Thunderstorms churn up a ‘boiling pot’ of gamma rays
Above the cloud tops, thunderstorms throb with a complex, frenetic light show of high-energy radiation. A view from a retrofitted […]
Physics
Why this physicist is bringing thermodynamics to the quantum age
Picture Victorian London, but its skies are filled with airships. Steam-powered robots crowd the streets, mingling with people in top
This engineer’s light-based computers take inspiration from the brain
Bhavin Shastri still gets excited when he sees a laser pointer, and he’s been fascinated by them since he was
A near-Earth asteroid offers clues to one dark matter theory
A hypothetical “fifth force” could tug on asteroids, if it exists. But the asteroid Bennu shows no signs that its
Tech companies want small nuclear reactors. Here’s how they’d work
To fuel the insatiable energy appetite of artificial intelligence, tech companies are going big on small nuclear reactors. Last week,
New electrical stitches use muscle movement to speed up healing
Stitches are getting a shocking upgrade. In an experiment in rats, a new strong, flexible thread hastened wound healing by
The discovery of tools key to machine learning wins the 2024 physics Nobel
As artificial intelligence explodes in popularity, two of its pioneers have nabbed the 2024 Nobel Prize in physics. The prize
Mayo is surprisingly great at understanding nuclear fusion experiments
The texture of mayonnaise inspires love and hate. Either way, it’s perfect for physics experiments. The classic seasoning is useful
A prototype nuclear clock hints at extremely accurate timekeeping
Scientific watchmakers have created a prototype of a nuclear clock, hinting at future possibilities for using atomic nuclei to make
A quantum computer corrected its errors, improving its calculations
For the first time, a quantum computer has improved its results by continuously correcting its own miscalculations with a technique