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Physics
quantum computing
Eternal Change for No Energy: A Time Crystal Finally Made Real
Like a perpetual motion machine, a time crystal forever cycles between states without consuming energy. Physicists claim to have built this new phase of matter inside a quantum computer.
climate science
A Soil-Science Revolution Upends Plans to Fight Climate Change
A centuries-old concept in soil science has recently been thrown out. Yet it remains a key ingredient in everything from climate models to advanced carbon-capture projects.
condensed matter physics
The ‘Weirdest’ Matter, Made of Partial Particles, Defies Description
Theorists are in a frenzy over “fractons,” bizarre, but potentially useful, hypothetical particles that can only move in combination with one another.
explainers
How Bell’s Theorem Proved ‘Spooky Action at a Distance’ Is Real
The root of today’s quantum revolution was John Stewart Bell’s 1964 theorem showing that quantum mechanics really permits instantaneous connections between far-apart locations.
Math Meets QFT
A Video Tour of the Standard Model
The Standard Model is a sweeping equation that has correctly predicted the results of virtually every experiment ever conducted, as Quanta explores in a new video.
astrophysics
Brighter Than a Billion Billion Suns: Gamma-Ray Bursts Continue to Surprise
These ultrabright flashes have recently been tracked for days, upending ideas about the cataclysms that create them.
planetary science
Gas Giants’ Energy Crisis Solved After 50 Years
Jupiter and Saturn should be freezing cold. Instead, they’re hot. Researchers now know why.
Math Meets QFT
Mathematicians Prove 2D Version of Quantum Gravity Really Works
In three towering papers, a team of mathematicians has worked out the details of Liouville quantum field theory, a two-dimensional model of quantum gravity.
Q&A
The Materials Scientist Who Studies the Innards of Exoplanets
Federica Coppari uses the world’s most powerful laser to recreate the cores of distant worlds.