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How Quantum Physicists ‘Flipped Time’ (and How They Didn’t)
Two teams have made photons act as if time were simultaneously flowing in two directions. The experiments demonstrate a way to potentially boost the performance of quantum devices.
She Turns Fluids Into ‘Black Holes’ and ‘Inflating Universes’
By using fluids to model inaccessible realms of the cosmos, Silke Weinfurtner is “looking for a deeper truth beyond one system.” But what can such experiments teach us?
Physicists Create a Holographic Wormhole Using a Quantum Computer
The unprecedented experiment explores the possibility that space-time somehow emerges from quantum information.
Experiments Spell Doom for Decades-Old Explanation of Quantum Weirdness
Physical-collapse theories have long offered a natural solution to the central mystery of the quantum world. But a series of increasingly precise experiments are making them untenable.
High-Temperature Superconductivity Understood at Last
A new atomic-scale experiment all but settles the origin of the strong form of superconductivity seen in cuprate crystals, confirming a 35-year-old theory.
Controversy Continues Over Whether Hot Water Freezes Faster Than Cold
Decades after a Tanzanian teenager initiated study of the “Mpemba effect,” the effort to confirm or refute it is leading physicists toward new theories about how substances relax to equilibrium.
How to Make the Universe Think for Us
Physicists are building neural networks out of vibrations, voltages and lasers, arguing that the future of computing lies in exploiting the universe’s complex physical behaviors.
Physicists Pin Down How Quantum Uncertainty Sharpens Measurements
Throwing out data seems to make measurements of distances and angles more precise. The reason why has been traced to Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle.
![Illustration in which the particles of the Standard Model are arranged as sections of a circle, but the W boson is too big and doesn’t fit.]](https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2022/04/W-Boson_520x292-520x292.jpg)
Newly Measured Particle Seems Heavy Enough to Break Known Physics
A new analysis of W bosons suggests these particles are significantly heavier than predicted by the Standard Model of particle physics.