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Universal Quantum Phenomenon Found in Strange Metals

November 19, 2018

Experiments suggest that exotic superconducting materials share a “strange metal” state characterized by a quantum speed limit that somehow acts as a fundamental organizing principle.

How Holography Could Help Solve Quantum Gravity

November 14, 2018

In the latest campaign to reconcile Einstein’s theory of gravity with quantum mechanics, many physicists are studying how a higher dimensional space that includes gravity arises like a hologram from a lower dimensional particle theory.

Q&A

An Italian Cosmologist Who Wanders in Dante’s Dark Wood

November 13, 2018

A scientist and programmer with a literary bent, Valeria Pettorino thinks multiple angles and diverse points of view are needed to unriddle the nature of dark matter and dark energy.

Astronomers Creep Up to the Edge of the Milky Way’s Black Hole

October 30, 2018

Hot spots have been discovered orbiting just outside the supermassive black hole at the galaxy’s center. Their motions have given us the closest look at that violent environment.

Q&A

Prepping for a Flood of Heavenly Bodies

October 24, 2018

Mario Jurić is leading the push to get astronomy ready for the torrents of data that are about to flow.

Why the Many-Worlds Interpretation Has Many Problems

October 18, 2018

The idea that the universe splits into multiple realities with every measurement has become an increasingly popular proposed solution to the mysteries of quantum mechanics. But this “many-worlds interpretation” is incoherent, Philip Ball argues in this adapted excerpt from his new book Beyond Weird.

Famous Experiment Dooms Alternative to Quantum Weirdness

October 11, 2018

Oil droplets guided by “pilot waves” have failed to reproduce the results of the quantum double-slit experiment, crushing a century-old dream that there exists a single, concrete reality.

Interstellar Visitor Found to Be Unlike a Comet or an Asteroid

October 10, 2018

The mystery of ’Oumuamua, the first interstellar object ever observed, continues to deepen.

Planets Found to Be Larger Than the Disks They Come From

October 4, 2018

The new finding is challenging established theories of how planets come to be.

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