1+ day, 17+ hour ago   (1157+ words) Quantum computers face a race against time every time they perform a calculation. Their quantum states are so fragile that even tiny disturbances from electrical noise, heating, radiation or imperfect hardware can push a computation away from its intended result....

5+ day, 21+ hour ago   (1103+ words) Black hole ringdown waves may reveal hidden matter or new physics through distinct changes in frequency and damping. (CREDIT: Nagoya University) After two black holes collide, the newly formed object does not immediately become quiet. It vibrates, sending gravitational waves…...

6+ day, 21+ hour ago   (1235+ words) A new framework shows how the arrow of time can emerge from interacting systems, with pairs of retinal neurons providing most irreversibility. (CREDIT: Wikimedia / AI-Generated / CC BY-SA 4.0) A shattered glass can fall apart, but its pieces do not spontaneously leap…...

1+ week, 4+ day ago   (1183+ words) A new interferometer directly measured the quantum phase of free fall, matching a prediction tied to Einstein’s equivalence principle. (CREDIT: Or Dobkowski / AI-enhanced) A cloud of ultracold atoms has provided a new experimental connection between two theories that physicists still…...

1+ week, 6+ day ago   (1201+ words) Experiments show strong stellar magnetic fields can stop coronal mass ejections, helping explain why astronomers rarely detect them. (CREDIT: Shutterstock) Some of the most active stars in the galaxy appear capable of producing enormous eruptions, yet astronomers rarely see those…...

2+ week, 13+ hour ago   (1355+ words) Drops can become electrically charged as they slide across surfaces. If they then fall onto a coating—such as on a car—the coating can be corroded by the drop’s electrical discharge and permanently damaged. (CREDIT: Katharina Maisenbacher / MPI-P) A…...

2+ week, 17+ hour ago   (962+ words) A powerful pulsed magnet expands the shock layer around spacecraft models, advancing a possible new approach to surviving reentry heat. (CREDIT: Shutterstock) A spacecraft plunging into an atmosphere faces an environment violent enough to heat the gas around its surface…...

2+ week, 2+ day ago   (899+ words) Information fills hard drives, crosses computer networks and describes the properties of physical systems. One physicist argues it may also have something far more surprising: measurable mass. Dr. Melvin Vopson of the University of Portsmouth has proposed an experiment designed…...

2+ week, 5+ day ago   (745+ words) A compact magnetic platform creates paired radio-frequency waves without bulky cryogenic equipment. (CREDIT: AI-generated image / The Brighter Side of News) Two radio-frequency signals can look random on their own but reveal order when matched together. MIT researchers have now produced…...

3+ week, 1+ day ago   (693+ words) That assumption may not hold. A team from Perimeter Institute and the University of Maryland reports that the conversion process can trigger powerful nonlinear effects in plasma. Those effects quickly disrupt the resonance that drives energy transfer, shutting the process…...