Simulations suggest the early universe helped black holes grow big, but not in the long run

At the heart of the Milky Way, just 27,000 light-years from Earth, there is a supermassive black hole with a mass of more than 4 million suns. Nearly all galaxies contain a supermassive black hole, and many of them are much more massive. The black hole in the elliptical galaxy M87 has a mass of […]

Golf’s cruelest moment: The physics behind the ‘lip out’ phenomenon

Picture this: It’s the 18th hole and the game’s on the line. You line up your putt, take a breath, and roll the ball toward the hole. The pace is firm, the line looks good—until the ball dips in, then cruelly pops back out onto the green. New research led by the University of Bristol […]

Infrared sensors gain sensitivity with ultra-thin lens for fire and threat monitoring

Researchers have developed a highly sensitive method for detecting hotspots in the environment, such as bushfires or military threats, by harnessing the focusing power of meta-optical systems.

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Optimizing avalanche photodiode design for photodetection in the ultraviolet wavelength

Geiger-mode avalanche photodiodes (GM-APDs) are highly sensitive light detectors, capable of detecting single photons. Photons of certain wavelengths, when absorbed by photodiodes, generate electron-hole pairs in a process called impact ionization which can result in a multiplication of charges when occurring in an electric field.

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Photoinduced non-reciprocal magnetism effectively violates Newton’s third law

A theoretical framework predicts the emergence of non-reciprocal interactions that effectively violate Newton’s third law in solids using light, report researchers from Japan. They demonstrate that by irradiating light of a carefully tuned frequency onto a magnetic metal, one can induce a torque that drives two magnetic layers into a spontaneous, persistent “chase-and-run” rotation. This […]

Calculating the spreading of fluids in porous materials to understand saltwater in soil

A solution to a tricky groundwater riddle from Australia: Researchers at TU Wien have developed numerical models to simulate the movement of fluids in porous materials.

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Physicists achieve high precision in measuring strontium atoms using rubidium neighbor

Having good neighbors can be very valuable—even in the atomic world. A team of Amsterdam physicists was able to determine an important property of strontium atoms, a highly useful element for modern applications in atomic clocks and quantum computers, to unprecedented precision. To achieve this, they made clever use of a nearby cloud of rubidium […]

BWC: Suspect charges at Ore. officers with knife, injuring one before fatal OIS

The Eagle Point Police chief and an officer were speaking with a suspect before he became agitated, grabbed a knife and wounded the officer

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Texas governor offers $10K reward as suspect who shot officer, K-9 remains on the run

The suspect, wanted for wounding a Jacksonville police officer and K-9, has been added to the Texas 10 Most Wanted list

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BWC: Good Samaritan gives La. officer a lift to catch suspected shoplifter after foot pursuit

The Slidell officer hitched a ride with a bystander, who followed the suspect as she got in a vehicle to flee; the cop relayed information to colleagues, who arrested the suspects

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Taking the moon’s temperature with beeswax

Sometimes space exploration doesn’t go as planned. But even in failure, engineers can learn, adapt, and try again. One of the best ways to do that is to share the learning, and allow others to reproduce the work that might not have succeeded, allowing them to try again. A group from MIT’s Space Enabled Research […]

Want to find more supernovae? Follow the light

Is there anything more dramatic than an exploding star? More than just extraordinarily bright, energetic events that can light up the sky for months, these explosions play important roles in the cosmos. Supernovas create heavy elements and spread them out into their surroundings, where they can be taken up in the next round of planet […]

Astronomers may have found the first stars that formed after the Big Bang

For years, astronomers have been on the hunt for the first generation of stars, primordial relics of the early universe. And now they may have just found them. Ari Visbal from the University of Toledo, Ohio and colleagues believe they’ve glimpsed so-called Population III (Pop III) stars following a detailed analysis of previous James Webb […]

Startup provides a nontechnical gateway to coding on quantum computers

Quantum computers have the potential to model new molecules and weather patterns better than any computer today. They may also one day accelerate artificial intelligence algorithms at a much lower energy footprint. But anyone interested in using quantum computers faces a steep learning curve that starts with getting access to quantum devices and then figuring […]

October 27, 1954–The Day A UFO Stopped a Football Game

As fascinating as it may sound, it’s true.

The ‘event’ happened in Florence, Italy, on October 27, 1954.

In October of 1954, a match involving the Italian team Fiorentina was interrupted by mysterious visitors hovering above the stadium. The Fiorentina UFOs were part of a wave of mass-sightings across Europe – and it remains […]