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physics
Quantized Columns
The Physical Origin of Universal Computing
The physical nature of computers might reveal deep truths about their uniquely powerful abstract abilities.
Q&A
Searching the Sky for the Wobbles of Gravity
The physicist Gabriela González is on the cusp of finding the first direct evidence of gravitational waves — soundlike wobbles in space-time produced by black holes and their kin.
Physics
Visions of Future Physics
Nima Arkani-Hamed is championing a campaign to build the world’s largest particle collider, even as he pursues a new vision of the laws of nature.
Quantized Columns
Einstein’s Parable of Quantum Insanity
Einstein refused to believe in the inherent unpredictability of the world. Is the subatomic world insane, or just subtle?
cryptography
A Tricky Path to Quantum-Safe Encryption
In the drive to safeguard data from future quantum computers, cryptographers have stumbled upon a thin red line between security and efficiency.
Q&A
The Case for Complex Dark Matter
The physicist James Bullock explains how a complicated “dark sector” of interacting particles may illuminate some puzzling observations of the centers of galaxies.
Multimedia
Theories of Everything, Mapped
Explore the deepest mysteries at the frontier of fundamental physics, and the most promising ideas put forth to solve them.
mathematical physics
Famous Fluid Equations Are Incomplete
A 115-year effort to bridge the particle and fluid descriptions of nature has led mathematicians to an unexpected answer.
complex systems
The New Laws of Explosive Networks
Researchers are uncovering the hidden laws that reveal how the Internet grows, how viruses spread, and how financial bubbles burst.