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Black holes encode information on their surfaces, but evaporate away into Hawking radiation. Is that information preserved, and if so, how?

Within our observable Universe, there’s only one Earth and one “you.” But in a vast multiverse, so much more becomes possible.

One of the fundamental constants of nature, the fine-structure constant, determines so much about our Universe. Here’s why it matters.

In the year 2000, physicists created a list of the ten most important unsolved problems in their field. 25 years later, here’s where we are.

Welcome to The Nightcrawler — a weekly newsletter from Eric Markowitz covering tech, innovation, and long-term thinking.

Under extreme conditions, matter takes on properties that lead to remarkable, novel possibilities. Topological superconductors included.

A relatively new interpretation of quantum mechanics asks us to reimagine the process of science itself.

Nature may not allow us full access to the weirdness of quantum mechanics.

In all the Universe, only a few particles are eternally stable. The photon, the quantum of light, has an infinite lifetime. Or does it?

A longstanding mismatch between theory and experiment motivated an exquisite muon measurement. At last, a theoretical solution has arrived.

50 years ago, Stephen Hawking showed that black holes emit radiation and eventually decay away. That fate may now apply to everything.

The Kalam cosmological argument asserts that everything that exists must have a cause, and the “first” cause must be God. Is that valid?

Don’t fall into the determinism trap. Everything is, in fact, random, says chemist Lee Cronin:

Theoretical physics professor Michio Kaku outlines the evolution of computers from analog to digital and introduces quantum computers as the next frontier.

The combined intellectual heft of multiple “big thinkers” delivered arguably the most successful scientific theory in history.

Almost 100 years ago, an asymmetric pathology led Dirac to postulate the positron. A similar pathology could lead us to supersymmetry.

Quantum wormholes are mathematically possible — but might also be physically impossible. Physicist Janna Levin explains Hawking’s famous information paradox.

There’s a quantum limit to how precisely anything can be measured. By squeezing light, LIGO has now surpassed all previous limitations.

There’s no upper limit to how massive galaxies or black holes can be, but the most massive known star is only ~260 solar masses. Here’s why.

In all the Universe, only a few particles are eternally stable. The photon, the quantum of light, has an infinite lifetime. Or does it?

There may be unknown particles lurking inside the quantum foam.

Physicists just can’t leave an incomplete theory alone; they try to repair it. When nature is kind, it can lead to a major breakthrough.

Some processes, like quantum tunneling, have been shown to occur instantaneously. But the ultimate cosmic speed limit remains unavoidable.

Is it like a tiny ball — or what?

One of the 20th century’s most famous, influential, and successful physicists is lauded the world over. But Feynman is no hero to me.

It’s not about particle-antiparticle pairs falling into or escaping from a black hole. A deeper explanation alters our view of reality.

From forming bound states to normal scattering, many possibilities abound for matter-antimatter interactions. So why do they annihilate?

Everything acts like a wave while it propagates, but behaves like a particle whenever it interacts. The origins of this duality go way back.

Perhaps the whole Universe is the result of a vacuum fluctuation, originating from what we could call quantum nothingness. 

Quantum physics is starting to show up in unexpected places. Indeed, it is at work in animals, plants, and our own bodies.