Physics

'Black hole energy machine' successfully tested in the lab

Mike McRae — Sun, 12 Jul 2026 08:16:00 GMT

If you happen to have an uncharged black hole handy, you may be able to power your house with it. Just set it spinning.

Category: Physics, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: Black hole, Power, Energy, Gravity, Astronomy, City University of New York

The poop emoji hides a deeper truth about physics, study reveals

Kerry Taylor-Smith — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 01:48:23 GMT

Why does the "poop emoji" look the way it does? Physics has the answer: as most animals defecate downward, each new coil falls a shorter distance, naturally forming the familiar tapered swirl.

Category: Physics, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: Materials, Animals, Waste, Fluid

'Friction' from light seen in strange new physics experiment

Toluwalogo Niji-Olawepo — Wed, 24 Jun 2026 19:03:00 GMT

Light could put the brakes on material diffusing through a solution, and the reason why touches on some of the stranger corners of quantum mechanics.

Category: Physics, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: Quantum Mechanics, Electrons, Water, Carbon, Liquid

Physicists made a tiny expanding universe to watch time unfold

Mike McRae — Thu, 18 Jun 2026 23:25:00 GMT

Often attributed to Albert Einstein, the quote by science-fiction writer Ray Cummings still serves as the most succinct explanation for one of the most fundamental features of our universe.

Category: Physics, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: Time, Big Bang Theory, Quantum Mechanics, Bose-Einstein condensate, Albert Einstein, Newton, University of Birmingham

Nuclear clock experiments set a landmark in timekeeping technology

Mike McRae — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 05:04:00 GMT

There are many ways we can keep track of passing seconds. Counting “Mississippi” between numbers works. Monitoring the swing of a pendulum is a little more accurate. Or if you want to get super fancy, use the piezoelectric buzz of electrified quartz.

Category: Physics, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: Atoms, Clock, Nuclear, Time, Mathematics, Atoms

'Bootstrap' physics study claims string theory might be inevitable after all

Mike McRae — Fri, 05 Jun 2026 05:02:00 GMT

String theory is perhaps the greatest tragedy of modern science. Mathematically elegant and celebrated savior of divided physics, it is nonetheless crippled by one simple fact – it is utterly untestable.

Category: Physics, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: string theory, relativity, Quantum Physics, Particle physics

Shocking lab experiment confirms that light can move in ‘negative time’

Mike McRae — Thu, 28 May 2026 23:04:00 GMT

If you work in a city, there’s a good chance you’ve got your morning commute down to a fine art, getting you to the office with your coffee in hand within minutes of that first meeting.

Category: Physics, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: Photon, Light, Quantum, Time

Hundreds of conflicting engineering solutions may prevent alien visitors, scientist says

The Conversation — Thu, 28 May 2026 01:20:55 GMT

Kai James, Georgia Institute of Technology/ The Conversation

Category: Physics, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: aliens, interstellar space, Stars, Distance

Earth’s outer core reversed direction in 2010 and scientists may finally know why

Mike McRae — Mon, 25 May 2026 16:25:30 GMT

Deep beneath the Pacific near the equator, Earth’s outer core now flows east instead of west. Dynamics deeper within our planet’s core may help explain the change and what to expect in the near future.

Category: Physics, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: Earth core, Magnetic field, Geology

Great Pyramid's natural frequency could be the secret to its survival

The Conversation — Mon, 25 May 2026 00:11:04 GMT

Colin Caprani, Monash University & Scott Menegon, Swinburne University of Technology/ The Conversation

Category: Physics, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: pyramids, Archaeology, Earthquake, History

The fate of a collapsing star could depend on the turn of a ghost

Mike McRae — Tue, 19 May 2026 19:50:15 GMT

Like the spin of a cosmic coin, a unique set of particle oscillations could ultimately decide the fate of the Universe’s biggest suns.

Category: Physics, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: Black hole, Neutrino, Supernova, Stars

10-year experiment reveals why gravity is so hard to measure

Toluwalogo Niji-Olawepo — Mon, 11 May 2026 02:32:31 GMT

For centuries, one of the most important numbers in physics has evaded accurate identification. The results of a recent experiment by researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in the US could help bring us closer to a satisfying answer.

