Particle PhysicsFebruary 27, 2024
Schrödinger’s Pendulum Experiment Will Search for the Quantum Limit
Physicists seek the dividing line between the quantum world and the classical one
Stories by Tim Folger
Tim Folger is a freelance journalist who writes for National Geographic, Discover, and other national publications.
Space ExplorationJuly 1, 2022
Record-Breaking Voyager Spacecraft Begin to Power Down
The pioneering probes are still running after nearly 45 years in space, but they will soon lose some of their instruments
Black HolesJune 30, 2020
Tiny Gravitational-Wave Detector Could Search Anywhere in the Sky
A much smaller and more reproducible version of LIGO could transform gravitational-wave astronomy
Quantum PhysicsApril 1, 2019
Quantum Gravity in the Lab
Physicists attempting to unify the theories of gravity and quantum mechanics have long thought practical experiments were out of reach, but new proposals offer a chance to test the quantum nature of gravity on a tabletop
Quantum PhysicsJuly 1, 2018
How Does the Quantum World Cross Over?
The universe according to quantum mechanics is strange and probabilistic, but our everyday reality seems nailed down. New experiments aim to probe where—and why—one realm passes into the other
The SciencesFebruary 1, 2017
The Race to Replace the Kilogram
The long-running effort to ditch the decaying, 19th-century artifact that defines the kilogram nears its conclusion
ComputingFebruary 1, 2016
The Race to Build the Unhackable Network
Quantum computers will render today's cryptographic methods obsolete. What happens then?
Space & PhysicsDecember 1, 2015
Can Time Travelers Reach the Past via Wormholes?
Astronauts already skip ahead in time, but the laws of physics seem to forbid going backward—or do they?
CognitionJanuary 1, 2015
Can We Keep Getting Smarter?
Ever rising IQ scores suggest that future generations will make us seem like dimwits in comparison
Mind & BrainSeptember 1, 2012
Will We Continue to Get Smarter? The Flynn Effect Says Yes
Ever-rising IQ scores suggest that future generations will make us seem like dimwits in comparison
The SciencesOctober 1, 2011
Waiting for the Higgs
Even as the last protons spin through the most successful particle accelerator in history, physicists hope to conjure one final triumph
Space & PhysicsJanuary 1, 2011
Contact: The Day After
If we are ever going to pick up a signal from E.T., it is going to happen soon, astronomers say. And we already have a good idea how events will play out