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Physics
astrophysics
Tiny Galaxies Reveal Secrets of Supermassive Black Holes
Dwarf galaxies weren’t supposed to have big black holes. Their surprise discovery has revealed clues about how the universe’s biggest black holes could have formed.
particle physics
A Deepening Crisis Forces Physicists to Rethink Structure of Nature’s Laws
Physicists are reexamining a longstanding assumption: that big stuff consists of smaller stuff.
astronomy
Four Years On, New Experiment Sees No Sign of ‘Cosmic Dawn’
When astronomers tried to confirm a signal from the birth of the first stars after the Big Bang, they saw nothing.
Q&A
In Search of Cracks in Albert Einstein’s Theory of Gravity
Celia Escamilla-Rivera is combining large data sets with supercomputers to test general relativity against its little-known competitors.
particle physics
The Mysterious Forces Inside the Nucleus Grow a Little Less Strange
The strong force holds protons and neutrons together, but the theory behind it is largely inscrutable. Two new approaches show how it works.
quantum physics
Quantum Complexity Tamed by Machine Learning
If only scientists understood exactly how electrons act in molecules, they’d be able to predict the behavior of everything from experimental drugs to high-temperature superconductors. Following decades of physics-based insights, artificial intelligence systems are taking the next leap.
machine learning
Machine Learning Gets a Quantum Speedup
Two teams have shown how quantum approaches can solve problems faster than classical computers, bringing physics and computer science closer together.
climate science
Solving the Faint-Sun Paradox
We might have a past faint sun to owe for life’s existence. This has consequences for the possibility of life outside Earth.
explainers
How the Physics of Resonance Shapes Reality
The same phenomenon by which an opera singer can shatter a wineglass also underlies the very existence of subatomic particles.