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Physics

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Fluorescent purple liquid splashes.
fluid dynamics

An Injection of Chaos Solves Decades-Old Fluid Mystery

By Adam Mann
January 4, 2022
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In the 1960s, drillers noticed that certain fluids would firm up if they flowed too fast. Researchers have finally explained why.

2021 in Review

The Year in Physics

By Michael Moyer
December 22, 2021
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Puzzling particles, quirky (and controversial) quantum computers, and one of the most ambitious science experiments in history marked the year’s milestones.

atmospheric science

Detailed Footage Finally Reveals What Triggers Lightning

By Thomas Lewton
December 20, 2021
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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.

cosmology

Cosmologists Parry Attacks on the Vaunted Cosmological Principle

By Charlie Wood
December 13, 2021
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A central pillar of cosmology — the universe is the same everywhere and in all directions — is surviving a storm of possible evidence against it.

fundamental physics

Gravitational Waves Should Permanently Distort Space-Time

By Katie McCormick
December 8, 2021
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The “gravitational memory effect” predicts that a passing gravitational wave should forever alter the structure of space-time. Physicists have linked the phenomenon to fundamental cosmic symmetries and a potential solution to the black hole information paradox.

Collage illustration of the JWST
astrophysics

The Webb Space Telescope Will Rewrite Cosmic History. If It Works.

By Natalie Wolchover
December 3, 2021
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The James Webb Space Telescope has the potential to rewrite the history of the cosmos and reshape humanity’s position within it. But first, a lot of things have to work just right.

A Kagome lattice with atomic spin arrows placed on the edges.
quantum physics

Quantum Simulators Create a Totally New Phase of Matter

By Charlie Wood
December 2, 2021
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One of the first goals of quantum computing has been to recreate bizarre quantum systems that can’t be studied in an ordinary computer. A dark-horse quantum simulator has now done just that.

A video of gold streaks representing particles flying toward each other; when they collide, gold streaks shoot and spiral out in many directions.
particle physics

The Algorithm That Lets Particle Physicists Count Higher Than Two

By Charlie Wood
November 22, 2021
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Through his encyclopedic study of the electron, an obscure figure named Stefano Laporta found a handle on the subatomic world’s fearsome complexity. His algorithm has swept the field.

Orange spheres representing quantum bits.
explainers

How Quantum Computers Will Correct Their Errors

By Katie McCormick
November 16, 2021
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Quantum bits are fussy and fragile. Useful quantum computers will need to use an error-correction technique like the one that was recently demonstrated on a real machine.


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