Physics

  1. Physics

    How to make the best fried rice, according to physics

    Researchers show exactly how rocking and sliding a wok can launch fried rice into the air, letting it cook at a high temperature without burning.

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  2. Earth

    Here are 5 of the weirdest auroras, including the newly spotted ‘dunes’

    A newfound type of aurora dubbed the “dunes” joins the ranks of black auroras, STEVE and other obscure auroral phenomena.

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  3. Physics

    A barrier to colliding particles called muons has been smashed

    Future particle accelerators could slam muons together to reach higher energies than any before.

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  4. Particle Physics

    Misbehaving kaons could hint at the existence of new particles

    Certain extremely rare decays seem to be happening more often than expected, and scientists don’t know why.

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  5. Materials Science

    The containers the U.S. plans to use for nuclear waste storage may corrode

    The different components of a nuclear waste storage unit start to corrode each other when wet, new lab experiments show.

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  6. Physics

    Scientists cooled a nanoparticle to the quantum limit

    Physicists decreased a nanoparticle’s motion to the lowest level allowed by quantum mechanics.

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  7. Physics

    A quantum strategy could verify the solutions to unsolvable problems — in theory

    A quantum technique for verifying solutions to difficult problems could apply to an “unbelievably huge” class of puzzles.

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  8. Chemistry

    A dance of two atoms reveals chemical bonds forming and breaking

    Two rhenium atoms approach and retreat from one another in an electron microscope video.

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  9. Physics

    The fastest-spinning object ever made could help spot quantum friction in a vacuum

    Scientists have developed a torque sensor made with a nanoparticle that can spin more than 300 billion times a minute.

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  10. Physics

    How to restore the legendary acoustics of Notre Dame

    Using heritage acoustics, researchers hope to help restore the sound of Paris's Notre Dame cathedral.

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  11. Space

    Dark matter pioneer Vera Rubin gets a new observatory named after her

    A new effort to study the cosmos is named after Vera Rubin, an astronomer who searched out dark matter and battled sexism.

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  12. Materials Science

    This material could camouflage objects from infrared cameras

    A coating of samarium nickel oxide counteracts hotter objects’ tendency for brighter thermal radiation.

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