physics

The high-speed physics of bobsled, luge and skeleton

By John Eric Goff, The Conversation

It may look like athletes in bobsled, luge and skeleton simply grab a sled and hang on until the bottom, but high-speed physics and tiny motions mean the difference between gold and a crash.

WATCH: Nobel Prize in physics awarded to Syukuro Manabe, Klaus Hasselmann and Giorgio Parisi

Manabe and Hasselmann “laid the foundation of our knowledge of the Earth’s climate and how humanity influences it." Parisi “built a deep physical and mathematical model” that made it possible to understand complex systems in fields as different as mathematics,…

The not-so-hidden physics of your favorite Olympic event

By Isabella Isaacs-Thomas

Here’s a crash course on how to see the laws of physics in action when you're watching your favorite Olympic sport.

The day Marie Curie got snubbed by the French science world

By Dr. Howard Markel

One hundred and ten years ago, Marie Sklodowska Curie was formally rejected for membership by the French Academy of Sciences.

3 major moments from the ‘golden’ decade of black holes

By Isabella Isaacs-Thomas

Astrophysicists say we’re living in “a golden age of black holes.” To help illustrate why, here are three decade-defining advancements in the ongoing effort to unravel these cosmic wonders.

Google claims quantum computing milestone. IBM pushes back.

By Rachel Lerman, Matt O'Brien, Associated Press

Google said it has achieved a breakthrough in quantum computing research, saying an experimental quantum processor has completed a calculation in just a few minutes that would take a traditional supercomputer thousands of years.

New 3D maps of the Milky Way confirm our galaxy is warped

By Vicky Stein

It turns out our Milky Way galaxy isn't the flat spiral disk we thought it was before -- dark matter or collisions with other galaxies could have twisted it out of shape.

This new nanotech could help clean up Earth’s microplastics

By Berly McCoy

Chemists have adapted emerging technology -- called nanocoils -- to dissolve microplastics and turn the pollution into food for algae.

Katie Bouman ‘hardly knew what a black hole was.’ Her algorithm helped us see one

By Vicky Stein

Imaging scientist Katie Bouman chats with the PBS NewsHour about how she crafted an algorithm that constructed the first ever photo of a black hole.

Here is the first photo of a black hole

By Nsikan Akpan

On Wednesday, the Event Horizon Telescope released the first-ever image of a black hole, a historic moment shared by scientists spread around the world.