Physics

The “pinball” model of a slipping fault line borrows from the mathematics of avalanches.

The first official evidence of a key imbalance between neutrinos and antineutrinos provides one of the best clues for why the universe contains something rather than nothing.

Freeman Dyson — physicist, mathematician, writer and idea factory — died on February 28, but his vitality lives on.

The laws of physics imply that the passage of time is an illusion. To avoid this conclusion, we might have to rethink the reality of infinitely precise numbers.

Sometimes a mirror that reflects 99.9999% of light isn’t good enough.

The astrophysicist Brian Keating talks to host Steven Strogatz about chasing the universe’s greatest mysteries — and what it’s like to have a major discovery slip through his fingers.

Three progressively heavier copies of each type of matter particle exist, and no one knows why. A new paper by Steven Weinberg takes a stab at explaining the pattern.

A study has cemented the link between an intense global warming episode 56 million years ago and volcanism in the North Atlantic, with implications for modern climate change.

In a new paper, physicists argue that hypothetical particles called axions could explain why the universe isn’t empty.