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physics

2021 in Review

The Year in Physics

By Michael Moyer
December 22, 2021
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Puzzling particles, quirky (and controversial) quantum computers, and one of the most ambitious science experiments in history marked the year’s milestones.

atmospheric science

Detailed Footage Finally Reveals What Triggers Lightning

By Thomas Lewton
December 20, 2021
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Scientists have never been able to adequately explain where lightning comes from. Now the first detailed observations of its emergence inside a cloud have exposed how electric fields grow strong enough to let bolts fly.

cosmology

Cosmologists Parry Attacks on the Vaunted Cosmological Principle

By Charlie Wood
December 13, 2021
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A central pillar of cosmology — the universe is the same everywhere and in all directions — is surviving a storm of possible evidence against it.

fundamental physics

Gravitational Waves Should Permanently Distort Space-Time

By Katie McCormick
December 8, 2021
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The “gravitational memory effect” predicts that a passing gravitational wave should forever alter the structure of space-time. Physicists have linked the phenomenon to fundamental cosmic symmetries and a potential solution to the black hole information paradox.

Collage illustration of the JWST
astrophysics

The Webb Space Telescope Will Rewrite Cosmic History. If It Works.

By Natalie Wolchover
December 3, 2021
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The James Webb Space Telescope has the potential to rewrite the history of the cosmos and reshape humanity’s position within it. But first, a lot of things have to work just right.

A Kagome lattice with atomic spin arrows placed on the edges.
quantum physics

Quantum Simulators Create a Totally New Phase of Matter

By Charlie Wood
December 2, 2021
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One of the first goals of quantum computing has been to recreate bizarre quantum systems that can’t be studied in an ordinary computer. A dark-horse quantum simulator has now done just that.

Orange spheres representing quantum bits.
explainers

How Quantum Computers Will Correct Their Errors

By Katie McCormick
November 16, 2021
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Quantum bits are fussy and fragile. Useful quantum computers will need to use an error-correction technique like the one that was recently demonstrated on a real machine.

Closeup photo of an automated two-wheeled robot on a wooden table
mathematical physics

A New Theory for Systems That Defy Newton’s Third Law

By Stephen Ornes
November 11, 2021
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In nonreciprocal systems, where Newton’s third law falls apart, “exceptional points” are helping researchers understand phase transitions and possibly other phenomena.

Galaxies in triangular formations expanding.
cosmology

Laws of Logic Lead to New Restrictions on the Big Bang

By Charlie Wood
November 10, 2021
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Physicists are translating commonsense principles into strict mathematical constraints on how our universe must have behaved at the beginning of time.


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