Archive

The field of fundamental physics is experiencing both a period of confusion and an openness to new ideas.

Throughout nature, throngs of relatively simple elements can self-organize into behaviors that seem unexpectedly complex. Scientists are beginning to understand why and how these phenomena emerge without a central organizing entity.

In a Paris lab, researchers have shown for the first time that quantum methods of transmitting information are superior to classical ones.

Planetary geologist Meenakshi Wadhwa uses Martian meteorites to trace the history of our solar system.

Digital security depends on the difficulty of factoring large numbers. A new proof shows why one method for breaking digital encryption won’t work.

Two independent papers vanquish lingering doubts about LIGO’s historic discovery of gravitational waves.

A report that a fish can pass the “mirror test” for self-awareness reignites debates about how to define and measure that elusive quality.

Neither animal, plant, fungus nor familiar protozoan, a strange microbe that sits in its own “supra-kingdom” of life foretells incredible biodiversity yet to be discovered by new sequencing technologies.

Equations, like numbers, cannot always be split into simpler elements.