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The New Thermodynamic Understanding of Clocks

August 31, 2021

Investigations of the simplest possible clocks have revealed their fundamental limitations — as well as insights into the nature of time itself.

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This Physicist Discovered an Escape From Hawking’s Black Hole Paradox

August 23, 2021

The five-decade-old paradox — long thought key to linking quantum theory with Einstein’s theory of gravity — is falling to a new generation of thinkers. Netta Engelhardt is leading the way.

How Big Can the Quantum World Be? Physicists Probe the Limits.

August 18, 2021

By showing that even large objects can exhibit bizarre quantum behaviors, physicists hope to illuminate the mystery of quantum collapse, identify the quantum nature of gravity, and perhaps even make Schrödinger’s cat a reality.

Physicists Create a Bizarre ‘Wigner Crystal’ Made Purely of Electrons

August 12, 2021

The unambiguous discovery of a Wigner crystal relied on a novel technique for probing the insides of complex materials.

How Steven Weinberg Transformed Physics and Physicists

August 11, 2021

When Steven Weinberg died last month, the world lost one of its most profound thinkers.

Turing Patterns Turn Up in a Tiny Crystal

August 10, 2021

The mechanism behind leopard spots and zebra stripes also appears to explain the patterned growth of a bismuth crystal, extending Alan Turing’s 1952 idea to the atomic scale.

Neither Star nor Planet: A Strange Brown Dwarf Puzzles Astronomers

August 4, 2021

Brown dwarfs such as “The Accident” are illuminating the murky borderlands that separate planets from stars.

Eternal Change for No Energy: A Time Crystal Finally Made Real

July 30, 2021

Like a perpetual motion machine, a time crystal forever cycles between states without consuming energy. Physicists claim to have built this new phase of matter inside a quantum computer.

A Soil-Science Revolution Upends Plans to Fight Climate Change

July 27, 2021

A centuries-old concept in soil science has recently been thrown out. Yet it remains a key ingredient in everything from climate models to advanced carbon-capture projects.

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