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How Bell’s Theorem Proved ‘Spooky Action at a Distance’ Is Real

July 20, 2021

The root of today’s quantum revolution was John Stewart Bell’s 1964 theorem showing that quantum mechanics really permits instantaneous connections between far-apart locations.

How ‘Long COVID’ Keeps Us Sick

July 1, 2021

Other diseases with long-term symptoms can help us understand how COVID can affect us long after the virus itself is gone.

Brighter Than a Billion Billion Suns: Gamma-Ray Bursts Continue to Surprise

June 30, 2021

These ultrabright flashes have recently been tracked for days, upending ideas about the cataclysms that create them.

How Animals Color Themselves With Nanoscale Structures

June 16, 2021

Animals sculpt the optical properties of their tissues at the nanoscale to give themselves “structural colors.” New work is piecing together how they do it.

How Mathematicians Use Homology to Make Sense of Topology

May 11, 2021

Originally devised as a rigorous means of counting holes, homology provides a scaffolding for mathematical ideas, allowing for a new way to analyze the shapes within data.

How Gravity Is a Double Copy of Other Forces

May 4, 2021

An enigmatic connection between the forces of nature is allowing physicists to explore gravity’s quantum side.

How Maxwell’s Demon Continues to Startle Scientists

April 22, 2021

The thorny thought experiment has been turned into a real experiment — one that physicists use to probe the physics of information.

Mathematicians Find a New Class of Digitally Delicate Primes

March 30, 2021

Despite finding no specific examples, researchers have proved the existence of a pervasive kind of prime number so delicate that changing any of its infinite digits renders it composite.

The Near-Magical Mystery of Quasiparticles

March 24, 2021

The zoo of spontaneously emerging particlelike entities known as quasiparticles has grown quickly and become more and more exotic. Here are a few of the most curious and potentially useful examples.

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