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.
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All Stories by Emily Conover
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Quantum Physics
Google claimed quantum supremacy in 2019 — and sparked controversy
Google’s quantum computer outperformed the most powerful supercomputer on a task, the company reported. But some scientists aren’t fully convinced.
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Quantum Physics
Quantum jitter lets heat travel across a vacuum
In a first, scientists observed tiny, vibrating membranes exchanging heat due to quantum fluctuations.
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Space
Electric charges on dust grains may help explain how planets are born
In an experiment, glass beads clung together like protoplanetary dust particles when shaken and flung more than 100 meters skyward.
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Quantum Physics
A new, theoretical type of time crystal could run without outside help
The idea tiptoes closer to the original concept of time crystals, first proposed in 2012.
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Physics
Mounting evidence suggests neutrinos are key to why antimatter is rare
The source of matter’s dominance over antimatter might be revealed by the tiny subatomic particles.
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Materials Science
Lead becomes stronger than steel under extreme pressures
Lead is a soft metal, easily scratched with a fingernail. But that changes dramatically when the metal is compressed under high pressures.
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Quantum Physics
Google officially lays claim to quantum supremacy
The quantum computer Sycamore reportedly performed a calculation that even the most powerful supercomputers available can’t reproduce.
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Physics
Physicists have found quasiparticles that mimic hypothetical dark matter axions
These subatomic particles could make up dark matter in the cosmos. A mathematically similar phenomenon occurs in a solid material.
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Materials Science
A new cooling technique relies on untwisting coiled fibers
A “twist fridge” operates via twistocaloric cooling, a technique that generates cooling by unraveling twisted strands.
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Physics
Physics Nobel awarded for discoveries about the universe’s evolution and exoplanets
Three scientists share the 2019 Nobel Prize in physics for revealing what makes up our cosmos and for finding the first planet orbiting a sunlike star.
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Space
A new image reveals the structure of the cosmic web
Newly spotted tendrils of gas within a forming cluster of galaxies support scientists’ theory of the cosmos.
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Physics
Andrea Young uncovers the strange physics of 2-D materials
Physicist Andrea Young has set his sights on the strange ways electrons behave in flat, layered structures.