Using the Earth’s magnetic field to hunt for axions and dark photons

by quasarn01 | Aug 5, 2026 | Latest in Physics

Dark matter’s existence is all but certain—astronomers believe it makes up about a quarter of the universe’s total energy content—yet its true identity has eluded us for decades. Two of the leading candidates for dark matter are the hypothetical particles...

‘Little red dots’ may be pulsating monster stars that created early-universe black holes

by quasarn01 | Aug 5, 2026 | Astronomy

Astronomers have speculated about the mysterious “little red dots” seen through the James Webb Space Telescope’s images of the early universe: They could be galaxies, black holes, quasi-stars, starbursts … or something else entirely. Go to...

Astronomers catch ‘Hatchling’ quasar breaking out of its dusty cocoon

by quasarn01 | Aug 5, 2026 | Astronomy

Using observations from multiple powerful telescopes, a team of astronomers studied a red quasar nicknamed “the Hatchling” at redshift 3.7. They may have identified one of the clearest examples yet of a quasar caught in transition between a heavily...

Electric field reverses phonon chirality and spin direction in ferroelectric crystal

by quasarn01 | Aug 5, 2026 | Latest in Physics

Chiral phonons are groups of atoms that move in a circular direction when excited by an energy source, such as heat. As the phonons move through a material, they propagate that circular motion, or angular momentum, through the material. The angular momentum serves as...

SpaceX aims to use rockets to quickly transport cargo across the Earth and into orbit

by quasarn01 | Aug 5, 2026 | Astronomy

You might think of rockets as powerful vehicles that blast astronaut crews and robotic missions into space. But what if they could be used to send cargo from one side of Earth to the other in a fraction of the time it would take a plane? The company SpaceX recently...