Two methods of measuring the neutron’s longevity give different answers, creating uncertainty in cosmological models. But no one has a clue what the problem is.
Cosmologists have shown that it’s theoretically possible for a contracting universe to bounce and expand. The new work resuscitates an old idea that directly challenges the Big Bang theory of cosmic origins.
A complete classification could lead to a wealth of new materials and technologies. But some exotic phases continue to resist understanding.
The mother of all string theories passes a litmus test that, so far, no other candidate theory of quantum gravity has been able to match.
Join a fleet of robotic probes on a one-way virtual-reality trip into the abyss of a massive black hole.
Edward Witten reflects on the meaning of dualities in physics and math, emergent space-time, and the pursuit of a complete description of nature.
New data tracking the movements of millions of Milky Way stars have effectively ruled out the presence of a “dark disk” that could have offered important clues to the mystery of dark matter.
Astronomers are mystified by a strange star explosion in a distant galaxy that might be a relic from an earlier cosmological era.
The Zoomable Universe, a new book by the astrobiologist Caleb Scharf, the illustrator Ron Miller and 5W Infographics, tours the universe’s 62 orders of magnitude.