Physics

More Stories in Physics

  1. A child throwing a toy football to an older man standing in the driveway of a suburban neighborhood
    Physics

    Spiraling footballs wobble at one of two specific frequencies

    Researchers simulated the path of a flying football to study how pigskins wobble and why they drift sideways.

    By Nikk Ogasa
  2. A candidate WWW event is visualized. On a black backdrop, one part of the image shows a reddish burst of energy with a green ring surrounded by a yellow ring. Another part of the image shows a similar event, but witih red, green and white lines illustrating particles' tracks, and surrounded by additional light in various colors.
    Particle Physics

    Physicists spotted rare W boson trios at the Large Hadron Collider

    By measuring how often triplets of particles called W bosons appear, scientists can check physics’ standard model for any cracks.

    By Emily Conover
  3. photo of a windchime in a backyard
    Cosmology

    The Windchime experiment could use gravity to hunt for dark matter ‘wind’

    Though decades away, the project hopes to use an array of ultrasensitive sensors as a “wind chime,” jostled by dark matter blowing past Earth.

    By James R. Riordon
  4. Illustration of two black holes merging and emitting gravitational waves. The black holes, illustrated as dark spheres, have green arrows indicating spin in opposite directions
    Physics

    Two black holes merged despite being born far apart in space

    A closer look at gravitational wave data reveals 10 overlooked mergers, including one between black holes that probably found each other late in life.

    By James R. Riordon
  5. ultrasound patch on skin
    Health & Medicine

    This stick-on ultrasound patch could let you watch your own heart beat

    A new, coin-sized ultrasound probe can stick to the skin like a Band-Aid for up to two days straight, marking a milestone in personalized medicine.

    By Asa Stahl
  6. night sky photo of a double aurora (in green and red)
    Space

    Amateur astronomers’ images of a rare double aurora may unlock its secrets

    With breathtaking videos, citizen scientists have shown researchers a new pattern of auroras that may solve the mystery behind a strange red glow.

    By Asa Stahl
  7. an experiment that uses strontium ions to test quantum entanglement
    Quantum Physics

    Quantum entanglement makes quantum communication even more secure

    Bell tests proved that quantum mechanics really is “spooky.” Now they’ve made quantum communication even more hacker-proof.

    By Emily Conover
  8. dark matter detector in construction
    Physics

    A new dark matter experiment quashed earlier hints of new particles

    Unlike its earlier incarnation, the XENONnT detector found no evidence of extra blips that scientists had hoped indicated new physics.

    By Emily Conover
  9. apples falling with motion blur
    Physics

    Wiggling metal beams offer a new way to test gravity’s strength

    A new experiment aims to get a better handle on “Big G,” the poorly measured gravitational constant.

    By Emily Conover