Category: Physics, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: Gravity, Physics, Measured

New type of exotic ice forms at ambient temperatures

Pranjal Malewar — Sun, 26 Oct 2025 07:03:00 GMT

We usually think of ice as just frozen water. It is simple, solid, and cold. But water is a master of disguise. With just two atoms, hydrogen and oxygen, it can freeze into more than 20 different types of ice. Each type has its own unique internal structure. Some are smooth and familiar, like the kind in your freezer, while others only appear under intense pressure, like in the deep Earth or on distant moons.

Category: Physics, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: Ice, Materials

Physicists turn to nuclear clocks in the hunt for dark matter

Chelsea Haney — Tue, 16 Sep 2025 19:03:00 GMT

For all our telescopes and colliders, dark matter has remained an elusive ghost for the better part of a century. It outweighs everything we see by a factor of five, yet it slips past every detector built to catch it. Now, a team led by the Weizmann Institute of Science, with collaborators in Germany and Colorado, has turned to a nuclear clock with the hope of revealing the faint fingerprints of this hidden matter.

Category: Physics, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: Clock, Nuclear, Dark Matter

Mysterious radio pulses beneath Antarctica defy rules of particle physics

Jay Kakade — Sun, 20 Jul 2025 07:03:00 GMT

It may sound like a plot twist out of a science fiction novel, but researchers have detected mysterious radio signals coming from beneath the Antarctic ice that appear to be inconsistent with the standard models of particle physics.

Category: Physics, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: Neutrino, Particle physics, Antarctic, Cosmic, Pennsylvania State University

Newly observed magnetic state could unlock ultrafast memory chips

Abhimanyu Ghoshal — Sat, 14 Jun 2025 05:03:00 GMT

Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology have demonstrated an entirely new form of magnetism in a synthesized crystalline material. They're calling it p-wave magnetism.

Category: Physics, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: Magnetism, Spintronics, Electronic, MIT

Video: World's smallest violin fits inside a single human hair

Bronwyn Thompson — Thu, 05 Jun 2025 02:51:12 GMT

A platinum fiddle that's just 35 microns in length and 13 microns in width is believed to be the world's smallest violin, measuring just a fraction of a tardigrade or the diameter of an average human hair. But before you get too excited, or ponder the logistics of operating such a tiny instrument, we must unfortunately break the news that it can't be played.

Category: Physics, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: Loughborough University, Nano-tool, Nanomaterials, Computers, Microchip Technologies, Physics, Engineering, Materials

Watch: New structures shrink instead of stretching when pulled

Abhimanyu Ghoshal — Thu, 15 May 2025 13:27:00 GMT

Researchers in the Netherlands have created mechanical structures that strangely shrink – or more precisely, snap inward – instead of stretching outward when pulled.

Category: Physics, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: Structural Mechanics, Shape-shifting, Bangers, xxViral or high CTR

Turning lead into gold (for a split second)

Abhimanyu Ghoshal — Mon, 12 May 2025 13:27:00 GMT

Several centuries ago, a branch of alchemy called chrysopoeia is said to have explored the possibilities of transforming widely available base metals into precious metals. Early practitioners never managed to pull it off, but it appears that in studying the conditions that emerged just after the Big Bang using the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), scientists have turned lead into gold – for just fractions of a second.

Category: Physics, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: Particle physics, CERN, Large Hadron Collider, ALICE, Metals

Laser cooling breakthrough could make data centers way greener

Abhimanyu Ghoshal — Mon, 14 Apr 2025 03:03:00 GMT

Lasers are great for heating things up, whether you need to do it quickly, hit a precise target, or do it from a distance. Under specific conditions, lasers can also cool things down, and that might be JUST what we need to tackle way-too-toasty data centers.

Category: Physics, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: Laser, Data Center, Chips, Sandia Labs, University of New Mexico, Cooling, Photonics

Graphite-levitating satellite could finally find dark matter

Michael Irving — Thu, 13 Feb 2025 06:06:29 GMT

Dark matter is thought to outnumber regular matter by a factor of five to one – so why can’t we find the stuff? A new study proposes looking for it from space, using a satellite containing a levitating piece of graphite and a laser.

Category: Physics, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: Dark Matter, Matter, Particle physics, Graphite, Laser, Levitation, University of Southampton, Satellite, CubeSat

Bizarre particle gains or loses mass depending on direction it travels

Michael Irving — Thu, 12 Dec 2024 07:39:22 GMT

Scientists have accidentally discovered a particle that has mass when it’s traveling in one direction, but no mass while traveling in a different direction. Known as semi-Dirac fermions, particles with this bizarre behavior were first predicted 16 years ago.

