Holograms are pretty cool, sure. But they’re still just two-dimensional projections that hover in the air, and as soon as you step to the side, the magic disappears, revealing how flat the thing really is.   But now researchers from Brigham Young University have demonstrated they can create fully three-dimensional projections of moving images – and

Holograms are pretty cool, sure. But they’re still just two-dimensional projections that hover in the air, and as soon as you step to the side, the magic disappears, revealing how flat the thing really is.   But now researchers from Brigham Young University have demonstrated they can create fully three-dimensional projections of moving images – and

For those working in the field of advanced artificial intelligence, getting a computer to simulate brain activity is a gargantuan task, but it may be easier to manage if the hardware is designed more like brain hardware to start with.   This emerging field is called neuromorphic computing. And now engineers at MIT may have

An idea for an experiment that could unite the stubborn fields of quantum mechanics and general relativity has been given new life by two groups of physicists from the UK. The fact that quantum theory doesn’t play well with gravity is a massive stumbling block in physics, one that has long eluded some of the

A search through a mountain of data from the Large Hadron Collider for particles called magnetic monopoles has once again come up empty handed. That doesn’t yet completely rule out the possibility of these hypothetical objects. But it does tell us that if they exist, they might be extraordinarily massive particles that are beyond our

Physicists have created what they say is the first device that’s capable of generating particles that behave as if they have negative mass. The device generates a strange particle that’s half-light/half-matter, and as if that isn’t cool enough, it could also be the foundation for a new kind of laser that could operate on far

Scientists have reached a new low in the cooling of liquid water, hitting -45 degrees Celsius (-49 degrees Fahrenheit). That’s way below the usual freezing point, and shows we still have a lot to learn about the physics of this plentiful substance.   In two separate experiments, water was supercooled right down to 230 Kelvin

Physicists have observed some weird atomic collision problems as particles failed to bounce off each other in the way science predicts they should. But with some new work that helps to explain what’s going on, they may just have found the key to understand some very complex particle physics.   A new study explains how

If you feel like having one of your fundamental beliefs thrown out the window, try this on for size – under the right conditions, you can boil water until it freezes solid. Yep, as the Cody’s Lab video above demonstrates, after a few minutes of boiling, water starts to form solid ice crystals, and is actually cold

We’re used to dealing with three physical dimensions and one extra dimension of time as we move through the Universe, but two teams of scientists have shown that a fourth spatial dimension could reach beyond the limits of up and down, left and right, and forwards and backwards.   As you might expect given this

A brand new type of lens called a metalens has just passed a major hurdle. A metalens is a flat surface that use nanostructures to focus light, and it could change optics forever by replacing the traditional bulky, curved lenses we know.   Up until now these ultra-compact lenses have had enormous potential, but they’ve

The German physicist Albert Einstein needed complex equations to describe his theory of relativity, but 18-year-old Hillary Diane Andales of the Philippines does just fine with a pick-up truck, a few cell phones, and Usain Bolt.   Andales is the winner of the 2017 Breakthrough Junior Challenge, an annual competition that calls on teenagers across the

It’s well established that nuclear fusion – the reaction that powers our Sun – could be the key to unlocking clean, limitless energy here on Earth. But one of the biggest challenges of modern science is how to harness the fusion reaction so that it produces more energy than it consumes. And a new paper claims to

Scientists have long been intrigued by the physics near absolute zero – the temperature 0° Kelvin, or -273.15°C, where particles reach the lowest possible amount of movement – ever since this limit was theorised.   Yet reaching absolute zero has been called impossible: as you continue to remove heat from a gas to cool it, the work

While we all take for granted the fact that time’s arrow forever points towards the future, physicists have always had trouble showing why this is necessarily the case. A mix of chloroform and acetone might seem like an odd place to hunt for clues, but researchers have used just such a combination to create conditions

One of the underlying principles of quantum theory is that quantum objects can exist as waves or particles. But, they do not exist as either until they are measured, making it seemingly unachievable to identify or track quantum objects when they’re not being observed.   But recently, physicists faced this issue and proved that it

