particle physics
With the right material at the right temperature and a magnetic track, physics really does allow perpetual motion without energy loss.
If your computer crashes, it might be due to a star that exploded somewhere in the Universe millions of years ago.
Quantum mechanics forces us to toss out the old, reliable ways in which we make sense of our everyday reality.
In special relativity, the statement that two events happened at the same time is meaningless.
Magnetic monopoles began as a mere theoretical curiosity. They might hold the key to understanding so much more.
The key problem with the dark matter hypothesis is that nobody knows what form dark matter might take.
The whole isn’t greater than the sum of its parts; that’s a flaw in our thinking. Non-reductionism requires magic, not merely science.
Lasers are all around you. This ubiquitous technology came from our understanding of quantum physics.
Searching for dark matter, the XENON collaboration found absolutely nothing out of the ordinary. Here’s why that’s an extraordinary feat.
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!
Scientists have found three new examples of a very exotic form of matter made of quarks. They can yield insights into the early Universe.
The neutrino is the most ghostly, rarely-interacting particle in all the Standard Model. How well can we truly make “beams” out of them?
The way to understand the earliest moments of creation is to recreate those conditions and study them. Why would we stop now?
On July 4, we celebrate the tenth anniversary of the discovery of the Higgs boson, the missing piece of the Standard Model of particle physics.
Experiments cannot confirm what theory predicts about neutrinos. And particle physicists have no idea why.
Giant particle accelerators aren’t a waste of money. They are essential for understanding the Universe.
The Standard Model of elementary particles has three nearly identical copies of particles: generations. And nobody knows why.
A next-generation LHC++ could cost $100 billion. Here’s why such a machine could end up being a massive waste of money.
The spooky world of quantum mechanics might reach out and touch you — by mutating your DNA. Welcome to the weird world of quantum biology.
Smashing things together at unprecedented energies sounds dangerous. But it’s nothing the Universe hasn’t already seen, and survived.
Humans who’ve lived through the same events often remember them differently. Could quantum physics be responsible?
Do the laws of physics place a hard limit on how far technology can advance, or can we re-write those laws?
Equations that describe time travel are fully compatible and consistent with relativity — but physics is not mathematics.
The Standard Model may or may not be in trouble, but particle physics definitely needs saving. Here’s what the new LHC can do.
Could we finally detect the elusive Unruh effect?
Extremely precise atomic clocks are not just of theoretical interest; they could help detect impending volcanic eruptions or melting glaciers.
Every timekeeping device works via a version of a pendulum — even the atomic clocks that are accurate to nanoseconds.
Realism in science cannot be completely unmoored from human experience. Otherwise, realism ends up tortured with unreal paradoxes.
At very high and very low temperatures, matter takes on properties that open up an entire Universe of remarkable new possibilities.