Category: Physics, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: Particle physics, Elementary particles, Quasiparticles, Pennsylvania State University, Materials, Electron Microscopes, Electrons

Ancient black holes could dig tiny tunnels in rocks and buildings

Michael Irving — Fri, 06 Dec 2024 04:55:53 GMT

To find black holes we usually have to look thousands of light-years away. But a new study suggests we could find evidence of them right here on Earth, as tiny tunnels they’ve carved out in rocks or old buildings.

Category: Physics, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: Dark Matter, Black hole, University at Buffalo, Astronomy, Astrophysics, Earth

Extremely energetic electrons strike Earth from a strange nearby source

Michael Irving — Fri, 29 Nov 2024 23:34:00 GMT

Astrophysicists have detected the most energetic electrons ever recorded raining down on Earth. With trillions of times the energy of visible light, these cosmic rays seem to be coming from a powerful source relatively close to our solar system.

Category: Physics, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: Astronomy, Particle physics, Elementary particles, Electron Microscopes, Electrons, Cosmic, Radiation, CNRS, Max Planck Institute

First image of the shape of a single photon revealed in light study

Michael Irving — Sun, 24 Nov 2024 22:03:00 GMT

The first direct visualization of the shape of a photon has been created. These particles of light are impossible to photograph, but physicists at the University of Birmingham have now calculated their wave function to produce an accurate image of a photon as it’s emitted.

Category: Physics, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: Photon, Photonics, Image, Images, Visualization, University of Birmingham, Light, Particle physics, Elementary particles

Light itself casts a shadow in bizarre laser experiment

Michael Irving — Thu, 14 Nov 2024 05:00:00 GMT

A new experiment has demonstrated something that sounds physically impossible – light itself casting a shadow. It turns out that if you manipulate a laser just right, then hit it side-on with another light source, it’s possible to create this bizarre optical effect.

Category: Physics, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: Light, Lighting, Laser, Optical, Optics, Brookhaven National Laboratory

First images of electrons forming strange solid crystals

Michael Irving — Fri, 08 Nov 2024 05:46:46 GMT

Under the right circumstances, electrons can actually “freeze” into a bizarre solid form. Now, physicists at Berkeley Lab have created and taken the first ever direct images of this structure.

Category: Physics, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: Electron Microscopes, Electrons, Matter, UC Berkeley, University of California Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Materials

Ray gun accelerates electrons from zero to 500 million mph in two inches

Mike Franco — Fri, 11 Oct 2024 14:32:39 GMT

On New York's Long Island, scientists are building an ambitious machine to tease apart the mysteries held inside atomic nuclei. A major component of that system is the world's highest voltage electron gun and it's just aced a six-month test.

Category: Physics, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: Brookhaven National Laboratory, Particle accelerator, Particle physics, Electron Microscopes

The shocking science behind petting cats – or how static electricity works

Bronwyn Thompson — Fri, 27 Sep 2024 01:03:00 GMT

Incredibly, for the first time, scientists have unraveled the mechanisms at play when rubbing a surface creates an electrical current, something that was first recorded in 600 BCE yet not fully understood until now. And while cats are not the main culprits of creating this static electricity, their fur is an ideal conductor.

Category: Physics, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: Northwestern University, Cats, Electricity, Animal science

World's strongest resistive magnet fired up in China

Michael Irving — Thu, 26 Sep 2024 04:44:20 GMT

Scientists in China have developed the world’s strongest resistive magnet, which produced a steady magnetic field of 42 Tesla (T). The system could improve devices that use magnets, as well as enable a range of new experiments that probe electromagnetism.

Category: Physics, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: Magnetism, Magnetic, Magnetic field, Electromagnetic, China, Chinese Academy of Sciences, World Records

Superconductivity breakthrough: 'Edge state' atoms flow friction-free

Michael Irving — Thu, 12 Sep 2024 03:52:49 GMT

MIT scientists have coaxed atoms into an exotic “edge state” for the first time, allowing them to flow completely friction-free. The breakthrough could lead to better superconductor materials.

Category: Physics, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: Particle physics, Electron Microscopes, Electrons, Atoms, MIT, superconductor

World-first nuclear clock prototype could outperform atomic clocks

Michael Irving — Thu, 05 Sep 2024 08:17:56 GMT

Atomic clocks are the most accurate timekeepers we have, losing only seconds across billions of years. But apparently that’s not accurate enough – nuclear clocks could steal their thunder, speeding up GPS and the internet, among other things. Now, scientists have built and tested the first prototype nuclear clock.

