The bottoms of boats and docks can accumulate lots of dirt, but semiaquatic animals like otters avoid having ‘fouled’ fur. Their secret could one day help keep underwater infrastructure clean.
Claims about the discovery of a coveted room-temperature superconductor peppered the news in 2023. We pulled three stories from our archives on what superconductivity is and why scientists study it.
Matter in deep space is very spread out, which makes it impossible for any sound waves to travel.
NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI
A centuries-old experiment shows the differences between classical and modern physics. Physicists use thought experiments like this to think about how objects move both on Earth and in the stars.
Ever seen the northern lights? You have a magnetic layer in Earth’s atmosphere to thank for those beautiful displays. But the magnetosphere does a lot more than create auroras.
The James Webb Space Telescope’s deep field image shows a universe full of sparkling galaxies.
NASA/STScI
The universe is expanding faster than physicists would expect. To figure out what processes underlie this fast expansion rate, some researchers are first trying to rule out what processes can’t.
If traveling into the past is possible, one way to do it might be sending people through tunnels in space.
by raggio5 via Pixabay
Adi Foord, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Scientists are trying to figure out if time travel is even theoretically possible. If it is, it looks like it would take a whole lot more knowledge and resources than humans have now to do it.
Scientists have been searching Earth’s surface for superheavy elements too difficult to make in the lab, but now, many are looking to the skies instead.
Some space rocks you can get for free – if you know how to identify them. Rarer materials cost more, and the asteroid sample NASA just brought back has a high price tag.
A complex cooling rig is needed to maintain the ultracold working temperatures required by a superconducting quantum computer.
IBM
After decades of hype, quantum computers are on the verge of becoming useful. Here’s a refresher on why they’re such a big deal
The Large Hadron Collider at CERN can be used to study many kinds of fundamental particles, including mysterious and rare tau particles.
Oxygen/Moment via Getty Images
Physicists uncovered a new experiment hidden in old data from the Large Hadron Collider. Using this innovative approach, the team has unlocked an entirely new way to study quantum physics.