Articles by Tim Childers

The centers of massive galaxy clusters are super hot (red), while bright structures show diffuse gas from the intergalactic medium shock heating at the boundary between cosmic voids and filaments.

Physicists Just Created the Most Detailed Simulation of the Universe in History

By Tim Childers

An international team of scientists has created the most detailed large-scale model of the universe to date, a simulation they call TNG50.

an artist's illustration of the big bang

We May Finally Understand the Moments Before the Big Bang

By Tim Childers

Physicists may have solved a decades-long mystery about how our universe came to be.

Google's Sycamore chip is kept cool inside their quantum cryostat.

Google's Quantum Computer Just Aced an 'Impossible' Test

By Tim Childers

For the first time, a quantum computer has solved a task that Google says would be impossible for the most advanced supercomputers in the world.

Einstein's Theory Predicts a Weird State of Matter. Could It Be Lurking in the World's Largest Atom Smasher?

By Tim Childers

This mysterious matter was predicted from Einstein's theory of special relativity, but physicists can't seem to find it!

an image of the crab nebula, which green yellow and pink light

Right Again, Einstein! Wobbling Pulsar Confirms General Relativity

By Tim Childers

A pulsar 25,000 light-years away is wobbling in a weird way. But Einstein's theory of general relativity predicted it more than a century ago.

Artist depiction of a supernova explosion in space.

'Einstein's Biggest Blunder' May Have Finally Been Fixed

By Tim Childers

The cosmological constant has plagued physicists for more than a century.

2015 Perseid Meteor Shower in the Danish Sky

What's the Difference Between Asteroids, Comets and Meteors?

By Tim Childers

Look! Up in the sky! It's an asteroid.... No, it's a comet.... Wait, it's neither?

Astronomers Create 8 Million Baby Universes Inside a Computer and Watch Them Grow. Here's What They Learned.

By Tim Childers

"UniverseMachine" churns out millions of unique universes to study dark matter and the evolution of galaxies.

A Tiny Magma Blob May Rewrite Earth's History of Plate Tectonics

By Tim Childers

An International team of scientists finds evidence that Earth began recycling itself more than 3 billion years ago.

Planet Earth with sunrise and flare glint in background.

If Aliens Are Flashing Laser Beams at Us, We Now Have a Way to Detect Them

By Tim Childers

Are aliens using super powerful flashlights to get our attention? Astronomers think there's a chance they are.

5G Network: How It Works, and Is It Dangerous?

By Tim Childers