Physics
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Particle Physics
Excess antielectrons aren’t from nearby dead stars, study says
Pulsars might not be behind excess antimatter, gamma-ray observations suggest.
- Physics
Colliding black holes are reported for a fifth time
LIGO spots another merger, this time with less fanfare.
- Physics
Why the wiggle in a crowd’s walk can put a wobble in a bridge
New simulations can better predict when pedestrians cause a bridge to shimmy.
- Quantum Physics
Quantum computing steps forward with 50-qubit prototype
Bit by qubit, scientists are edging closer to the realm where quantum computers will reign supreme.
- Quantum Physics
Quantum computers take a step forward with a 50-qubit prototype
Race to build ever-more-powerful processors edges the technology closer to being able to best traditional machines.
- Archaeology
Mystery void is discovered in the Great Pyramid of Giza
High-energy particle imaging helps scientists peek inside one of the world’s oldest, largest monuments.
- Physics
Photons are caught behaving like superconducting electrons
Light particles, or photons, swap energy like electrons in a superconductor.
- Materials Science
Nobel Prize–winning technique illuminates the fibers that set off battery fires
Scientists get a closer look at the filaments that ruin lithium-ion batteries from the inside out.
- Tech
This is the lightest robot that can fly, swim and take off from water
Lightweight, insect-inspired robot can swim, fly and leap from the surface of water.
- Quantum Physics
Light’s weird dual nature weathers trip to space and back
“Delayed-choice” experiment performed in space reaffirms the idea that light can behave like a wave or a particle.
- Life
A new material may one day keep mussels off piers and boat hulls
Mussels don’t stick to a new lubricant-infused silicone material.
- Science & Society
Conspiring with engineers helps make science great
Acting Editor in Chief Elizabeth Quill says the passion to acquire knowledge and apply it lives in both engineers and scientists.
