Physics & Math, features and articles | Educational Science

Jun 29, 2021

Take a tour of the synchrotron, where electrons reach near light-speed

Electromagnetic (EM) radiation is incredibly useful. It enables us to transmit music wirelessly over large distances, cook food in the microwave and see the world in vivid detail. However, now more than ever, electromagnetic radiation is also crucial in studying the physical, environmental and biological phenomena that are leading to...

Jul 6, 2021

World's thinnest electronic device is 2 atoms thick

Scientists have developed the world’s thinnest piece of technology, a tiny device only two atoms thick that can be used to store electronic information. The device consists of two layers, one made up of boron and the other of nitrogen, arranged in a repeating hexagonal structure. By taking advantage of...

Aug 5, 2021

'Doubly charming' tetraquark is the longest-lived exotic-matter particle ever found

Scientists at the world's largest atom smasher have discovered the longest-lived exotic-matter particle ever observed, and it has twice the charm of anything discovered to date. Physicists have yet to delve into the enigmatic nature of this newfound particle — called a double-charm tetraquark — but it's a truly weird...

Sep 8, 2021

1st sign of elusive 'triangle singularity' shows particles swapping identities in mid-flight

Physicists sifting through old particle accelerator data have found evidence of a highly-elusive, never-before-seen process: a so-called triangle singularity. First envisioned by Russian physicist Lev Landau in the 1950s, a triangle singularity refers to a rare subatomic process where particles exchange identities before flying away from each other. In this...

Sep 14, 2021

1st 'atom tornado' created from swirling vortex of helium atoms

Physicists have created the first-ever atomic vortex beam — a swirling tornado of atoms and molecules with mysterious properties that have yet to be understood. By sending a straight beam of helium atoms through a grating with teeny slits, scientists were able to use the weird rules of quantum mechanics...

Oct 12, 2021

Scientists capture image of bizarre 'electron ice' for the first time

Physicists have taken the first ever image of a Wigner crystal — a strange honeycomb-pattern material inside another material, made entirely out of electrons. Hungarian physicist Eugene Wigner first theorized this crystal in 1934, but it's taken more than eight decades for scientists to finally get a direct look at...

Dec 3, 2021

'Ghost particles' detected inside the Large Hadron Collider for the first time

Physicists have detected ghost particles called neutrinos inside an atom smasher for the first time. The tiny particles, known as neutrinos, were spotted during the test run of a new detector at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) — the world's largest particle accelerator, located at CERN near Geneva, Switzerland. The...

Jan 25, 2022

'X particle' from the dawn of time detected inside the Large Hadron Collider

Physicists at the world's largest atom smasher have detected a mysterious, primordial particle from the dawn of time. About 100 of the short-lived X particles — so named because of their unknown structures — were spotted for the first time amid trillions of other particles inside the Large Hadron Collider...

Mar 8, 2022

What is the Higgs boson?

The Higgs boson is one of the 17 elementary particles that make up the Standard Model of particle physics, which is scientists' best theory about the behaviors of the universe's most basic building blocks. The Higgs boson particle was the last of these to be discovered, after a search lasting...

Mar 8, 2022

CERN halts future collaboration with Russia

The European Council for Nuclear Research (CERN) has announced that it will suspend Russia's Observer status at its facilities and halt new partnerships with Russian scientific institutions following Russia's military invasion of Ukraine. The vote, which falls short of an initial suggestion to ban Russian scientists outright from CERN facilities,...

Mar 22, 2022

What is electromagnetic radiation?

Electromagnetic radiation is a type of energy that is all around us and takes many forms, such as radio waves, microwaves, X-rays and gamma-rays. Sunlight is also a form of electromagnetic energy, but visible light is only a small portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, which contains a broad range of...

Apr 22, 2022

Large Hadron Collider is waking up after a 3-year nap, and it could help explain why the universe exists.

The world's largest particle collider is getting ready to smash atoms harder than ever before. Following a three-year break of scheduled maintenance, upgrades and pandemic delays, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is preparing to power up for its third, and most powerful yet, experimental period. If all initial tests and...

Apr 25, 2022

What is the Large Hadron Collider?

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world's largest particle collider: a marvel of modern particle physics that has enabled researchers to plumb the depths of reality. In 2012, the massive atom smasher, a 16.5-mile-long (27 kilometers) underground ring on the border of France and Switzerland, allowed researchers to find...

Apr 29, 2022

Ultraprecise atomic optical clocks may redefine the length of a second

The definition of a second, the most fundamental unit of time in our current measurement system, hasn't been updated in more than 70 years (give or take some billionths of a second). But in the next decade or so, that could change: Ultraprecise atomic optical clocks that rely on visible...

Apr 29, 2022

Large Hadron Collider breaks new record only days after it reopens

After a three-year hiatus, the world's most powerful particle accelerator is back in business and already breaking records. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) — which is operated by the European Council for Nuclear Research (CERN) — is the world's largest particle accelerator and consists of a 17-mile (27 kilometers) ring...