Space & Physics
CERN's Pioneering Mini-Accelerator Passes First Test
Physicists achieve powerful acceleration by "surfing" electrons on proton waves over short distances
Stories by Davide Castelvecchi
Space & Physics
Asteroid Ryugu Poses Landing Risks for Japanese Mission
Mission planners have chosen the first landing sites on boulder-strewn body for Hayabusa 2 and its rovers to touch down
Space & Physics
LHC Physicists Embrace Brute-Force Approach to Particle Hunt
The world’s most powerful particle collider has yet to turn up new physics—now some physicists are turning to a different strategy
The Sciences
Number-Theory Prodigy among Winners of Most Coveted Prize in Mathematics
The Fields Medals have been awarded to four researchers who work on number theory, geometry and network analysis
Space & Physics
Big Bang Telescope Finale Marks End of an Era in Cosmology
With the end of Europe’s major Planck mission, researchers are moving to smaller projects studying different aspects of the cosmic microwave background
Space & Physics
Here Come the Waves
After a clutch of historic detections, gravitational-wave researchers have set their sights on some ambitious scientific quarry
Space & Physics
Particle Physicists Turn to AI to Cope with CERN’s Collision Deluge
Can a competition with cash rewards improve techniques for tracking the Large Hadron Collider’s messy particle trajectories?
Space & Physics
Beguiling Dark Matter Signal Persists 20 Years on
Physicists at experiment in Italy continue to see a data fluctuation that they say represents dark matter—but the mystery deepens
The Sciences
“Grand Unified Theory of Math” Nets Abel Prize
Robert Langlands’ ideas unearthed connections within mathematics that have helped to solve centuries-old problems and aided researchers in disparate fields
Space & Physics
Life of a Legend
Science mourns the death of physicist and icon of science Stephen Hawking
Computing
The Quantum Internet Has Arrived (and It Hasn’t)
Networks that harness entanglement and teleportation could enable leaps in security, computing and science
Space & Physics
Physicists Harness Twisted Mathematics to Make Powerful Laser
High-quality beams could be among the first practical applications of the booming field of topological physics
Engineering
How an Underwater Sensor Network Is Tracking Argentina’s Lost Submarine
An expert from a nuclear-test-monitoring system explains how his team is trying to help in the search for the ARA San Juan
Space & Physics
Europe Sets Priorities for Hunting Cosmic Particles
Club of physics funding agencies pushes for projects including a neutrino observatory in the Mediterranean Sea
Space & Physics
Quantum Machine Goes in Search of the Higgs Boson
D-Wave system shows quantum computers can learn to detect particle signatures in mountains of data, but doesn’t outpace conventional methods — yet
Space & Physics
High-Energy Cosmic Rays Come from Outside Our Galaxy
Giant observatory announces long-awaited result
Space & Physics
Rumors Swell over New Kind of Gravitational Wave Sighting
Gossip over colliding neutron stars has astronomers in a tizzy
Space & Physics
Mysteries of Turbulence Unraveled
Simulations follow how swirls in a fluid transfer and dissipate energy
Space & Physics
Cosmic Map Reveals a Not-So-Lumpy Universe
Odd results could still be consistent with the Standard Model of cosmology
Space & Physics
The Strange Topology That Is Reshaping Physics
Topological effects might be hiding inside perfectly ordinary materials, waiting to reveal bizarre new particles or bolster quantum computing
