A curved and stretched sheet of graphene laying over another curved sheet creates a new pattern that impacts how electricity moves through the sheets. A new model suggests that similar…
Category: Cosmology
A supernova’s delayed reappearance could pin down how fast the universe expands
A meandering trek taken by light from a remote supernova in the constellation Cetus may help researchers pin down how fast the universe expands — in another couple of decades.…
Astronomers may have seen a star gulp down a black hole and explode
For the first time, astronomers have captured solid evidence of a rare double cosmic cannibalism — a star swallowing a compact object such as a black hole or neutron star.…
‘Flashes of Creation’ recounts the Big Bang theory’s origin story
Flashes of CreationPaul HalpernBasic Books, $30 The Big Bang wasn’t always a sure bet. For several decades in the 20th century, researchers wrestled with interpreting cosmic origins, or if there…
Vera Rubin’s work on dark matter led to a paradigm shift in cosmology
Bright Galaxies, Dark Matter, and BeyondAshley Jean YeagerMIT Press, $24.95 Vera Rubin’s research forced cosmologists to radically reimagine the cosmos. In the 1960s and ’70s, Rubin’s observations of stars whirling…
Cosmic filaments may be the biggest spinning objects in space
Moons do it, stars do it, even whole galaxies do it. Now, two teams of scientists say cosmic filaments do it, too. These tendrils stretching hundreds of millions of light-years…
Fast radio bursts could help solve the mystery of the universe’s expansion
Astronomers have been arguing about the rate of the universe’s expansion for nearly a century. A new independent method to measure that rate could help cast the deciding vote. For…
Physicists’ devotion to symmetry has led them astray before
Second of two parts Physicists have a lot in common with Ponce de León and U2’s Bono. After decades of searching, they aren’t getting any younger. And they still haven’t…
The dark matter mystery deepens with the demise of a reported detection
First of two parts. Read part two. In mystery stories, the chief suspect almost always gets exonerated before the end of the book. Typically because a key piece of evidence…
Einstein’s theory of general relativity unveiled a dynamic and bizarre cosmos
Albert Einstein’s mind reinvented space and time, foretelling a universe so bizarre and grand that it has challenged the limits of human imagination. An idea born in a Swiss patent…
