Physics

A team of theoretical physicists at the University of Basel, Switzerland, has found that in the very early Universe, so-called oscillons — strong localized fluctuations of the inflaton field — can act as ‘gravitational wave factories.’ According to Antusch et al, oscillons produced a characteristic peak in the otherwise broad …

Graphene was discovered in 2004, and right away its remarkable mechanical and electrical properties made it a hot topic of research. Graphene could be used for super-efficient batteries, solar panels, and much more. But after 13 years, we still don’t have any of that. The problem is that graphene is …

A team of researchers at Washington University in St. Louis has taken images of a laser pulse generating an optical Mach cone: the equivalent of a sonic boom, but for light. To make an optical Mach cone, a pulse of light would need to be traveling faster than the waves …

A duo of physicists at Harvard University has succeeded in creating a metallic modification of hydrogen. The research is published in the journal Science. Photo of metallic hydrogen at a pressure of 495 GPa; the sample is non-transmitting and is observed in reflected light; the central region is clearly more …

Researchers have been chasing the dream of metallic hydrogen for decades, ever since the material was first theorized by Princeton University scientists Eugene Wigner and Hillard Bell Huntington in 1935. If it exists, metallic hydrogen could fundamentally transform the way we used energy. Now, two scientists claim they’ve successfully created …

Thanks to a breakthrough by a research team led by University of California Berkeley physicist Norman Yao, time crystals are now a reality. Following a blueprint created by N.Y. Yao et al, University of Maryland physicists made the first time crystal using a one-dimensional chain of ytterbium ions; each ion …

An international team of physicists led by RIKEN researcher Stefan Ulmer has found that the magnetic moment of the antiproton is extremely close to that of the proton, with six-fold higher accuracy than before. Top: schematic of the Penning trap set-up used in CERN’s BASE experiment; a cloud of antiprotons …

A team of materials scientists and physicists from the DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory, the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory and the National Institute of Standards and Technology has discovered a way to confine the behavior of electrons by using extremely high magnetic fields. The team’s results are published in the …

Dutch string theorist Dr. Erik Verlinde insists on saying gravity doesn’t exist. The good professor clearly does not believe that if he stops holding onto his briefcase, it will do anything other than fall. But he definitely believes we’re thinking of it all wrong. And if it turns out he’s right, …

This year we pushed the boundaries of science to new extremes. We saw new levels of supercomputer performance, peeled the plastic off the biggest telescope and solar plant on earth, did the first-ever spectroscopy on antimatter, and even made liquid light. To start with, we put spinners on the world’s …