We care about your data, and we'd like to use cookies to give you a smooth browsing experience. Please agree and read more about our privacy policy.
Quanta Homepage
  • Physics
  • Mathematics
  • Biology
  • Computer Science
  • Topics
  • Archive

Charlie Wood

Staff Writer

Twitter
Email

Latest Articles

An illustration of electric current flowing through two types of materials. In the normal wire, current is represented by discrete electrons. In the unusual material, it is transformed into a psychedelic swirl of colors.
condensed matter physics

Meet Strange Metals: Where Electricity May Flow Without Electrons

By Charlie Wood
November 27, 2023
Comment
Read Later

For 50 years, physicists have understood current as a flow of charged particles. But a new experiment has found that in at least one strange material, this understanding falls apart.

An illustration of a hand holding a pair of orange, planetlike objects that orbit one another. Behind it is a box full of reddish planets and green stars. There are two slots at the top of the box. One is shaped like a star, and the other is round, like a planet. The pair of planets doesn’t fit into either slot.
astrophysics

Rogue Worlds Throw Planetary Ideas Out of Orbit

By Charlie Wood
November 13, 2023
Comment
Read Later

Scientists have recently discovered scores of free-floating worlds that defy classification. The new observations have forced them to rethink their theories of star and planet formation.

An illustration of calipers, a tape measure and a protractor attempting to measure the properties of three spherical qubits.
quantum computing

The Quest to Quantify Quantumness

By Charlie Wood
October 19, 2023
Comment
Read Later

What makes a quantum computer more powerful than a classical computer? It’s a surprisingly subtle question that physicists are still grappling with, decades into the quantum age.

An illustration. The head of a demon floats above an atomic lattice. Patches of its face disappear when illuminated by flashlights.
condensed matter physics

Invisible ‘Demon’ Discovered in Odd Superconductor

By Charlie Wood
October 9, 2023
Comment
Read Later

Physicists have long suspected that hunks of metal could vibrate in a peculiar way that would be all but invisible. Now physicists have spotted these “demon modes.”

Nobel Prize

Physicists Who Explored Tiny Glimpses of Time Win Nobel Prize

By Charlie Wood
October 3, 2023
Comment
Read Later

The development of attosecond pulses of light allowed researchers to explore the frame-by-frame movement of electrons.

quantum physics

Physicists Observe ‘Unobservable’ Quantum Phase Transition

By Charlie Wood
September 11, 2023
Comment
Read Later

Measurement and entanglement both have a “spooky” nonlocal flavor to them. Now physicists are harnessing that nonlocality to probe the spread of quantum information and control it.

A representation of cubits. In this image, they look like fragile bubbles arranged in a grid. Each bubble has similar mathematical markings on it, but they each have an illuminated arrow in their center that’s pointing a different way.
quantum computing

New Codes Could Make Quantum Computing 10 Times More Efficient

By Charlie Wood
August 25, 2023
Comment
Read Later

Quantum computing is still really, really hard. But the rise of a powerful class of error-correcting codes suggests that the task might be slightly more feasible than many feared.

A composite of 15 images from the James Webb Space Telescope. Each image has a glowing red dot — a young galaxy — in its center.
astrophysics

JWST Spots Giant Black Holes All Over the Early Universe

By Charlie Wood
August 14, 2023
Comment
Read Later

Giant black holes were supposed to be bit players in the early cosmic story. But recent James Webb Space Telescope observations are finding an unexpected abundance of the beasts.

Illustration of an astronaut opening a black hole to see another astronaut inside.
theoretical physics

New Calculations Show How to Escape Hawking’s Black Hole Paradox

By Charlie Wood
August 2, 2023
Comment
Read Later

Inside of a black hole, the two theoretical pillars of 20th-century physics appear to clash. Now a group of young physicists think they have resolved the conflict by appealing to the central pillar of the new century — the physics of quantum information.


Previous
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • ...
  • 9
Next

About the author

Charlie Wood is a staff writer covering physics at Quanta Magazine. His articles about advances in the physical sciences both on and off the planet have appeared in Popular Science, Scientific American, The Christian Science Monitor and other publications. Previously, he taught high school physics and English in Mozambique and Japan. He has a master’s degree in science journalism from New York University and a bachelor’s degree in physics from Brown University.
Follow Quanta
Facebook
Facebook

Twitter
Twitter

Youtube
YouTube

Instagram
Instagram

RSS
RSS

Newsletter

All Time

Most Read From Charlie Wood

This Data is Current Loading...
This Data is Current Loading...
This Data is Current Loading...
The Quanta Newsletter

Get highlights of the most important news delivered to your email inbox

Recent newsletters
Quanta Homepage
Facebook
Twitter
Youtube
Instagram
  • About Quanta
  • Archive
  • Contact Us
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy

All Rights Reserved © 2023
An editorially independent publication supported by the Simons Foundation.