It started with an unusual discovery on the coast of northeastern Japan. Researcher Yoshiki Ochiai discovered a bluish gelatinous mass washed up on the shore of the Gamo coast. This was a tangle of tentacles he had never encountered before. He collected it in a plastic bag and brought it directly to his laboratory at … Read more
An international team of physicists has announced a “significant advance” in laser science that provides engineers with a practical path to extreme light intensities that can dramatically increase the intensity of high-power laser light. The team of physicists behind this breakthrough suggested that ultra-powerful lasers created using their approach could allow scientists to probe fundamental … Read more
Dark matter is estimated to make up about 27% of the universe, but not a single molecule of it has been directly detected. Perhaps until now, its existence has only been inferred by its gravitational force on visible matter. A new study suggests that the unexplained excess of far-ultraviolet light permeating the Milky Way galaxy … Read more
A new study by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has bridged the gap between quantum and classical physics. This study shows that mathematical ideas from classical physics can be used to explain the strange and “spooky” behavior attributed to quantum particles. Despite the development of applications such as quantum computing and sensing, … Read more
Ask anyone to explain how crabs move and you’ll get the same answer. It’s “horizontal”. It’s the distinctive feature that makes a crab unmistakably a crab. But there are questions that have actually puzzled biologists for decades. When did crabs start doing this, how often did it evolve, and what did it do to crabs … Read more
The universe appears to be mostly empty space. Once you remove the stars, planets, dust, and gas, there is nothing left. Physics tells a strange story. A vacuum isn’t really empty. It is full of restless energy and momentary quantum fluctuations. These are short disturbances that can generate pairs of virtual particles before disappearing again. … Read more
A new scientific paper is adding new fuel to one of space science’s most stubborn fantasies: a “warp drive” that could make distant stars feel like forever away. The research proposes a new way to create so-called warp bubbles, distorted regions of space-time that carry spacecraft, without the ships themselves breaking the cosmic speed limits. … Read more
Crude oil rose to $98 per barrel this morning from $95 the day before. S&P 500 futures rose 0.52% in early New York trading. Yesterday, the index closed 0.63% lower at 7,064. Asia almost rose today. Europe was flat in early trading. Bitcoin remains stuck at $74,000. Many banks have raised their price targets for … Read more
Uranus’ cold, icy world is surrounded by a pair of rings that orbit the planet at twice the distance as the main ring system. Each ring tells a different story. The outermost ring appears blue, while the inner ring is reddish. Astronomers have long wondered why the rings are so different and how each one … Read more
The idea that planets orbit two suns has long fascinated both scientific curiosity and the human imagination. Popularized by science fiction, such worlds, known as orbiting planets, do exist, and astronomers have identified several planets outside our solar system. But a puzzling pattern has emerged. Many of these planets appear to have disappeared from observation. … Read more