What's up in
Physics
Latest Articles
Planets Found to Be Larger Than the Disks They Come From
The new finding is challenging established theories of how planets come to be.
Laser Physicists, Including Third Woman Ever, Win Physics Nobel
Three researchers shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for advances in laser physics. The winners include a woman for the first time in 55 years.
‘Quantum Atmospheres’ May Reveal Secrets of Matter
A new theory proposes that the quantum properties of an object extend into an “atmosphere” that surrounds the material.
A Short History of the Missing Universe
Astronomers have known where the universe’s missing matter has been hiding for the past 20 years. So why did it take so long to find it?
A New Test for the Leading Big Bang Theory
Cosmologists have predicted the existence of an oscillating signal that could distinguish between cosmic inflation and alternative theories of the universe’s birth.
The Last of the Universe’s Ordinary Matter Has Been Found
For decades, astronomers weren’t able to find all of the atomic matter in the universe. A series of recent papers has revealed where it’s been hiding.
The Strange Numbers That Birthed Modern Algebra
The 19th-century discovery of numbers called “quaternions” gave mathematicians a way to describe rotations in space, forever changing physics and math.
To Understand Volcanoes on Other Worlds, Stand On Our Own
Rosaly Lopes has visited dozens of active volcanoes on Earth and discovered even more elsewhere in the solar system. Her work is helping to establish whether volcanoes on distant moons could create conditions friendly to life.
The End of Theoretical Physics as We Know It
Computer simulations and custom-built quantum analogues are changing what it means to search for the laws of nature.