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Natalie Wolchover

Columnist

Latest Articles

Nature’s Critical Warning System

November 18, 2015

Scientists are homing in on a warning signal that arises in complex systems like ecological food webs, the brain and the Earth’s climate. Could it help prevent future catastrophes?

Theorists Draw Closer to Perfect Coloring

October 20, 2015

A theorem for coloring a large class of “perfect” mathematical networks could ease the way for a long-sought general coloring proof.

Visions of Future Physics

September 22, 2015

Nima Arkani-Hamed is championing a campaign to build the world’s largest particle collider, even as he pursues a new vision of the laws of nature.

A Tricky Path to Quantum-Safe Encryption

September 8, 2015

In the drive to safeguard data from future quantum computers, cryptographers have stumbled upon a thin red line between security and efficiency.

Theories of Everything, Mapped

August 3, 2015

Explore the deepest mysteries at the frontier of fundamental physics, and the most promising ideas put forth to solve them.

Famous Fluid Equations Are Incomplete

July 21, 2015

A 115-year effort to bridge the particle and fluid descriptions of nature has led mathematicians to an unexpected answer.

Paradoxical Crystal Baffles Physicists

July 2, 2015

At super-low temperatures, a crystal called samarium hexaboride behaves in an unexplained, imagination-stretching way.

A New Theory to Explain the Higgs Mass

May 27, 2015

Three physicists have proposed a new solution to one of the deepest mysteries in particle physics: why the Higgs boson has such a tiny mass.

The Particle That Broke a Cosmic Speed Limit

May 14, 2015

Physicists are beginning to unravel the mysteries of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays, particles accelerated by the most powerful forces in the universe.