All Stories by Emily Conover
- Quantum Physics
A new quantum engine packs more power than its standard counterparts
A new type of tiny machine harnesses quantum physics to produce more power than a normal engine, under certain conditions.
- Particle Physics
How a proton gets its spin is surprisingly complicated
Pinning down the source of protons’ spin is surprisingly hard to do.
- Astronomy
X-ray ‘chimneys’ connect the Milky Way to mysterious gamma-ray bubbles
Two columns of X-rays that are hundreds of light-years long could explain the existence of giant bubbles of energetic light that sandwich the galaxy.
- Life
Some shrimp make plasma with their claws. Now a 3-D printed claw can too
Scientists used a replica of a shrimp claw to re-create the extreme pressures and temperatures that the animals produce underwater.
- Physics
Ultraprecise atomic clocks put Einstein’s special relativity to the test
Physics obeys the same rules no matter what direction you’re facing, a new experiment confirms.
- Physics
Scientists have chilled tiny electronics to a record low temperature
In a first, electronic chip temperatures dip below a thousandth of a degree kelvin.
- Physics
Microwaved grapes make fireballs, and scientists now know why
Electromagnetic waves bounce back and forth inside a grape, creating plasma.
- Life
This spider slingshots itself at extreme speeds to catch prey
By winding up its web like a slingshot, the slingshot spider achieves an acceleration rate far faster than a cheetah’s.
- Cosmology
Hidden ancient neutrinos may shape the patterns of galaxies
The gravitational pull of subatomic particles born in the universe’s first second seem to influence how galaxies cluster into rings.
- Chemistry
Extreme elements push the boundaries of the periodic table
The hunt for the next elements on the periodic table might turn up superheavy atoms that flaunt the rules of chemistry.
- Physics
Supernovas show the universe expands at the same rate in all directions
Analyzing supernovas indicates that expansion rates agree within 1 percent across large regions of sky.
- Life
Physics explains how pollen gets its stunning diversity of shapes
These pollen patterns can all be explained by one simple trick of physics: phase separation.
