latest news

View full archive

A first-person view of physics history

10/15/24

Michael Riordan has spent decades ruminating on the history of physics, including events he participated in himself.

02/01/10

Soudan Lab

Just before 7:30 on a bitter-cold morning in northern Minnesota, engineer Jim Beaty begins the last leg of his daily commute. He steps into a dark brown metal box with five coworkers. Someone slides the door closed.

02/01/10

Gran Sasso: A tale of physics in the mountains

In an epic story of fairy-tale beauty and world-leading science, human courage and determination confront adversity and Gran Sasso laboratory comes forth to see the stars once more.

02/01/10

Bringing dark life to light

The stunning realization that up to half of life on Earth may exist underground has transformed biologists thinking about the origin and evolution of life here and on other planets. The search for "dark life" could go to new depths at a proposed underground laboratory.

02/01/10

Hundreds splash through an artist's neutrino tunnel

French artist Nelly Ben Hayoun is no stranger to science.

12/01/09

The shortest report

On April 28, 1947 Stanford Linear Electron Accelerator Project Report No. 7 announced the realization of a dream 15 years in the making: the linear acceleration of electrons.

12/01/09

Preserving the data harvest

Canning, pickling, drying, freezing -- physicists wish there were an easy way to preserve their hard-won data so future generations of scientists, armed with more powerful tools, can take advantage of it. They've launched an international search for solutions.

12/01/09

Was that a quake? Ask the Tevatron

Long after the hard shaking stops, an earthquake's seismic waves reverberate around the world, imperceptibly rocking the ground. As one seismologist puts it, a great earthquake causes every grain of sand on Earth to dance.

12/01/09

Recycle, reuse, re-accelerate

Chugging along in the background, old physics machines are the workhorses behind many cutting-edge projects, from the world's most powerful X-ray laser to the Large Hadron Collider and a lab that tests microchips bound for Mars.

View full archive