Category: Physics, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: Atoms, Clock, Time, Nucleus, Nuclear, NIST, JILA, TU Wien

Heaviest-ever clumps of antimatter created in atom smasher

Michael Irving — Fri, 23 Aug 2024 06:47:12 GMT

Physicists have created the heaviest clumps of antimatter particles ever seen. Known as antihyperhydrogen-4, this strange stuff could help us solve some of the most puzzling physics mysteries.

Category: Physics, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: Antimatter, Matter, Particle physics, Elementary particles, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Nucleus, Neutrons

World's fastest microscope freezes time at 1 quintillionth of a second

Michael Irving — Thu, 22 Aug 2024 07:31:13 GMT

The subatomic world is hard to image not just because it’s incredibly tiny, but super fast too. Now physicists at the University of Arizona have developed the world’s fastest electron microscope to capture events lasting just one quintillionth of a second.

Category: Physics, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: Particle physics, Electron Microscopes, Electrons, University of Arizona, Attosecond, World's Fastest

Levitating nanodiamonds spin at 1.2 billion rpm in a vacuum

Michael Irving — Thu, 15 Aug 2024 03:33:49 GMT

Physicists at Purdue University have levitated nanoscale diamonds, hit them with lasers to make them flash and sent them spinning at an incredible 1.2 billion rpm. The experiments aren’t just about creating the “world’s smallest disco” but could help the study of quantum physics.

Category: Physics, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: Diamonds, Nanodiamonds, Nano, Nanoscale, Purdue University, Quantum, Quantum Physics, Laser

Element 120 discovery possible after titanium beam breakthrough

Michael Irving — Thu, 25 Jul 2024 09:47:12 GMT

Scientists at Berkeley Lab have used a titanium beam to make atoms of element 116. Not only does this represent a new way to make the super rare element, but it stands as a proof-of-concept that they could soon potentially create the as-yet-undiscovered element 120, which may be stable.

Category: Physics, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: new element, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Atoms, Titanium

World's most accurate atomic clock off by 1 second every 30 billion years

Michael Irving — Thu, 04 Jul 2024 09:02:00 GMT

Scientists have developed the most precise and accurate atomic clock to date – if you ran it for twice the current age of the universe, it would only be off by one second. This could not only improve services like GPS, but help scientists probe how gravity warps the flow of time across submillimeter distances.

Category: Physics, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: Atoms, Time, Clock, NIST, JILA, Gravity

Plasma fireballs from black holes are now being made here on Earth

Michael Irving — Fri, 14 Jun 2024 08:20:00 GMT

Supermassive black holes have been known to belch gigantic beams of plasma into space – and now scientists have managed to recreate these fireballs in a lab at CERN.

Category: Physics, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: Black hole, Supermassive black hole, Astrophysics, Plasma, Particle accelerator, Particle physics, Elementary particles, Electrons, University of Rochester, CERN

Spacetime defects uncouple gravity from mass in dark matter alternative

Michael Irving — Wed, 12 Jun 2024 08:30:00 GMT

Something seems to be missing from the universe, and the favored model of physics calls it “dark matter” – but despite a century of searching, it remains a no-show. A new paper proposes an alternative hypothesis, showing how gravity could exist without mass and produce many of the same effects we ascribe to dark matter.

Category: Physics, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: Astronomy, Dark Matter, Gravity, Gravitational lensing, University of Alabama, Matter, Galaxy

Satellites spot strange sky glow that only comes out after midnight

Michael Irving — Sun, 09 Jun 2024 08:30:00 GMT

If you’re planning to get out and see the aurora next time the Sun fires a blast our way, you might want to keep an eye out for a brand new type of sky glow that’s just been discovered. This short-lived phenomenon only appears after midnight and seems to be the inverse of something just spotted a few years ago.

Category: Physics, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: aurora, Earth, Atmosphere, Sun, ESA

World's thinnest lens is just three atoms thick

Michael Irving — Fri, 31 May 2024 09:30:00 GMT

Contact lenses get pretty thin nowadays, but they’ve got nothing on a new lens from scientists at Stanford and the University of Amsterdam. The team has created the world’s thinnest lens, measuring just three atoms thick.

