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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Taken with a fish-eye lens, this image shows the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) detector assembly in a tunnel of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

World's largest atom smasher could seed microscopic black holes

By Paul Sutter published

If teensy black holes could be produced inside the world's largest atom smasher, the Large Hadron Collider, that would be a boon for physics.

Scientists have captured the sound of a "perfect fluid," which flows with the smallest amount of friction allowed by the laws of quantum mechanics.

Physicists recorded the flowing sound of a 'perfect' fluid for the first time

By Michelle Starr published

For the first time, physicists have recorded sound waves moving through a perfect fluid with the lowest possible viscosity.

A black hole

Swarms of 'primordial' black holes might fill our universe

By Rafi Letzter published

What if dark matter weren't a new type of matter at all, but huge swarms of tiny, "primordial" black holes?

An image shows arcs of electricity generated with a Tesla coil, an earlier experiment in shooting energy across open space that unfortunately would not effectively charge your phone.

Physicists built an 'anti-laser' to charge your phone from across a room

By Rafi Letzter published

A device demonstrated in a groundbreaking new experiment acts like a laser, only backwards. And someday it might send power invisibly through the air.

conceptual image of bubbles in a foam

Physicists discover the 'Kings and Queens of Quantumness'

By Adam Mann published

A new mathematical framework helps physicists define the degree of quantumness of a system

The collision of two neutron stars

Birth of magnetar seen for the first time

By Rafi Letzter published

Two neutron stars slammed together far away from Earth, and the Hubble may have spotted a magnetar emerging from the aftermath.

This computer simulation shows supermassive black holes only 40 orbits from merging.

Weird 'gravitational molecules' could orbit black holes like electrons swirling around atoms

By Paul Sutter published

Cosmic bubbles may have created dark matter.

Cosmic bubbles may have forged dark matter, new theory suggests

By Tim Childers published

New theory suggests cosmic bubbles during the birth of our universe are responsible for creating dark matter.

The left image shows OSIRIS-REx’s collector head hovering over the Sample Return Capsule (SRC) after the probe’s robotic arm moved it into the proper position for capture. The right image shows the collector head secured onto the capture ring in the SRC. Both images were captured by OSIRIS-REx’s StowCam camera.

NASA asteroid probe stows space-rock sample for return to Earth

By Mike Wall published

OSIRIS-REx finished stowing the bits of the asteroid Bennu that it snagged last week, successfully locking the material into the spacecraft's return capsule

An image from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) shows molecular gas clouds around the region where the Milky Way's central, supermassive black hole is known to exist. That region, highlighted in red, looks dark and silent.

The Milky Way's quiet, introverted monster won't spin

By Rafi Letzter published

This supermassive black hole's spin has been measured for the first time, and it's surprisingly low.

Artist's illustration of NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). Using data from TESS, scientists have discovered an "improbable" exoplanet that should've been engulfed by its star but wasn't.

Distant alien planets could be turned into dark matter detectors

By Paul Sutter published

A pair of astronomers is advocating a daring new research program: to turn our widening search for life beyond Earth into a hunt for dark matter.

Aliens on 1,000 nearby stars could see us, new study suggests

By Rafi Letzter published

Humans have gotten good at spotting planets orbiting alien stars. But how many of those alien stars are able to look back and see us?

Starman sent pictures home before leaving Earth orbit.

'Starman' just zipped past Mars in his rapidly-decaying Tesla Roadster

By Rafi Letzter published

Starman — the dummy riding a Tesla Roadster through space — has made his closest approach ever to Mars since his stunt launch in 2018.

Computer illustration of a black hole.

Black holes could become massive particle accelerators

By Paul Sutter published

Physicists suggest harnessing the gravitational pull of black holes to create ferocious particle accelerators. The trick? Carefully set everything up so the particles don't get lost forever.

The Dragonfly 44 galaxy looks like a smear across space.

Astronomers claimed galaxy was 98% dark matter. They were wrong.

By Rafi Letzter published

Back in 2016, researchers claimed Dragonfly 44 was a "failed" Milky Way — a galaxy with a huge dark matter mass but almost no stars. Now, on closer examination, that claim has fallen apart.

Higgs boson simulation

Higgs boson possibly caught in act of never-before-seen transformation

By Rafi Letzter published

If the Higgs boson really is decaying into pairs of muons in the Large Hadron Collider, that's a big deal for particle physics.

Neutron stars are among the densest objects in the universe.

Warm pasta helps hot, angry neutron stars cool down

By Rafi Letzter published

Neutron stars are like the most efficient thermoses in the universe, filled with hot noodle soup. Here's how, over the course of millions of years, they cool down.

the first ever direct image of a black hole, with yellow ring surrounding black circle

Physicists keep trying to break the rules of gravity but this supermassive black hole just said 'no'

By Rafi Letzter published

A new test of Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity has proved the 20th Century physicist right again, this time using a supermassive black hole.

Stacking monolayer and bilayer graphene sheets with a twist leads to new collective electronic states, including a rare form of magnetism.

Rare magnetism found in the world's strongest material

By Stephanie Pappas published

Strange things happen when you stack and twist graphene.

An image shows part of the Very Large Telescope, operated by the European Southern Observatory in Chile's Atacama Desert. The telescope was instrumental in watching the spaghettification event.

Black hole caught turning a poor star into spaghetti

By Rafi Letzter published

This supermassive black hole gobbled up a star in full view of Earth's telescopes, and could unlock secrets of how these monsters feed.