Some wonder-materials you hear from once, and that’s it. But not graphene. A month barely goes by these days without us hearing about a new use for this amazing carbon allotrope.   Here’s one more potential use for this overachiever of the molecular world – bullet catcher. One day armed forces might protect themselves with

In 2000, the Clay Mathematics Institute announced the Millennium Prize problems. These were a collection of seven of the most important maths problems that remain unsolved. Reflecting the importance of the problems, the Institute offered a $1 million prize to anyone who could provide a rigorous, peer-reviewed solution to any of the problems.   While

If you want to stick something on your fridge, like really get it stuck on hard there, you might want to talk to the scientists at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory. They’ve just build the most powerful superconducting magnet ever, shattering the world record.   Its magnetic field clocks in at 32 tesla in

The US has conducted more nuclear weapons tests than any other nation in history. The official count of 1,054 tests includes 210 atmospheric nuclear tests between 1945 and 1962 – with cameras capturing every one.   This week, a team at the federal Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has released 62 of these atmospheric nuclear

It’s well established that nuclear fusion – the reaction that powers our Sun – could be the key to unlocking clean, limitless energy here on Earth. But one of the biggest challenges of modern science is how to harness the fusion reaction so that it produces more energy than it consumes. And a new paper claims to

Achieving nuclear fusion without needing radioactive fuel or producing radioactive waste is now “within reach” thanks to a new laser-driven technique, according to researchers.   The type of fusion we’re talking about is hydrogen-boron fusion, which produces no neutrons and therefore no radioactivity in its primary reaction. The downside, and part of what’s made it

Researchers at the University of Illinois have announced an exciting finding – the discovery of a new form of matter: excitonium. This material is made up of a kind of boson, a composite particle that could allow the matter to act as a superfluid, superconductor, or even as an insulating electronic crystal.   Physics professor

Scientists just took a big step towards the goal of quantum computers, and even a quantum internet to connect them, after successfully using photons to transfer quantum information between a cold atomic gas and a solid crystal.   Passing data between these two “nodes” or types of storage shows that it should be possible to

Researchers at MIT have invented a temporary “tattoo” made from genetically programmed living cells. Their prototype looks like a stick-on patch with a pattern in the shape of a tree.   It’s divided into sections printed with a slurry containing live bacteria that fluoresce when they come into contact with particular compounds. When the skin under

It’s the simplest trick in the pantry – pour sugar into a jar, run out of space, then tap the jar on a table to pack it down so you can fit in the rest of the bag. ‘Compaction dynamics’, as this trick is called, has lots of uses in industrial settings, and physicists have

An exotic kind of particle so mysterious that it was suspected to be impossible has finally been identified by physicists – and not just once, but twice. Two new theoretical predictions of an elusive form of matter called tetraquarks provide the firmest evidence yet that these strange particles really do exist after all, setting the

A physicist from the University of Campinas in Brazil isn’t a big fan of the idea that time started with a so-called Big Bang. Instead, Juliano César Silva Neves imagines a collapse followed by an expansion, one that could even still carry the scars of a previous timeline.   The idea itself isn’t new, but

An international team of scientists employed highly precise methods to uncover the most exact measurement of the magnetic moment of protons. They found it to be 2.79284734462, plus-or-minus 0.00000000082 nuclear magnetons (the typical unit for measuring this property).   The magnetic moment is a property of particles that is a prerequisite for magnetism, and applied

By all measures, graphene shouldn’t exist. The fact it does comes down to a neat loophole in physics that sees an impossible 2D sheet of atoms act like a solid 3D material. New research has delved into graphene’s rippling, discovering a physical phenomenon on an atomic scale that could be exploited as a way to

For the first time, scientists have witnessed lightning triggering nuclear reactions in the atmosphere, confirming a hypothesis dating back almost a century. It’s long been predicted that high-energy electrons in lightning can produce gamma rays that induce nuclear reactions in thunderclouds, but before now, the phenomenon has never been conclusively observed.   “The photonuclear reaction

Neutrinos have a reputation for playing hard to get. Tiny, sub-atomic particles that have no charge and close to zero mass, they usually slip past Earth’s atoms leaving barely a trace of their presence. But not all run past unscathed. New research confirms highly energised ‘ghost particles’ can be stopped dead in their tracks, a

