Spotted: Ghost surface polaritons
Type of hybrid light-matter quasiparticle seen for the first time.
For the first time, an international research team has demonstrated the existence of ghost hyperbolic surface polarit...
Physics
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Ancient lava reveals secrets of Earth’s magnetic field cycle
Charting the fluctuations of the planet’s magnetic field using palaeomagnetism.
A study from the University of Liverpool has added to the growing corpus of evidence that Earth’s magnetic field is s...
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When gravitational waves and dark matter collide
A world-first detector in WA has spotted weird, unexplained signals that could be gravitational w...
It’s hard to resist any physics story that starts with Albert Einstein. More than a century ago – in 1916, to be prec...
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Genius lair: Australia’s dark matter experiment underfoot
Physicists say that dark matter has to exist – or their models of the universe collapse. A new la...
This article first appeared in Cosmos Weekly on 13 August 2021. For more stories like this, subscribe to Cosmos Weekl...
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First 2D supersolid in quantum gas
Scientists create an exotic form of matter using ultracold gases of highly magnetic atoms.
European physicists have created the first 2D supersolid – a seemingly contradictory type of matter that simultaneous...
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CFC ban slowed global warming
New research shows just how much the 1987 Montreal Protocol has protected the planet.
It’s a vanishingly rare occurrence, but this week there’s some good news among the bad in relation to climate change....
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Could black holes power alien civilisations?
Building energy-harvesting structures around black holes could be effective, scientists say.
For centuries, humans have gazed up and wondered if we are alone in the universe. In 1960, physicist Freeman Dyson ch...
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Breakthrough in quantum computing
A new way to manipulate spin qubits – and hasten the arrival of the quantum computer.
Quantum engineers from UNSW Sydney have made a critical breakthrough in the development of quantum computing technolo...
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Genius lair: Australia’s dark matter experiment underfoot
Physicists say that dark matter has to exist – or their models of the universe collapse. A new la...
Deep in a gold mine on the outskirts of the small Victorian country town of Stawell, several hours’ drive to the nort...
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Nobel Prize–winning physicist dies
Steven Weinberg walked with Newton and Maxwell.
Steven Weinberg, named by CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, as “one of the greatest theoretical p...
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Could ‘The Day After Tomorrow’ come true?
Major ocean current system may be approaching a tipping point.
A German scientist has echoed the warnings of the film The Day After Tomorrow, finding that a major oceanic circulati...
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Time travel: five ways that we could do it
Travel to the past is probably impossible. But are there ways to time-travel into the future?
In 2009 the British physicist Stephen Hawking held a party for time travellers – the twist was he sent out the invite...