Physics

Rogue waves — enigmatic giants of the sea — were thought to be caused by two different mechanisms. But a new idea that borrows from the hinterlands of probability theory has the potential to predict them all.

As astronomers get better at finding the comets and asteroids of other stars, they’ll learn more about the universe and our place in it.

A photograph of the infant cosmos reveals the precise amounts of dark matter and dark energy in the universe, leaving precious little room for argument.

In this episode, Priya Natarajan, professor of astronomy and physics at Yale University, speaks with Steven Strogatz about her lifelong fascinations, including black holes, mapping the universe and early personal computers.

Summer sea ice could vanish later this decade, with disastrous consequences. It all depends on the physics of ice.

The noted mathematician and author Steven Strogatz explains why he wanted to share intimate conversations with leading researchers from diverse fields in his new podcast.

The laws of physics stay the same no matter one’s perspective. Now this idea is allowing computers to detect features in curved and higher-dimensional space.

Giant blobs nestled deep in the Earth may influence everything from the structure of island chains to mass-extinction events.

Physicists saw a black hole for the first time, debated the expansion rate of the universe, pondered the origin of time and modeled the end of clouds.