Physics

Amongst the many problems we’ve had with the spread of COVID-19 is the coronavirus‘s ability to survive on surfaces for

Quantum physics promises huge advances not just in quantum computing but also in a quantum internet – a next-generation framework

After a long, seven-year development, an experimental fusion reactor in the UK has been successfully powered on for the time,

Passing electricity through a piece of quartz crystal generates a pulse you can literally set your watch by. Set a time

Scientists have measured the shortest unit of time ever: the time it takes a light particle to cross a hydrogen molecule.  That

Have you ever been in more than one place at the same time? If you’re much bigger than an atom,

For something that largely exists in just two dimensions, graphene seems to be everywhere. The super-thin ‘wonder material’ is famous

The storage and transfer of information is a fundamental part of any computing system, and quantum computing systems are no

A major new milestone has just been achieved in the quest for superconductivity. For the first time, physicists have achieved

Einstein’s theory of special relativity gave us the speed limit of the Universe – that of light in a vacuum.

On hearing that they had been awarded a Nobel Chemistry Prize for their groundbreaking work on gene-editing Jennifer Doudna and

For US astronomer Andrea Ghez, who won this year’s Nobel Physics Prize, what makes black holes so fascinating is how

Scientists have been able to draw power from the thermal motion of graphene at room temperature, potentially giving us a

Mirror image is a tricky thing, but it’s pretty clear when you look at words in a reflection, that mirrors

In its 4.5 billion year history, Earth has had to run the gauntlet. Numerous catastrophes have imperilled the planet, from

A windowpane or a tumbler might shatter quite easily, but solid glass is actually a lot more rigid and strong

We stride through our Universe with the confidence of a giant, giving little thought to the fact that reality bubbles

The most accurate clocks in existence aren’t based on a quartz movement or a balance wheel, but the ticking of

No one has yet managed to travel through time – at least to our knowledge – but the question of

Keeping qubits stable – those quantum equivalents of classic computing bits – will be key to realising the potential of

If a tree falls in a forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?

What happens to materials in Earth’s crust when a meteorite slams into them? Specifically, what happens to the quartz found

For the first time, pressure over 100 times that found in Earth’s core has been generated in a lab, setting

A pair of Danish computer scientists have solved a longstanding mathematics puzzle that lay dormant for decades, after researchers failed

The existence of time crystals – a particularly fascinating state of matter – was only confirmed a few short years

One of the major challenges in turning quantum technology from potential to reality is getting super-delicate quantum states to last

For hundreds of thousands of years, humans have cultivated a close relationship with fire. But for all our fascination and

The idea of freezing particles by warming them is counterintuitive, to say the least. But physicists have shown how specially

You wouldn’t think there’s much of a contest between soft hair or a little bit of beard stubble and a

Scientists can use some pretty wild forces to manipulate materials. There’s acoustic tweezers, which use the force of acoustic radiation to control

The Lebanese capital Beirut was rocked on Tuesday evening local time by an explosion that has killed at least 78

An explosion at a port in Beirut brought destruction to the Lebanese capital Tuesday, damaging buildings, killing more than a

When an enormous explosion created a mushroom cloud over Beirut, killing dozens of people and injuring thousands more, online commentators and conspiracy

Longer-lasting, more efficient batteries would be a boost for everything from smartphones to electric vehicles, and scientists have now made

Here’s the story – our protagonist rewinds history, locates baby Hitler, and averts global war by putting him on a

This stunning image captured last year by physicists at the University of Glasgow in Scotland is the first-ever photo of

Nearly a century after experiments confirmed that atoms, matter’s smallest building blocks, have ethereal, wave-like characteristics, physicists have just found

Energy generated from nuclear fusion holds plenty of potential as a clean and almost limitless source of power, but many

Last year, scientists detected the most energetic gamma ray burst we’ve ever seen. A distant galaxy spat out a colossal

There’s a new exotic subatomic particle on the atom smasher. Physicists working with CERN’s Large Hadron Collider beauty (LHCb) collaboration

Picture in your mind the delta of a river – the way the main channel splits into smaller rivulets and

In the strange field of quantum physics, quantum entanglement – what Einstein called “spooky action at a distance” – stands

Every second, trillions upon trillions of incredibly low-mass subatomic particles called neutrinos shoot out from the Sun and slide undetected

A 50-year-old theoretical process for extracting energy from a rotating black hole finally has experimental verification. Using an analogue of

Deep beneath the mountains of Gran Sasso in Italy, the world’s most sensitive dark matter experiment has made a surprise

It’s easy to take time’s arrow for granted – but the gears of physics actually work just as smoothly in

A liquid phase originally proposed in the 1910s has finally been realised. Using a liquid crystal compound, scientists have discovered

In July of 2018, NASA announced an incredible achievement. They had created the coldest spot in space – right there