The neutrino is the most ghostly, rarely-interacting particle in all the Standard Model. How well can we truly make “beams” out of them?
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We have two descriptions of the Universe that work perfectly well: General Relativity and quantum physics. Too bad they don’t work together.
No matter how you define the end, including the demise of humanity, all life, or even the planet itself, our ultimate destruction awaits.
There’s a speed limit to the Universe: the speed of light in a vacuum. Want to beat the speed of light? Try going through a medium!
If you’ve found yourself befuddled by extraordinary scientific-sounding claims, you’re not alone. But this centuries-old lesson can help.
On the largest cosmic scales, galaxies line up along filaments, with great clusters forming at their intersection. Here’s how it took shape.
Astronomers have been looking for radio waves sent by a distant civilization for more than 60 years.
Scientists are solving the problem of costly energy storage.
If you want to understand the Universe, cosmologically, you just can’t do it without the Friedmann equation. With it, the cosmos is yours.
U.S. nuclear power plants are built to survive external attacks. Even missiles or a commercial aircraft strike would not cause a meltdown or radiation leak.
The matter that creates black holes won’t be what comes out when they evaporate. Will the black hole information paradox ever be solved?
Earth wasn’t created until more than 9 billion years after the Big Bang. In some lucky places, life could have arisen almost right away.
Ever since the start of the hot Big Bang, time ticks forward as the Universe expands. But could time ever run backward, instead?
The first observational evidence showing the Universe is expanding is 100 years old now: in 2023. Here’s the story of its 100th anniversary.
An incredible composite image of Pandora’s Cluster, Abell 2744, simultaneously showcases both our impressive knowledge and vast ignorance.
Slimy biofilms made up of bacterial and eukaryotic life forms have taken over an abandoned, flooded uranium mine in Germany.
At very high and very low temperatures, matter takes on properties that open up an entire Universe of remarkable new possibilities.
For many years, cosmologists have claimed the Universe is 13.8 billion years old. A new paper says no, it’s 26.7 billion. How do we decide?
Earth is not a benign mother. We have begun to witness what happens when it unleashes its fury.
Our bodies crave more food if we haven’t had enough protein, and this can lead to a vicious cycle.
Oxygen isn’t strictly necessary for combustion, but it is ideal. Any advanced (alien) civilization probably uses oxygen to burn things.
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.
Explanations for the cosmic speed limit often conflate mass with inertia.
Even with the quantum rules governing the Universe, there are limits to what matter can withstand. Beyond that, black holes are unavoidable.
There are a few clues that the Universe isn’t completely adding up. Even so, the standard model of cosmology holds up stronger than ever.
When we prepare for our plans to go wrong, we build the foundations for lasting profit.
If the electromagnetic and weak forces unify to make the electroweak force, maybe, at even higher energies, something even greater happens?
Over 50 years since humans last walked on the Moon, astronaut footprints and rover tracks are still visible. But they won’t last forever.
Overwintering is profoundly stressful for trees. So why do they bother?
There are plenty of life-friendly stellar systems in the Universe today. But at some point in the far future, life’s final extinction will occur.