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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.

Laser Physicists, Including Third Woman Ever, Win Physics Nobel

October 2, 2018

Three researchers shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for advances in laser physics. The winners include a woman for the first time in 55 years.

‘Quantum Atmospheres’ May Reveal Secrets of Matter

September 25, 2018

A new theory proposes that the quantum properties of an object extend into an “atmosphere” that surrounds the material.

A Short History of the Missing Universe

September 19, 2018

Astronomers have known where the universe’s missing matter has been hiding for the past 20 years. So why did it take so long to find it?

A New Test for the Leading Big Bang Theory

September 11, 2018

Cosmologists have predicted the existence of an oscillating signal that could distinguish between cosmic inflation and alternative theories of the universe’s birth.

The Last of the Universe’s Ordinary Matter Has Been Found

September 10, 2018

For decades, astronomers weren’t able to find all of the atomic matter in the universe. A series of recent papers has revealed where it’s been hiding.

The Strange Numbers That Birthed Modern Algebra

September 6, 2018

The 19th-century discovery of numbers called “quaternions” gave mathematicians a way to describe rotations in space, forever changing physics and math.

The New Science of Seeing Around Corners

August 30, 2018

Computer vision researchers have uncovered a world of visual signals hiding in our midst, including subtle motions that betray what’s being said and faint images of what’s around a corner.

Q&A

To Understand Volcanoes on Other Worlds, Stand On Our Own

August 28, 2018

Rosaly Lopes has visited dozens of active volcanoes on Earth and discovered even more elsewhere in the solar system. Her work is helping to establish whether volcanoes on distant moons could create conditions friendly to life.

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