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The question of why the Universe is the way it is is an ancient one, and none of the answers we have come up with are satisfying.

Quantum mechanics forces us to toss out the old, reliable ways in which we make sense of our everyday reality.

The familiar terrain of solids, liquids, and gases gives way to the exotic realms of plasmas and degenerate matter.

In 1974, Hawking showed that black holes aren’t stable, but emit radiation and decay. Nearly 50 years later, it isn’t just for black holes.

Dark matter hasn’t been directly detected, but some form of invisible matter is clearly gravitating. Could the graviton hold the answer?

We think of physical reality as what objectively exists, independent of any observer. But relativity and quantum physics say otherwise.

The multiverse is an idea that has gained a lot of traction in popular culture. But what does science have to say about it?

Whether you run the clock forward or backward, most of us expect the laws of physics to be the same. A 2012 experiment showed otherwise.

In our common experience, you can’t get something for nothing. In the quantum realm, something really can emerge from nothing.

All biological systems are wildly disordered. Yet somehow, that disorder enables plant photosynthesis to be nearly 100% efficient.

Since 1930, type Ia supernovae have been thought to arise from white dwarfs exceeding the Chandrasekhar mass limit. Here’s why that’s wrong.

Some constants, like the speed of light, exist with no underlying explanation. How many “fundamental constants” does our Universe require?

The mass that gravitates and the mass that resists motion are, somehow, the same mass. But even Einstein didn’t know why this is so.

Cosmic origins remain a mystery.

Computers are growing more powerful and more capable, but everything has limits

Wolfgang Pauli was a brilliant, well-liked physicist and a scathing critic of balderdash.

How efficiently could quantum engines operate?

We’ll never be able to extract any information about what’s inside a black hole’s event horizon. Here’s why a singularity is inevitable.

Up until 2002, we thought that the heaviest stable element was bismuth: #83 on the periodic table. That’s absolutely no longer the case.

When what we predict and what we measure don’t add up, that’s a sign there’s something new to learn. Could it be a new fundamental force?

Photons come in every wavelength you can imagine. But one particular quantum transition makes light at precisely 21 cm, and it’s magical.

LK-99, almost certainly, isn’t a room-temperature superconductor. The underlying physics of the phenomenon helps us understand why.

Einstein’s relativity overthrew the notion of absolute space and time, replacing them with a spacetime fabric. But is spacetime truly real?

The spooky world of quantum mechanics might reach out and touch you — by mutating your DNA. Welcome to the weird world of quantum biology.

A cute mathematical trick can “rescale” the Universe so that it isn’t actually expanding. But can that “trick” survive all our cosmic tests?

In 1974, Stephen Hawking showed that even black holes don’t live forever, but emit radiation and eventually evaporate. Here’s how.

The lithium-ion alternatives could help create a safer, greener future.

New tech is a double-edged sword. Integration can be expensive and perilous: Mess up the adoption and jobs are on the line. 

All of the matter and radiation we measure today originated in a hot Big Bang long ago. The Universe was never empty, not even before that.