Category: Physics, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: Lens, Contact Lenses, Lenses, Thin, University of Amsterdam, Stanford University

Think you understand evaporation? Think again, says MIT

Mike Franco — Thu, 25 Apr 2024 11:21:22 GMT

We all know that water evaporates when the temperature climbs, but researchers have just shown that there's another factor at play. The breakthrough could solve long-standing atmospheric mysteries and lead to future technological advances.

Category: Physics, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: MIT, Laser, Water, Climate, Light

Free software lets you design and test warp drives with real physics

Paul McClure — Tue, 16 Apr 2024 07:07:05 GMT

Warp drives are among the more plausible of science fiction concepts, at least from a mathematical perspective. Now, Applied Physics, a multidisciplinary group of international scientists and engineers, has launched Warp Factory, open-source software that anyone can use to design a functional warp drive.

Category: Physics, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: Warp drive, Warp bubble, Space Travel, Software

Professor Peter Higgs, renowned for Higgs boson prediction, dies aged 94

Michael Irving — Wed, 10 Apr 2024 04:13:28 GMT

Professor Peter Higgs has died aged 94. The theoretical physicist was best known for his prediction of a key elementary particle, the Higgs boson, which earned him the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics soon after its discovery.

Category: Physics, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: Higgs boson, Particle physics, Particle accelerator, Elementary particles, Obituaries, University of Edinburgh, CERN, Large Hadron Collider

Quantum tornado mimics black holes' warped spacetime in the lab

Mike Franco — Thu, 21 Mar 2024 11:16:40 GMT

As anyone who's ever seen a science fiction movie knows, whipping up a black hole in a laboratory doesn't seem like such a good idea.

Category: Physics, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: Space exploration, Black hole, Quantum Physics, Helium, University of Nottingham, King's College London, Newcastle University, Superfluid

Bizarre time crystal oscillates for an unprecedented 40 minutes

Michael Irving — Mon, 04 Mar 2024 08:18:55 GMT

Time crystals are a strange state of matter with properties that sound impossible, but they have been created. Now, German scientists have made one that lasts 10 million times longer than in previous experiments.

Category: Physics, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: Time, Materials, Atoms, Matter

General Atomics is working on a "small, commercial particle accelerator"

Mike Franco — Sat, 02 Mar 2024 12:30:07 GMT

Using off-the-shelf industrial parts, a team of researchers from the public and private sectors has created a prototype of a small particle accelerator that could have a big impact bringing the technology forward for commercial applications.

Category: Physics, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: Large Hadron Collider, Particle accelerator, Particle physics, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Electron Microscopes

Gravitational pull of half a sand grain measured in physics breakthrough

Michael Irving — Tue, 27 Feb 2024 08:40:28 GMT

The weak gravitational pull on a particle just half the mass of a grain of sand has been measured for the first time. This most precise measurement of its kind is a breakthrough towards the quantum realm and a potential Theory of Everything.

Category: Physics, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: Gravity, Quantum Gravity, Quantum, Quantum Physics, Quantum Mechanics, University of Southampton

Heat caught moving like sound waves in a superfluid for first time

Michael Irving — Mon, 12 Feb 2024 06:54:24 GMT

Scientists at MIT have directly captured signs of “second sound” in a superfluid for the first time. This bizarre phenomenon occurs when heat moves like sound waves through an unusual state of matter.

Category: Physics, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: Heating, Particle physics, Superfluid, Matter, Sound, Wave, MIT

Some stars could swallow black holes – here's how we can find them

Michael Irving — Mon, 18 Dec 2023 08:16:06 GMT

Black holes are famous for gobbling up anything that gets too close – but could they ever be swallowed whole? A new study suggests that it’s possible that stars could capture very small black holes and keep them in their cores. There might even be a way to find these stars, and if so, they could help us understand the elusive dark matter.

Category: Physics, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: Black hole, Stars, Dark Matter, Astrophysics, Astronomy, Max Planck Institute

Tantalum cold spray boosts potential of fusion reactor chambers

Mike Franco — Fri, 15 Dec 2023 11:01:20 GMT

The insides of nuclear fusion reactors are violent and chaotic places. A new cold-spray coating can take the heat and also trap some rogue hydrogen particles at the same time, potentially making for smaller, better plasma chambers.