During the mid- to late-twentieth century, quantum physicists picked apart the unified theory of physics that Einstein’s theory of relativity offered. The physics of the large was governed by gravity, but only quantum physics could describe observations of the small. Since then, a theoretical tug-o-war between gravity and the other three fundamental forces has continued

In the science of quantum communication, the challenge has always been prolonging the entangled state that the particles are in. As quantum information is carried by these entangled particles, the length of time the entanglement is sustained affects the distance that the information can travel.   Quantum communication systems do this using direct optical-fiber connections,

Plasma, one of the four fundamental states of matter, is tricky stuff. Just like gas, plasma has no fixed shape or volume, so it usually has to be contained to be useful – as in plasma TVs, for example. But now, for the first time, researchers have found a way to create a stable plasma

Have you ever seen droplets skitter across a puddle on a rainy day, or when you pour milk into your coffee? Researchers have just found an explanation for why that happens under some conditions. According to MIT scientists, to have a droplet float on the surface before combining with the rest of the liquid, temperature

A collaboration of engineers and researchers has found a way to prevent helium, a byproduct of the fusion reaction, from weakening nuclear fusion reactors. The secret is in building the reactors using nanocomposite solids that create channels through which the helium can escape.   Researchers from Texas A&M University, working with a team from the Los Alamos

A liquid is traditionally defined as a material that adapts its shape to fit a container. Yet under certain conditions, cats seem to fit this definition. This somewhat paradoxical observation emerged on the web a few years ago and joined the long list of internet memes involving our feline friends. When I first saw this

Dark matter continues to be an itch particle physicists just can’t scratch. Whatever is tugging at the Universe’s more visible material, it just doesn’t want to be found. A fresh look at existing data has failed to detect any ‘dark photons’ – particles that would help describe the forces behind the shadowy masses. It doesn’t

Light is ubiquitous and vital, but also incredibly strange – and it’s possible we’ll never exhaust the opportunities to learn more about it. Case in point: researchers at Harvard have developed a material that can generate and maintain completely new and more complex states of light.   The tool uses polarisation to generate structures such

A pair of physicists discovered a new kind of fusion that occurs between quarks – and they were so concerned with its power they almost didn’t publish the results. It could have been the dawning of a new subatomic age. But as they’ve explored the idea they’ve discovered there are limits to its potential that

Proteins, the building blocks in every cell, have usually been thought of as blobs of inert organic matter. Now scientists have caught one particular protein doing something incredible: conducting electricity. If the findings can be replicated and used, we could have ourselves a powerful new diagnostic tool for medical use, capable of identifying single protein

At first, a spectacular glowing orb of light seen floating above Siberia on Thursday night sparked fears of an alien invasion. But thanks to physicists, we now have a more down-to-Earth explanation after all. The sensational light show, which was visible over a large area of northern Siberia, was witnessed by multiple people in the

In recent years, a great deal of progress has been made toward the first large-scale, universal quantum computer. However, there are still many problems to solve, like creating a method to store quantum information for extended periods of time. Now, scientists have discovered a material that might be up to the task.   The challenge

Quantum physics’ two-faced nature has been put to the test over and over again, and every time it’s still damn weird. This time physicists have gone to some lengths – literally – by splitting and merging light and then bouncing it from a satellite before testing its odd-ball properties. And, yeah, even over a stupidly

We learn about some awesome science in high school – like Einstein’s theory of relativity, the Periodic table, and DNA replication. The knowledge we pick up there sets the foundations for all the other amazing things we go on to study. But science definitely doesn’t end at high school, and it’s once you take your

Has the Higgs boson been rediscovered? Perhaps technically, with the creative application of a computer capable of sorting through massive quantities of data.   By making computation faster, researchers are hoping that quantum computers might aid in the exploration of our natural world and expand our knowledge of the known universe. In a proof-of-principle study,

If you want to freeze your water faster, heat it up first. This counter-intuitive piece of advice comes courtesy of the Mpemba effect, an odd phenomenon in physics that still has theorists scratching their heads. If it exists at all – and not everybody is convinced – the observation still lacks a convincing explanation and