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Now that the Higgs has been discovered, the Standard Model is complete. But are there any other new particles? “The particle and the planet are subject to the same laws […]

What the “independent tests” really teach us, if we’re willing to look carefully. Image credit: cold fusion hoax by Juan-Louis Naudin, 2003. “There’s a mark born every minute, and one […]

If we came to be just a few billion years earlier, we’d never know. Image credit: Jean-Charles Cuillandre (CFHT) & Giovanni Anselmi (Coelum Astronomia), Hawaiian Starlight. “After all the ‘Universe’ […]

The scariest of all possible fates results in the ultimate destruction of everything that ever was or will be. Image credit: Boren-Simon 2.8–8 ED POWERNEWT Astrograph Image Gallery. “Why do […]

And is there a limit to how small they can possibly be? “They had discovered one could grow as hungry for light as for food.”-Stephen King When you turn your gaze […]

They’re the densest objects in the Universe, but even they won’t live forever. Here’s why not. “It’s like, how much more black could this be? And the answer is none. None […]

Do black holes exist? The world’s most famous scientist vs. the actual science. “My goal is simple. It is a complete understanding of the Universe, why it is as it is […]

You never would’ve guessed that nuclear physics could be this easy. “Mr. Burns: Smithers, hand me that ice-cream scoop.Smithers: Ice-cream scoop?Mr. Burns: Damn it, Smithers! This isn’t rocket science, it’s brain […]

It’s the most fantastic idea ever bandied about: that there are an infinite number of Universes identical to our own out there, and that everything that could have possibly happened […]

What everyone should know about where our matter-and-radiation-filled Universe came from. “I don’t think at this point we have any way of knowing where the laws of physics came from. We […]

If you thought “planets move about the sun in ellipses,” wait until you read this. “I much prefer the sharpest criticism of a single intelligent man to the thoughtless approval of […]

How our best physical understanding of the early stages of the Universe — that set up the hot Big Bang — inevitably leads us to conclude that there’s a lot more than what’s merely […]

Be skeptical of any theory that produces the possibility of time travel, particularly if it relies on wormholes. That’s not a theory based on physical reality, but rather fodder for science fiction writers and television shows.

Physicists trying to develop a quantum theory of gravity have found that they needed to dust off the “many worlds interpretation” and apply it to their theories in order to make them work out.  

This mathematical fantasy landscape was created by expanding on the Mandelbrot set of fractals to three dimensions. 

   

What’s a good scientist to do when your theory predicts something absurd? “He who loves practice without theory is like the sailor who boards ship without a rudder and compass […]

You’ll be investing 5-to-7 years of your life. What will you get back? “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.” –Benjamin Franklin Recently, a number of people — of widely different ages […]

Working with Caltech and MinecraftEdu, Google has released a mod for the popular world-building game that provides insights into quantum behavior.

The one thing that even the best of us do at times, and why it needs to stop. “I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet.”–Mohandas […]

Biologists are, by and large, painfully aware of evolutionary theory’s shortcomings.

The Sun — like nearly all stars — burns bright through its nuclear reactions, sending light, heat and energy out into the Universe over a timespan of billions of years. But how? “The sun is […]

How an observational signature from Cosmic Inflation could herald the scientific revolution of the century “Despite its name, the big bang theory is not really a theory of a bang at […]

What would make a quantum computer so powerful is the ability to do many computations at same time.

Scientists are widely known for their inclination to drone on about esoteric topics in a language of jargon. But every so often, they can surprise us with conciseness. 

We normally think of the Big Bang as the very beginning of our Universe, but we now know the story goes back even before it. Here’s how. “The aim of science […]

Robert Thurman: Everybody has a Buddha in there and Buddhas have more fun. 

In 1887, two scientists set out to measure how the speed of light changed with the Earth’s motion. What they *didn’t* find wound up changing the world. “The conclusions, the bizarre […]

You know that the square root of -1 is “i”, an imaginary number. But did you know any of these? “There is not enough love and goodness in the world to […]

Lawrence Krauss describes quantum computing and the technical obstacles we need to overcome to realize this Holy Grail of processing.