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Physicists Solve a Big Quantum Mystery. Now, Old Results Don’t Add Up.
New calculations seem to have put a 25-year-old particle physics puzzle to rest. But they’ve also created a clash with other experimental results.
How Physicists Track and Trap the Elusive Neutrino
The hunt for these ghostly particles has required some of the most audacious experimental setups ever built.
How Many Elementary Particles Are There, Really?
Plausible answers range from 17 to — in all seriousness — 995.5.
Experiments Ring the ‘Death Knell’ for Sterile Neutrinos
Decades of weird experimental results appeared to support the existence of the sterile neutrino, a hypothetical particle that would solve multiple mysteries. But recent experiments have killed hope of finding these phantoms, leaving physicists to wonder what might explain their anomalies.
A Through-The-Lens Look at the World’s Particle Physics Labs
The winning entries in the 2025 Global Physics Photowalk contest showcase the beauty of toil and discovery.
Is Particle Physics Dead, Dying, or Just Hard?
Columnist Natalie Wolchover checks in with particle physicists more than a decade after the field entered a profound crisis.
Particle Physicists Detect ‘Magic’ at the Large Hadron Collider
The supercollider is now being used to explore quantum phenomena, including a “magic” form of quantum entanglement.
Origami Patterns Solve a Major Physics Riddle
The amplituhedron, a shape at the heart of particle physics, appears to be deeply connected to the mathematics of paper folding.
Matter vs. Force: Why There Are Exactly Two Types of Particles
Every elementary particle falls into one of two categories. Collectivist bosons account for the forces that move us while individualist fermions keep our atoms from collapsing.