What's up in
Physics
Latest Articles
Why I’m Hosting The Joy of x Podcast
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.
For Fluid Equations, a Steady Flow of Progress
A startling experimental discovery about how fluids behave started a wave of important mathematical proofs.
An Idea From Physics Helps AI See in Higher Dimensions
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.
Continents of the Underworld Come Into Focus
Giant blobs nestled deep in the Earth may influence everything from the structure of island chains to mass-extinction events.
The Year in Physics
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.
Toward a Grand Unified Theory of Snowflakes
Snow crystals come in two main types. The “pope” of snowflake physics has a new theory that explains why.
Famous Fluid Equations Spring a Leak
Researchers have spent centuries looking for a scenario in which the Euler fluid equations fail. Now a mathematician has finally found one.
No Dark Energy? No Chance, Cosmologists Contend
A study challenged the evidence for the mysterious antigravitational force known as dark energy. Then cosmologists shot back.
Astronomers Find Black Holes Stirring Up the Biggest Galaxies
After a space telescope disintegrated, astrophysicists had little hope of understanding how supermassive black holes agitate giant galaxies. Then they invented a hack.