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. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. 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.

  6. 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.

  7. Quantum Physics

    Rumors hint that Google has accomplished quantum supremacy

    Reports suggest a quantum computer has bested standard computers on one type of calculation, but practical applications are still a distant goal.

  8. Physics

    A new experiment slashes the maximum possible mass of tiny neutrinos

    The KATRIN experiment suggests that the tiny subatomic particles have masses a minuscule fraction of an electron’s.

  9. Space

    The Milky Way’s supermassive black hole reached record brightness this year

    The big black hole at the center of the galaxy recently flared twice as bright as ever seen before in near-infrared wavelengths.

  10. Physics

    Gravitational waves from a ringing black hole support the no-hair theorem

    A new study of gravitational waves from merging black holes agrees with the predictions of the general theory of relativity.

  11. Astronomy

    Giant radio bubbles spew from near the Milky Way’s central black hole

    New structures found at the heart of our galaxy join other bubbles, chimneys and filaments that hint at a turbulent past.

  12. Physics

    Physicists may be a step closer to solving the mystery of proton size

    Multiple measurements now agree that the proton is smaller than previously thought.