Physics

Physics

Dying stars can make gold as they collapse into black holes

There are spinning stars in space. Some of them collapse into black holes. Along the way, they may generate a lot of heavy elements — including gold.

Earth

New insights on how STEVE lights up the night sky

Satellite data and photos snapped by citizen scientists reveal the origins of the strange atmospheric glow called STEVE.

Animals

Let’s turn a genie blue

Aladdin’s genie is very magical. He’s also blue. What might explain that? Nature has some tricks on offer.

Physics

Meteorites may be excavating lunar water

When meteorites hit the moon, water is released from the moon’s soil. That suggests the moon has water buried all across its surface.

Materials Science

Analyze This: Do exotic woods make better guitars?

When comparing the sound of guitars made from rare and costly woods to those made with common, cheaper alternatives, guitarists couldn’t tell much of a difference.

Physics

Heat signatures help track down old and still deadly land mines

A new technique for locating land mines uses infrared cameras on drones. The novel technology uses temperature differences to find camouflaged mines before anyone might accidentally step on them.

Physics

Here’s the first picture of a black hole

The Event Horizon Telescope imaged the supermassive beast lying some 55 million light-years away in a galaxy called M87.

Tech

It took a ‘virtual’ telescope to actually picture a black hole

Here’s how scientists connected eight observatories across the world to create one Earth-sized telescope. This is what it took to create an image of a black hole.

Physics

A short history of black holes

From dreaming up black holes to snapping the first picture of one, the history of black holes has had many twists and turns.

Animals

This spider slingshots itself at extreme speeds to catch prey

By winding up its web like a slingshot, this spider achieves an acceleration rate far faster than a cheetah’s.

Physics

Scientists now know why microwaved grapes make plasma fireballs

Grapes trap microwave energy that bounces back and forth within the fruit. Until boom — a plasma!

Chemistry

Shape-shifting chemical is key to new solar battery

Storing solar energy is a challenge. A new, shape-shifting molecule may provide a solution.