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In a Monster Star’s Light, a Hint of Darkness

August 29, 2023

Astronomers are scouring the cosmos for fingerprints of the invisible — tiny clumps of pure dark matter that might solve a long-standing cosmic mystery.

New Codes Could Make Quantum Computing 10 Times More Efficient

August 25, 2023

Quantum computing is still really, really hard. But the rise of a powerful class of error-correcting codes suggests that the task might be slightly more feasible than many feared.

Quaking Giants Might Solve the Mysteries of Stellar Magnetism

August 21, 2023

In their jiggles and shakes, red giant stars encode a record of the magnetic fields near their cores.

Math Proof Draws New Boundaries Around Black Hole Formation

August 16, 2023

For a half century, mathematicians have tried to define the exact circumstances under which a black hole is destined to exist. A new proof shows how a cube can help answer the question.

JWST Spots Giant Black Holes All Over the Early Universe

August 14, 2023

Giant black holes were supposed to be bit players in the early cosmic story. But recent James Webb Space Telescope observations are finding an unexpected abundance of the beasts.

Exoplanets Could Help Us Learn How Planets Make Magnetism

August 7, 2023

New observations of a faraway rocky world that might have its own magnetic field could help astronomers understand the seemingly haphazard magnetic fields swaddling our solar system’s planets.

Quantum Complexity Shows How to Escape Hawking’s Black Hole Paradox

August 2, 2023

Inside of a black hole, the two theoretical pillars of 20th-century physics appear to clash. Now a group of young physicists think they have resolved the conflict by appealing to the central pillar of the new century — the physics of quantum information.

Does Nothingness Exist?

July 26, 2023

Even empty space bubbles with energy, according to quantum mechanics — and that fact affects almost every facet of physical reality. The theoretical physicist Isabel Garcia Garcia explains to Steven Strogatz why it’s so important in modern physics to understand what a true vacuum is.

How (Nearly) Nothing Might Solve Cosmology’s Biggest Questions

July 25, 2023

By measuring the universe’s emptiest spaces, scientists can study how matter clumps together and how fast it flies apart.

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