Category: Physics, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: Nuclear Fusion, fusion engineering, Nuclear, Reactors, University of Wisconsin

Ancient stars may have forged superheavy elements unknown to science

Michael Irving — Mon, 11 Dec 2023 03:54:27 GMT

Scientists have uncovered hints of a world of new elements beyond the periodic table. A new study has found that ancient stars may have been producing extremely heavy elements that remain unknown to science.

Category: Physics, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: Stars, Neutron Generators, Neutrons, Nuclear, Nucleus, North Carolina State University, new element

Hunting spacetime fluctuations could unite Einstein and quantum physics

Michael Irving — Tue, 05 Dec 2023 08:10:45 GMT

A unified Theory Of Everything is the holy grail of physics, but gravity refuses to play ball. Now, a newly proposed theory attempts to unify Einstein’s theory of gravity with quantum mechanics – and importantly, outlines a way to test it experimentally.

Category: Physics, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: Gravity, Quantum Gravity, Albert Einstein, University College London, relativity, Quantum, Quantum Physics, Quantum Mechanics

How a "supervoid" and modified gravity could solve a cosmic conundrum

Michael Irving — Mon, 04 Dec 2023 06:48:50 GMT

One of the biggest cosmological mysteries centers on a discrepancy in how fast the universe is expanding. A new study comes to an intriguing solution by applying a modified theory of gravity and an unsettling “supervoid” that our galaxy resides in.

Category: Physics, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: Astronomy, Astrophysics, Galaxy, Gravity, University of Bonn, University of St. Andrews, Dark Matter, Hubble, Universe

Ultra-compact particle accelerator does a mile's work with four inches

Loz Blain — Tue, 28 Nov 2023 09:20:49 GMT

The USA has only two accelerators that can produce 10 billion electron-volt particle beams, and they're each about 1.9 miles (3 km) long. "We can now reach those energies in 10 cm (4 inches)," said the CEO of TAU Systems, which has built an ultra-compact accelerator.

Category: Physics, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: Particle accelerator, University of Texas, Laser, Compact

Scientists discover strange new form of magnetism

Michael Irving — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 02:42:22 GMT

Scientists at ETH Zurich have discovered a new type of magnetism. Experiments show that an artificially produced material becomes magnetic through a mechanism that hasn’t been seen before.

Category: Physics, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: Magnetic, Magnetism, Materials, ETH Zurich, Electron Microscopes, Electrons, Kinetic Energy

LIGO squeezes light to surpass quantum limit measuring spacetime ripples

Michael Irving — Tue, 24 Oct 2023 07:44:39 GMT

Gravitational wave facilities measure distortions in the fabric of spacetime down to 10 quadrillionths the width of a hair – small enough to hear interference from particles popping in and out of existence. Now the LIGO facility has pushed beyond this quantum limit by “squeezing” laser light, which will boost gravitational wave detections by about 60%.

Category: Physics, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: Quantum, Quantum Physics, Light, Laser, LIGO, gravitational waves, Caltech

"Pseudogravity" in crystals can bend light like black holes

Michael Irving — Tue, 17 Oct 2023 02:54:34 GMT

Scientists in Japan have managed to manipulate light as though it was being influenced by gravity. By carefully distorting a photonic crystal, the team was able to invoke “pseudogravity” to bend a beam of light, which could have useful applications in optics systems.

Category: Physics, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: Light, Gravity, Gravitational lensing, Albert Einstein, Optics, Optical, Tohoku University

"Modified gravity" could rule out both dark matter and Planet Nine

Michael Irving — Tue, 10 Oct 2023 06:34:03 GMT

Our solar system officially houses eight planets, but some scientists say there could be a ninth. And that’s not just Pluto aficionados – evidence suggests a huge undiscovered world lurks on the dark fringes out there. Now, a new study has found the outer solar system oddities could be explained by modified theories of gravity, an alternative idea to dark matter.

Category: Physics, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: Astronomy, Dark Matter, Planet 9, Solar System, Astrophysics, Case Western Reserve University, Galaxy, Gravity, Newton, Isaac Newton

2023 Nobel Prize for Physics recognizes work to measure electrons

Paul Ridden — Tue, 03 Oct 2023 12:29:02 GMT

The Royal Swedish Academy of Science has awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physics to Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L'Huillier for work that's "given humanity new tools for exploring the world of electrons inside atoms and molecules."

Category: Physics, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: Nobel prizes, Laser, Electrons, Atoms, Attosecond