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Articles on Gravity

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A black hole is an object so compact that nothing can escape its gravitational pull, not even light. They are formed when stars die and start collapsing under their own weight. Deep inside the black hole resides an infinitely hot and dense object, a so-called, singularity. Science Photo Library - MARK GARLICK/Getty Images

2020 Nobel Prize in physics awarded for work on black holes – an astrophysicist explains the trailblazing discoveries

The 2020 Nobel Prize in physics was awarded to three scientists – an Englishman, an American and a German – for breakthroughs in understanding the most mysterious objects in the universe: black holes.
Flickr/Kelly Teague

Curious Kids: why is there gravity?

There is a reason why it’s easier to roll marbles down rather than up a hill. And the answer (to this and to gravity itself) is all about acceleration.
Artist’s rendition of NASA’s 2020 Mars rover collecting rocks with its robotic arm. NASA

Meteorites from Mars contain clues about the red planet’s geology

Martian meteorites allow scientists here on Earth to decode that planet’s geology, more than a decade before the first missions are scheduled to bring rocks back home from Mars.
Mating laser-driven atomic clocks like the one shown here with microwaves promises more accurate electronic devices. N. Phillips/NIST

Pairing lasers with microwaves makes mind-bogglingly accurate electronic clocks – a potential boon for GPS, cell phones and radar

Researchers have made some of the most accurate clocks imaginable in recent years, but the trick is harnessing those clocks to electronics. Using lasers to tune microwaves bridges the gap.
The universe is home to a dizzying number of stars and planets. But the vast bulk of the universe is thought to be invisible dark matter. Illustris Collaboration

Why do astronomers believe in dark matter?

Why do astronomers believe there’s dark matter when it cannot be directly detected? Let’s look at the evidence, and see what dark matter’s presence means for our universe.
Gravity helps stars to form. UNIMAP / L. Piazzo, La Sapienza – Università di Roma; E. Schisano / G. Li Causi, IAPS/INAF, Italy

Curious Kids: how long has gravity existed?

Gravity exists because the universe is full of ‘stuff’ – here’s how it came to be.
Canadian Space Agency astronaut Chris Hadfield on the International Space Station in 2012. NASA

What happens to the brain in zero gravity?

New research has uncovered exactly what happens to the brain when astronauts are in space.
Earth experiences constant volcanic activity - here’s Indonesia’s Mount Anak Krakatau (Child of Krakatoa) photographed in July 2018. EPA/AAP

I’ve Always Wondered: Why are the volcanoes on Earth active, but the ones on Mars are not?

Compared to Earth, more “oomph” is required to bring magma to the surface of Mars, and this is probably why we haven’t seen any recent eruptions on the red planet.

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