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Physics
Due to a crust of carbon, the absence of oxygen, and constant bombardment from meteorites, the planet Mercury may be littered with diamonds.
The relationship between these two ways of thinking about the world deserves deeper exploration.
When we started imaging the Universe with Hubble, every star had four "spikes" coming from it. Here's why Webb will have more.
The laws of physics state that you can't create or destroy matter without also creating or destroying an equal amount of antimatter. So how are we here?
We cannot deduce laws about a higher level of complexity by starting with a lower level of complexity. Here, reductionism meets a brick wall.
Life is possible because of asymmetries, such as an imbalance between matter and antimatter and the "handedness" (chirality) of molecules.
The big-picture physics is simple – let gravity do its job.
Einstein's theories of relativity faced fierce opposition. One critic claimed he was attempting to subvert the scientific method.
If you want to have foamy beer inside the comfort of your own home, you need to invest in a special nucleated glass.
Is the Universe finite or infinite? Does it go on forever or loop back on itself? Here's what would happen if you traveled forever.
There are an estimated two trillion galaxies within the observable Universe. Most are already unreachable, and the situation only gets worse.
If you want to understand what the Universe is, how it began, evolved, and will eventually end, astrophysics is the only way to go.
Particle physics needs a new collider to supersede the Large Hadron Collider. Muons, not electrons or protons, might hold the key.
If you put very fine black powder powder in a confined space it explodes in a cloud of heat, gas and noise.
Even with leap years and long-term planning, our calendar won't be good forever. Here's why, and how to fix it.
One day, we could fly across the U.S. in half an hour. A state-of-the-art hypersonic flight testing facility at UTSA could help make that dream a reality.
Every December, the Geminid meteor shower reaches its peak. Its 2021 show will be spectacular, but only if you do it right.
No matter how hard we try, we will never reach a final theory that unifies scientific knowledge. The very nature of science doesn't allow it.
Until now, researchers believed davemaoite could never be found on Earth's surface.
Many still cling to the idea that we live in a deterministic Universe, despite the nature of quantum physics. Now, the "least spooky" interpretation no longer works.
Why are the rest masses of fundamental particles related like this? When it comes to the nature of matter in the Universe, the Standard Model describes the known elementary particles perfectly […]
More energy means more potential for discovery, but we’re topped out. If your goal is to discover something completely novel, you have to look in a way that no one else […]
Once merely a theoretical curiosity, they might be the key to understanding so much more. Out of all of the known particles — both fundamental and composite — there are a whole slew of properties […]
Whatever’s lurking out there, it isn’t all, or even mostly, normal matter. When it comes to the Universe, it’s only natural to wonder what, exactly, it is that makes everything up. […]
“Hubble’s Law” is only an approximation, and breaks down when we need it most. From anywhere in the Universe, you can choose to look out at any other galaxy that’s present. […]
Going to smaller and smaller distance scales reveals more fundamental views of nature, which means if we can understand and describe the smallest scales, we can build our way to […]
Only the best physical theories outlast the minds that invented them. Throughout the 20th century, a number of discoveries revolutionized our Universe. The discovery of the interior structure of atoms as […]
Most of us will never run a 4 minute mile. But on a bicycle, almost anyone can do it. As human beings, we often take for granted how our bodies work. […]
50% of stars are in Sun-like ‘singlet’ systems. The planetary nebulae we see just don’t line up. Around 7 billion years from now, our Sun’s life will end. As the Sun […]
Hidden variables aren’t ruled out, but they can’t get rid of quantum weirdness. Ever since the discovery of the bizarre behavior of quantum systems, we’ve been forced to reckon with […]