
- Physics
Listening to soap bubbles pop reveals the physics behind the bursts
The quiet, high-pitched sound made by a popping soap bubble reveals the forces that occur during the bubble’s demise.
- Space
NASA icon Katherine Johnson has died at the age of 101
The “Hidden Figure” captured the public’s admiration after the story of her career was publicized in a 2016 book and film.
