Physics

From the forces that keep athletes twirling and sliding, to the weird laws governing the world of the very small, to the far-out concepts of time travel and alternate universes, physics covers a lot of interesting territory. Here, Live Science keeps you abreast of all the fascinating physics discoveries.Physics

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An artist's impression of the supersolid, which is like a solid and a liquid at the same time.

Physicists give weird new phase of matter an extra dimension

By Ben Turner published

The new phase of matter behaves like a solid and a frictionless liquid at the same time

The STAR detector at Brookhaven National Laboratory detected the matter-antimatter pairs created by the colliding light.

Famous Einstein equation used to create matter from light for first time

By Ben Turner published

The particles used were spooky virtual particles, conjured from a disturbance between two electromagnetic fields.

The three galaxies are yanking strands of material from each other as they spiral ever closer.

NASA has glimpsed our galaxy's fate in three-way galactic brawl

By Ben Turner published

Despite the apocalyptic appearances, galactic mergers are a frequent and essential part of a galaxy’s life cycle.

An artist's drawing of the new particle, called Tcc+, which is made up of two charm quarks, an up antiquark and a down antiquark.

'Doubly charming' tetraquark is the longest-lived exotic-matter particle ever found

By Ben Turner published

Studying the particle could provide physicists with vital insight into the rules that govern how all matter is formed.

An illustration of a black hole.

Light from behind a black hole spotted for 1st time, proving Einstein right

By Ben Turner published

Scientists hope to use this new discovery to better understand how space-time warps and bends in the presence of massive objects like black holes.

One of the team's 3-D printed isotropic helicoids.

Was Lord Kelvin wrong? 3D-printed shape casts doubt on his 150-year-old theory

By Ben Turner published

A 150-year-old theory about an otherworldly shape proposed by Lord Kelvin, one of history's greatest physicists, has finally been put to the test — and his conjecture is now in doubt.

The meteor, travelling up to 43200 miles per hour, lit up the night sky as if it were daytime.

Flashing meteor that exploded over Norway landed somewhere in a nearby forest

By Ben Turner published

Scientists believe the ultra-fast object landed in a densely-forested area near the capital, Oslo. It could take up to ten years to find.

Diana Whitcroft demonstrates capillary action in her Summer School with Live Science series.

Summer School with Live Science: Capillary action

By Diana Whitcroft published

We will explore the science of capillary action in our new kids video series: Summer School with Live Science.

Steven Weinberg (right) along with his colleague Sheldon Glashow, who also won the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physics.

Steven Weinberg, Nobel Prize-winning physicist, has died

By Tia Ghose published

The physicist unified two of the four fundamental forces.

A top down view of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory's 1960s molten salt reactor experiment, an early precursor to the Chinese reactor.

China is gearing up to activate the world's first 'clean' commercial nuclear reactor

By Ben Turner published

Plans for thorium reactors have been around since the 1940s, but Chinese scientists believe they are finally close to creating a working prototype.

Bezos shows the aviation glasses that once belonged to Amelia Earhart, which he took with him during the flight, at the post-flight press conference.

Jeff Bezos went to the edge of space. Does that make him an astronaut?

By Ben Turner published

The billionaire's flight has opened up a debate about what "astronauts' and "space' even are.

Abstract image of a cosmic donut.

Our universe might be a giant three-dimensional donut, really.

By Paul Sutter published

Astrophysicists say our universe might be shaped like a three-dimensional donut, meaning you could point a spaceship in one direction and eventually return to where you started.

Abstract background, quantum physics, wave function

AI designs quantum physics experiments beyond what any human has conceived

By Anil Ananthaswamy published

Originally built to speed up calculations, a machine-learning system is now making shocking progress at the frontiers of experimental quantum physics

The ice can bend so much it can nearly form a circle.

Scientists create super-bendy ice

By Ben Turner published

The researchers believe their new bendy ice strands could give us some important hints into how water ice behaves in its natural state.

Dark matter particles might interact with each other.

Can we explain dark matter by adding more dimensions to the universe?

By Paul Sutter published

Dark matter could be even weirder than anyone thought, say cosmologists who are suggesting this mysterious substance could interact with itself in a higher dimensional universe.

The tiny device has the potential to shrink computers beyond existing physical limitations.

World's thinnest electronic device is 2 atoms thick

By Ben Turner published

The thinner size allows electrons to move across the device much faster, which could lead to the development of much quicker computers.

The red giant star Camelopardalis.

New measurement may resolve cosmological crisis

By Adam Mann published

Astronomer Wendy Freedman suggests that the latest observations of red giant stars could be closing the gap on the Hubble tension.

The white dwarf, placed next to the moon in this artist's depiction, is only slightly larger than the moon.

Frankenstein star could be on the brink of a startling transformation

By Ben Turner published

Astronomers think the undead husk could transform into a neutron star — a totally new way for it to evolve.

Each of the four supercooled mirrors weighs 40 kilograms.

Largest objects ever get cooled down to their ‘quantum limit’

By Ben Turner published

The researchers hope to use their apparatus to probe why large objects do not exhibit quantum effects.

Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein: The life of a brilliant physicist

By Adam Mann published

So much more than funny hair.