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Thomas Lewton

Thomas Lewton

Contributing Writer

A red laser beam enters a glass cube and splits in two; half of the beam continues straight ahead and the other half shoots out of the glass cube at a right angle.
particle physics

A New Tool for Finding Dark Matter Digs Up Nothing

By Thomas Lewton
March 21, 2022
Read Later

Physicists are devising clever new ways to exploit the extreme sensitivity of gravitational wave detectors like LIGO. But so far, they’ve seen no signs of exotica.

Q&A

In Search of Cracks in Albert Einstein’s Theory of Gravity

By Thomas Lewton
February 23, 2022
Read Later

Celia Escamilla-Rivera is combining large data sets with supercomputers to test general relativity against its little-known competitors.

atmospheric science

Detailed Footage Finally Reveals What Triggers Lightning

By Thomas Lewton
December 20, 2021
Read Later

Scientists have never been able to adequately explain where lightning comes from. Now the first detailed observations of its emergence inside a cloud have exposed how electric fields grow strong enough to let bolts fly.

Illustration of labyrinth with a large sphere representing the neutrino at center. People with flashlights explore the paths.
particle physics

Is the Great Neutrino Puzzle Pointing to Multiple Missing Particles?

By Thomas Lewton
October 28, 2021
Read Later

Years of conflicting neutrino measurements have led physicists to propose a “dark sector” of invisible particles — one that could simultaneously explain dark matter, the puzzling expansion of the universe, and other mysteries.

Q&A

The Astronomer Who’s About to See the Skies of Other Earths

By Thomas Lewton
October 12, 2021
Read Later

After the ultra-powerful James Webb Space Telescope launches later this year, Laura Kreidberg will lead two efforts to check the weather on rocky planets orbiting other stars.

A complicated arrangement of orange and purple bands against a black background.
condensed matter physics

The ‘Weirdest’ Matter, Made of Partial Particles, Defies Description

By Thomas Lewton
July 26, 2021
Read Later

Theorists are in a frenzy over “fractons,” bizarre, but potentially useful, hypothetical particles that can only move in combination with one another.

astronomy

Quantum Double-Slit Experiment Offers Hope for Earth-Size Telescope

By Thomas Lewton
May 5, 2021
Read Later

A new proposal would use quantum hard drives to combine the light of multiple telescopes, letting astronomers create incredibly high-resolution optical images.

Orange hills (polaritons) against a black background. Below each hill, an arrow points to an angular position on a circle.
explainers

The Near-Magical Mystery of Quasiparticles

By Thomas Lewton
March 24, 2021
Read Later

The zoo of spontaneously emerging particlelike entities known as quasiparticles has grown quickly and become more and more exotic. Here are a few of the most curious and potentially useful examples.

Black holes on a blue swirly background.
Abstractions blog

Growing Inventory of Black Holes Offers a Radical Probe of the Cosmos

By Thomas Lewton
February 17, 2021
Read Later

One black hole is nice, but astrophysicists can do a lot more science with 50 of them.


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About the author

Thomas Lewton is a freelance science journalist and filmmaker based in London and East Africa. His work has been featured on the BBC, CNN, Thomson Reuters and NPR. A physicist by background, Lewton now explores a breadth of sciences in his writing and videography and their often messy relationship with politics and society.

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