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The Year in Physics
Physicists discovered strange supersolids, constructed new kinds of superconductors, and continued to make the case that the cosmos is far weirder than anyone suspected.
The First Nuclear Clock Will Test if Fundamental Constants Change
An ultra-precise measurement of a transition in the hearts of thorium atoms gives physicists a tool to probe the forces that bind the universe.
How the Higgs Field (Actually) Gives Mass to Elementary Particles
In this article adapted from his new book, "Waves in an Impossible Sea," physicist Matt Strassler explains that the origin of mass in the universe has a lot to do with music.
Vacuum of Space to Decay Sooner Than Expected (but Still Not Soon)
One of the quantum fields that fills the universe is special because its default value seems poised to eventually change, changing everything.
What Could Explain the Gallium Anomaly?
Physicists have ruled out a mundane explanation for the strange findings of an old Soviet experiment, leaving open the possibility that the results point to a new fundamental particle.
The S-Matrix Is the Oracle Physicists Turn To in Times of Crisis
Particle physicists in search of the next theory of reality are consulting a mathematical structure that they know will never fail: a table of possibilities known as the S-matrix.
Dogged Dark Matter Hunters Find New Hiding Places to Check
Perhaps dark matter is made of an entirely different kind of particle than the ones physicists have been searching for. New experiments are springing up to look for these ultra-lightweight phantoms.
AI Starts to Sift Through String Theory’s Near-Endless Possibilities
Using machine learning, string theorists are finally showing how microscopic configurations of extra dimensions translate into sets of elementary particles — though not yet those of our universe.
Hopes of Big Bang Discoveries Ride on a Future Spacecraft
Physicists and cosmologists will have a new probe of primordial processes when Europe launches the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) next decade.