Archive

Breathless media coverage notwithstanding, the cases for and against a hypothetical Planet Nine in the outskirts of the solar system remain inconclusive.

June Huh thought he had no talent for math until a chance meeting with a legendary mind. A decade later, his unorthodox approach to mathematical thinking has led to major breakthroughs.

One of the world’s preeminent theoretical physicists seeks a quiet place to think.

An unexpected mechanism allows wasps to rapidly co-opt genes for new toxic functions.

The newly developed theory of emergent gravity, proposed as an alternative to dark matter, struggles in one of its first trials.

Recent calculations tie together two conjectures about gravity, potentially revealing new truths about its elusive quantum nature.

The two physicists who introduced Peccei-Quinn symmetry came up with their idea on and around Stanford University’s campus 40 years ago.

The physicist who designed the LIGO experiment that detected gravitational waves still holes up in a small basement lab surrounded by electronics and optical instruments.

An obscure number theorist who became an overnight sensation with a major proof about the gaps between prime numbers now finds quiet inspiration walking along the Pacific Coast.