Top Physics Stories
A 'direct wave' from colliding black holes reveals signature of a whirlpool in spacetime
Researchers isolated a hidden 'direct wave' in gravitational event GW250114, yielding the first signal from near a black hole's event horizon and revealing how spinning black holes drag spacetime.
Read full story →'Superallowed' alpha decay seen for the first time
Researchers at RIKEN observed alpha decay in tellurium-104 with a half-life of 7.2 nanoseconds, revealing alpha particles pre-form in nuclei far more readily than theory predicted.
Read full story →A Dark Dimension Could Link Two of the Universe's Great Unknowns
A string theory proposal links dark matter and evolving dark energy through a larger-than-usual extra spatial dimension, potentially explaining why DESI finds dark energy changing over time.
Read full story →Experiment upends beliefs on how electrons actually behave in warm dense matter
Experiments show standard electron gas models overestimate plasmon energies in warm dense aluminum by about 25%, requiring more sophisticated theory to correctly describe matter under extreme conditions.
Read full story →Uranus and Neptune may be magma worlds, not ice giants
UCLA modeling suggests Uranus and Neptune harbor deep silicate magma oceans rather than icy mantles, potentially explaining their anomalous magnetic fields and internal heat patterns.
Read full story →A magnetic field that kills superconductivity can also bring it back
RIKEN researchers discovered re-entrant superconductivity in a 2D oxide interface: magnetic fields that initially destroy superconductivity restore it at higher field strengths, revealing unexpected electronic balance.
Read full story →Ultrafast X-rays allow researchers to watch how molecules rearrange during a chemical reaction
SLAC researchers combined three coordinated laser and X-ray pulses to directly image coherently controlled atomic rearrangements during a chemical reaction for the first time.
Read full story →A potential hindrance to fusion power may help instead
Simulations show alpha particles from fusion reactions suppress plasma turbulence rather than hinder performance, potentially boosting reactor output by up to 25%.
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