Physics & Math, features and articles | Educational Science

Jul 15, 2016

Gorgeous Gravity Waves Intersect Near Africa (Photo)

Interlacing waves of clouds decorate the sky above the coast of Angola in a new satellite image. The image, taken June 26 by an instrument on NASA's Terra satellite, highlights the atmospheric patterns off the coast of West Africa. The clouds are called gravity waves, which form as gravity and...

Oct 3, 2017

Nobel Prize Awarded for Sensational Gravitational Waves Discovery

BERLIN—As expected by many, the 2017 Nobel Prize for physics went to three scientists who helped detect gravitational waves, ripples in space-time predicted by Einstein. This year's prize is about a discovery that shook the world, said physicist Thors Hans Hansson, announcing the winners from Stockholm. Half of the 9...

Oct 3, 2017

Einstein Would Be 'Flabbergasted' by Gravitational Wave Nobel

Albert Einstein would be pleased — but flabbergasted — to hear the details of humanity's first direct detection of gravitational waves, according to one of three scientists who just won the Nobel Prize for the discovery. The detection earned the 2017 Nobel Prize in physics for Massachusetts Institute of Technology...

Oct 16, 2017

What Have Gravitational-Wave Detectors Discovered? Find Out Today!

Mark your calendars: Some big astronomy news is set to drop today (Oct. 16). At 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT) on that day, scientists with the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) and Virgo collaborations, as well as researchers from a number of other institutions, will hold a news conference at...

Oct 16, 2017

Why Gravitational Waves Are So Exhilarating

Don Lincoln is a senior scientist at the U.S. Department of Energy's Fermilab, the country's largest Large Hadron Collider research institution. He also writes about science for the public, including his recent The Large Hadron Collider: The Extraordinary Story of the Higgs Boson and Other Stuff That Will Blow Your...

Feb 6, 2018

Here's What It Looks Like When G-Force Knocks You Out

Soaring sideways over the Nevada desert in a small propeller airplane, a young boy laughs with awe at the tilted world below him. Then, a few seconds later, the boy's muscles droop. He passes out. And now it's his instructor's turn to laugh. Don't worry: The boy in the plane...

Apr 19, 2018

Are Those Gravitational Waves? Nope, They're Just Thirsty Ravens

Bizarre data glitches have set gravitational-wave scientists — and a conspiracy of ravens — all aflutter. A series of weird blips in the data, known as short-duration bursts, raised the suspicions of physicists at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) Hanford Observatory, in eastern Washington. Were they communications from alien...

Jul 5, 2018

Einstein's Theory of Gravity Passes Toughest Test to Date

Einstein's theory of general relativity has passed its toughest-ever test with flying colors, a new study reports. General relativity, which the great physicist proposed in 1916, holds that gravity is a consequence of space-time's inherent flexibility: Massive objects distort the cosmic fabric, creating a sort of well around which other...

Aug 10, 2018

Researchers Find Source of Strange 'Negative' Gravity

Sound has negative mass, and all around you it's drifting up, up and away — albeit very slowly. That's the conclusion of a paper submitted on July 23 to the preprint journal arXiv, and it shatters the conventional understanding that researchers have long had of sound waves: as massless ripples...

May 9, 2019

The Universe Probably 'Remembers' Every Single Gravitational Wave

The universe might remember gravitational waves long after they've passed. That's the premise of a theoretical paper published April 25 in the journal Physical Review D. Gravitational waves, faint ripples in space and time that humanity has only in the past few years managed to detect, tend to pass very...

Jun 24, 2019

Sperm Can Survive Microgravity, but Don’t Expect Any Space Babies Soon

Frozen sperm samples can remain viable after exposure to microgravity conditions that are somewhat similar to those found in space, new research reveals. The findings, which were presented today (June 24) at the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Vienna, suggest that at least one obstacle on the...

Aug 7, 2019

3 Physicists Win $3 Million Prize for 'Supergravity' Discovery

The three architects of supergravity are getting some high-profile recognition, more than four decades after they developed the influential theory. Sergio Ferrara, Daniel Freedman and Peter van Nieuwenhuizen will receive a $3 million Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics for their formulation of supergravity in 1976, Breakthrough Prize representatives announced...

Aug 28, 2019

To Hunt Gravitational Waves, Scientists Had to Create the Quietest Spot on Earth

LIVINGSTON, La. — About a mile and a half from a building so big you can see it from space, every car on the road slows to a crawl. Drivers know to take the 10 mph (16 km/h) speed limit very seriously: That's because the building houses a massive detector...

Oct 28, 2019

These Mesmerizing Images Show 'Invisible Gravity Waves' Rippling Over Australia

Satellites have detected atmospheric gravity waves off the northern coast of Western Australia this week: https://t.co/CnoFDxfkZr pic.twitter.com/ti1NjFawjsOctober 22, 2019 See more Rippling gravity waves in the sky are usually invisible, but a satellite recently caught a rare glimpse of the phenomenon off the coast of northwestern Australia. In the images,...

Nov 18, 2019

Mysterious Gravitational Wave Sparks Days-Long Hunt — But It Was Just a Glitch

Thursday (Nov. 14) marked the end of a thrilling, mysterious and ultimately disappointing five days in astrophysics. Telescopes all over the planet and in space spun on their axes last Sunday (Nov. 10), rushing to scan the sky for the source of a mysterious, never-before-seen gravitational wave spotted by three...