A Few Picoseconds Reveal Superconductivity’s Hidden Breaking Point
A current pulse lasting only a few picoseconds passes through a superconductor before magnetic vortices have time to…
Mercury Isn’t What Scientists Thought: New Study Reveals a Surprisingly Different Surface
Mercury may preserve evidence of a hotter, more extreme interior than scientists once expected. Credit: Shutterstock From tiny…
Scientists Push Molecules on a Surface to the Ultimate Quantum Limit
Artistic representation of an optically excited molecule on a surface of a crystal. Credit: MPL, Alexey Shkarin An…
Scientists discover why rain drops can damage metal protective coatings
Water droplets can become electrically charged as they slide across surfaces, sometimes reaching electrical potentials of thousands of…
Three Supermassive Black Holes Found in a Galaxy From the Dawn of the Universe
An AI-generated visualization of a distant galaxy, containing, besides dust, gas, and young stars, three massive, active black…
Quantum Fluctuations Break a Crystal’s Symmetry Rules
Illuminating the crystal with light with a built-in sense of rotation (white beam) reveals regions where the star-of-David…
A Fiber Frozen at -196°C Unlocks a New Way To Store Light
Artist impression of a frozen optical fiber core in a glass capillary, which guides and couples light and…
A cosmic gateway near Earth may connect us to other distant worlds
The solar system sits inside a vast pocket of hot, thin gas. However, that nearby structure has never…
Astronomers Detect a Close Pair of Supermassive Black Holes for the First Time
The artistic rendering shows the center of the galaxy Markarian 501, from which two powerful jets emanate. The…
Scientists Just Found the Solar System’s Original “Planet Factory”
Just outside Jupiter’s orbit, a ring-shaped region of high gas pressure formed. In this “dust trap,” over several…
Strange “Worm Towers” Found in the Wild for the First Time May Be Hitchhiking on Beetles
The strawberry sap beetle (Stelidota geminata), one of two invasive beetle species found to serve as vectors for…
Scientists Uncover the Surprising Source of Strange Clouds Near the Milky Way’s Supermassive Black Hole
Astronomers have uncovered evidence that a massive binary star near the center of the Milky Way may be…