In 1954, three scientists observed a paradox to which they gave their name: the Fermi-Pasta-Ulam recurrence. Now, fibre optics are on the way to finally providing an explanation.
Academic rigour, journalistic flair
Articles on Physics
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Listen up. Today we’re hearing all about why your ears pop when you go up, up, up and away.
The explainer episode
The Conversation, CC BY67.5 MB (download)
Today on Trust me, I'm An Expert, we're explaining the tricky topics: what is quantum mechanics? What does the research say about lone actor terrorism? And why do people like pimple popping videos?
Plasma physics suggests Star Wars blaster guns would be extremely deadly.
A particle physicist explains just what this keystone theory includes. After 50 years, it’s the best we’ve got to answer what everything in the universe is made of and how it all holds together.
Whether at a family gathering or in a research lab, getting access to images immediately was a game-changer. And Land’s innovations went far beyond the instant photo.
CC BY-ND40.5 MB (download)
A podcast on intuition: from how it works in the body, to how to harness it, and the story of two scientists who followed a hunch – about quantum biology.
Australian scientist Mark Oliphant helped push the development of nuclear weapons during World War II but later riled at US attempts to keep the UK and others out of the nuclear arms race.
Out there in space there is no air. If you took your helmet off, all the air you need to breathe would whoosh out.
We usually think of quantum entanglement in the realm of atomic systems, but now it’s been scaled up to relatively massive objects. This opens the door to new kinds of technology.
Instead of pulling us to the top or bottom, the force of gravity pulls us to the middle of the Earth.
Whether or not you’ve ever used the word flutter, you’ve encountered the phenomenon – in flags, airplanes, bridges and more. Mathematicians are still figuring out exactly why and how this happens.
The famous cosmologist was closely identified with black holes due to his revolutionary theoretical work explaining some of their mysterious properties.
Hawking’s most famous book, A Brief History of Time, sold 10 million copies and was translated into 40 languages, skyrocketing to the top of the bestseller lists in the US and UK.
To stay up, the bird must overcome gravity with a force called ‘lift’.
A basketball computer program simulates millions of trajectories in search of the ideal shot.
Through abstraction, the underlying essence of a mathematical concept can be extracted.
By figuring out fission, physicists were able to split uranium atoms and release massive amounts of energy. This Manhattan Project work paved the way both for atomic bombs and nuclear power reactors.
Deep underground, scientists research subatomic particles from space in a bid to understand the building blocks of our universe.
Packed venues, rock star status. What makes some scientists so damned marketable?
Top contributors
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Associate Professor, Philosophy of Science, The University of Melbourne
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Post Doctoral Research Associate, Centre for the Subatomic Structure of Matter, University of Adelaide
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University Distinguished Professor of Astronomy, University of Arizona
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Emeritus Professor, ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery, OzGrav, The University of Western Australia
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Physicien, Professeur des Universités, Université Paris-Saclay
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Professor of Astrophysics, University of Sydney
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Professor of Nuclear Physics, Michigan State University
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Professor of Physics, University of Lynchburg
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Senior Lecturer in Physics, University of New England
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Professor & Head, School of Science & Mathematics, Mauritius Institute of Education
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Lecturer, Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology
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Professor of Quantum Physics and Quantum Technology, University of Sydney
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Professor, University of Sydney
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Lecturer, The University of Queensland
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Honorary senior lecturer, Australian National University
