
The Physics and Hype of Hypersonic Weapons
These novel missiles cannot live up to the grand promises made on their behalf, aerodynamics shows

The Physics and Hype of Hypersonic Weapons
These novel missiles cannot live up to the grand promises made on their behalf, aerodynamics shows

Learning to Live in Steven Weinberg’s Pointless Universe
The late physicist’s most infamous statement still beguiles scientists and vexes believers


Highest-Energy Particles Yet Arrive from Ancient Crab Nebula
Astronomers have observed record-breaking photons that strain classical theories of acceleration

Black Holes Swallow Neutron Stars in a Single Bite, New Results Suggest
At long last, the definitive discovery completes a trifecta of astrophysical events that were forecast by gravitational-wave astronomers

Stars Made of Antimatter Might Be Lurking in the Universe
Circumstantial evidence could point to a mind-blowing solution to an antimatter mystery—or to the need for better space-based particle physics experiments

Death by Primordial Black Hole
If such an object a mere 1,000 times bigger than an atom passed through your body, the result would not be pretty

Searching for the Universe’s Most Energetic Particles, Astronomers Turn on the Radio
New radio-based observatories could soon detect ultrahigh-energy neutrinos, opening a new window on extreme cosmic physics

Magnetic Field around a Black Hole Mapped for the First Time
Images from the Event Horizon Telescope reveal new details of how supermassive black holes produce huge jets of matter and energy

Galaxy-Size Gravitational-Wave Detector Hints at Exotic Physics
Recent results from a pulsar timing array, which uses dead stars to hunt for gravitational waves, has scientists speculating about cosmic strings and primordial black holes

The Cosmological Constant Is Physics’ Most Embarrassing Problem
Physicists have new ideas about why the energy of empty space is so much weaker than it is predicted to be

Giant Galaxies from the Universe’s Childhood Challenge Cosmic Origin Stories
Large galaxies are thought to form gradually, across billions of years of cosmic time. So why do astronomers keep finding them in the youthful early universe?

Gravitational Waves Probe Exotic Matter inside Neutron Stars
A new analysis of light and gravitational waves from colliding neutron stars helps reveal what’s inside these ultradense objects