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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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.

The discovery was made from analysis of 30.6 million particle decays that took place in the Large Hadron Collider.

This 'charming' particle could have saved the universe

By Ben Turner last updated

The charm meson could answer why there's more matter than antimatter in the universe.

The gravitational waves emitted by two black holes as they spiral into each other, shown in a simulation.

Famous Stephen Hawking theory about black holes confirmed

By Ben Turner last updated

Physicists analyzed data from the first ever gravitational waves detected to prove Hawking's theory, and think that even more could be discovered from studying the ripples in space-time.

Here, a few of the stellar nurseries mapped in the ALMA survey.

100,000 star nurseries mapped in first-of-its-kind survey

By Ben Turner published

The researchers say that they want to use the survey to better understand our own place in the universe.

An image of Ganymede obtained by Juno's June 7 flyby.

Jupiter's largest moon revealed in stunning detail in first close-up images in 20 years

By Ben Turner published

These are the first close-ups of Ganymede in over 20 years.

The effect has been observed in a dense atomic cloud for the first time.

Physicists harness atomic 'dark states' to store light

By Ben Turner published

Physicists used optical tweezers to capture their gas clouds.

The Dark Energy Camera imaged 10 selected areas of the sky called deep fields. The multiple images of each provided astronomers with a glimpse of distant galaxies and how they are distributed throughout the universe.

Did a dark energy discovery just prove Einstein wrong? Not quite.

By Paul Sutter published

The Dark Energy Survey just released its most comprehensive results. But did they really prove Einstein wrong?

This animation shows the distribution of the dark matter, obtained from a numerical simulation, at a redshift z~2, or when the Universe was about 3 billion years old.

Dark matter map reveals new filaments connecting galaxies

By Stephanie Pappas published

A new map of the local universe created with machine learning reveals filaments of dark matter connecting galaxies.

This artist’s impression video shows the path of the star S2 as it passes very close to the supermassive "black hole" at the center of the Milky Way.

Fluffy ball of darkinos could be lurking at the center of the Milky Way

By Paul Sutter published

The supermassive black hole in the center of our galaxy may not be a black hole at all, but rather a fluffy ball of dark matter called darkinos.

A close-up of the handwritten equation, one of just four known examples , in the letter.

Handwritten Einstein letter containing famous E=mc2 equation sells for $1.2 million

By Harry Baker last updated

A letter written by Albert Einstein to a rival physicist, including a rare example of the famous E=mc2 equation in his own hand, has sold at auction for $1.2 million.

An artist's illustration of quantum entanglement.

What is quantum entanglement?

By Paul Sutter published

Quantum entanglement is one of the uber-bizarre phenomena seen when things get itty-bitty. Here's a look at how entanglement works and why it's so weird.

illustration of water molecules sitting on a graphene surface and being zapped with beams of helium

New study turns our understanding of ice upside down

By Nicoletta Lanese published

The physics of ice are more complicated than you might expect.

Crab Nebula

A dozen ultra-high-energy particle accelerators discovered in the Milky Way

By Adam Mann last updated

New observations help astronomers hone in on a long-standing mystery about where cosmic rays come from.

A 3D illustration of a neutron star in a gas nebula.

1st measurement of a neutron 'skin' is unlocking the secrets of exploded stars

By Ben Turner last updated

The thickness of a lump of lead can teach us about the mysterious husks of exploded stars.

The giant gas cloud in the simulation is many millions of times more massive than our sun.

Watch this stunning new simulation of a star being born

By Ben Turner published

Astrophysicists are using the simulation to learn how stars form, how they arrange themselves into galaxies, and how the heavy elements that are vital to complex life are forged.

An artist's impression of the Wolfe Disk, a massive disk galaxy in the early universe.

How a weird theory of gravity could break cause-and-effect

By Paul Sutter last updated

The more accurate a clock gets, the more entropy it creates.

More accurate clocks may add more disorder to the universe, scientists say

By Ben Turner published

The researchers found the result by studying a tiny, jiggling membrane. Their experiment could lay the groundwork for further tests of the laws of thermodynamics at the tiniest scales.

The beats of two tiny aluminum drums were entangled so scientists could sidestep the uncertainty principle

Scientist find a loophole in Heisenberg's uncertainty principle

By Ben Turner last updated

The micron-sized drum apparatus used by the two teams has applications from probing for quantum gravity to building the first quantum computers.

This image shows SN2014J, one of the closest type Ia supernovas in recent decades.

Rare plutonium from space found in deep-sea crust

By Stephanie Pappas published

A rare type of plutonium has been found in the crust below the deep sea, offering new clues as to how heavy metals form in star explosions and mergers.