What 50 Gravitational-Wave Events Reveal about the Universe
Astrophysicists now have enough black-hole mergers to map their frequency over the cosmos’s history
Stories by Davide Castelvecchi
This Beetle's Stab-Proof Exoskeleton Makes It Almost Indestructible
Jigsaw-puzzle-shaped seams that hold a notoriously tough insect’s wing cases together could inspire engineers
First Room-Temperature Superconductor Excites and Baffles Scientists
A compound of hydrogen, carbon and sulfur has broken a symbolic barrier—but its high-pressure conditions make it difficult to analyze
The First Ever Image of a Black Hole Is Now a Movie
Pictures created from old observations show the void’s stormy evolution over the past decade
Mystery over Universe’s Expansion Deepens with Fresh Data
A long-awaited map of the big bang’s afterglow fails to settle a debate over how fast the universe is expanding
Welcome Anyons! Physicists Find Best Evidence Yet for Long-Sought 2D Structures
The ‘quasiparticles’ defy the categories of ordinary particles and herald a potential way to build quantum computers
Neutrinos Reveal Final Secret of Sun’s Nuclear Fusion
The detection of particles produced in the sun’s core supports long-held theory about how our star is powered
CERN Makes Bold Push to Build $23-Billion Super Collider
European particle-physics lab will pursue a 100-kilometer machine to uncover the Higgs boson’s secrets — but it doesn’t yet have the funds
Pluto Probe Offers Eye-Popping View of Neighboring Star Proxima Centauri
NASA’s New Horizons mission measures the distances of two stars from the outer reaches of the Solar System
This Black-Hole Collision Just Made Gravitational Waves Even More Interesting
An unprecedented signal from unevenly sized objects gives astronomers rare insight into how black holes spin
Mathematical Proof That Rocked Number Theory Will Be Published
But some experts say author Shinichi Mochizuki failed to fix a fatal flaw in the solution of a major arithmetic problem
Coronavirus Fears Cancel World’s Biggest Physics Meeting
Physicists who were set to attend the American Physical Society’s Denver conference are using virtual platforms to share their talks
Mysterious Faded Star Betelgeuse Has Started to Brighten Again
“Orion’s shoulder” had reached unprecedented dimness in mid-February, leaving astronomers befuddled
How Quickly Can Iran Make a Nuclear Bomb?
With an international deal in serious jeopardy, Iran is not racing to build nuclear weapons—but its capabilities are growing
Watch Out for These Science Events in 2020
A Mars invasion, a climate meeting and human–animal hybrids are set to shape the research agenda
Japan Will Build the World’s Largest Neutrino Detector
Cabinet greenlights $600-million Hyper-Kamiokande experiment, which scientists hope will bring revolutionary discoveries
How Big Is the Proton? Particle-Size Puzzle Leaps Closer to Resolution
Precise measurement affirms that the particle’s radius is smaller than physicists once thought
The Quest to Unlock the Secrets of the Baby Universe
Radio astronomers look to hydrogen for insights into the universe’s first billion years
Giant “Bubbles” Spotted around the Milky Way’s Black Hole
First major result from South Africa’s pioneering MeerKAT radio telescope reveals remnants of energetic explosions at the galaxy’s center
New Space Telescope Will Map the Universe in High-Energy X-rays
A German-Russian mission called SRG will detect millions of supermassive black holes, many new to science, and hundreds of thousands of stars
