Einstein, an accomplished violinist, claimed that, had he not pursued science, he would have been a musician. That’s worth reflecting on, in the wake of last week’s discovery of gravitational waves.
Boom ting. The Super Hornet.
Christopher Pasatieri/Reuters
The long awaited discovery of gravitational waves has sent ripples through the scientific world. Here top experts respond to the historic announcement.
Oh hey, I heard ripples in space and time, generated as two black holes merged. Call me back.
SXS
Particle accelerators are helping to push forward the frontiers of theoretical physics but they’ve also had more impact on your everyday life than you realise.
They might only last for a fraction of a second but four new elements have finally won their place in the periodic table. The hunt is now on to find even more.
The microprocessors on this wafer of silicon have transistors measuring in the nanometres.
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As the components in electronic devices are shrinking to the nanoscale, even a single atom out of place can disrupt their function. But this also presents an opportunity to make them even better.
Special relativity was inspired, but it took true genius to conceive of general relativity. Had Einstein not come up with it, it may have taken decades for us to figure it out.