Physics
- Astronomy
This moon-sized white dwarf is the smallest ever found
A newfound white dwarf is the smallest and perhaps the most massive known, and spins around once every seven minutes.
- Physics
Gravitational waves reveal the first known mergers of a black hole and neutron star
For the first time, LIGO and Virgo have detected long-anticipated gravitational waves from a black hole merging with a neutron star.
- Animals
A proposed ‘quantum compass’ for songbirds just got more plausible
Quantum physics could be behind birds’ magnetic sense of direction, new measurements indicate.
- Physics
Dark matter may slow the rotation of the Milky Way’s central bar of stars
A method akin to studying a tree’s rings revealed the history of a slowdown of the rotating bar of stars at the heart of the Milky Way galaxy.
- Physics
Mathematician J. Ernest Wilkins Jr. was a Manhattan Project standout despite racism
Black scientist J. Ernest Wilkins Jr. made nuclear physics calculations that helped build an atomic bomb.
- Quantum Physics
Physicists used LIGO’s mirrors to approach a quantum limit
Using LIGO’s laser beams to reduce jiggling rather than detect gravitational waves, scientists have gotten closer to the realm of quantum mechanics.
- Physics
Gravitational waves confirm a black hole law predicted by Stephen Hawking
The first black hole merger detected by LIGO affirms that the surface area of a black hole can increase over time, but not decrease.
- Particle Physics
Physicists dream big with an idea for a particle collider on the moon
A lunar particle collider that dwarfs any such facility on Earth might not be impossible, according to new calculations.
- Physics
Auroras form when electrons from space ride waves in Earth’s magnetic field
New lab results confirm that auroras are triggered by disturbances in Earth’s magnetic field called Alfvén waves.
- Physics
Nuclear clocks could outdo atomic clocks as the most precise timepieces
Better clocks could improve technologies that depend on them, such as GPS navigation, and help test fundamental ideas of physics.
- Animals
The teeth of ‘wandering meatloaf’ contain a rare mineral found only in rocks
The hard, magnetic teeth of the world’s largest chiton contain nanoparticles of santabarbaraite, a mineral never seen before in biology.
- Planetary Science
Laser experiments suggest helium rain falls on Jupiter
Compressing a hydrogen and helium mixture with lasers shows that the two elements separate at pressures found within gas giant planets.
