In an incredible first, scientists have captured the world’s first actual photo of quantum entanglement – a phenomenon so strange Einstein famously described it as ‘spooky action at a distance’. The image was captured by physicists at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, and it’s so breathtaking we can’t stop staring. It might not look like

In the summer of 1935, the physicists Albert Einstein and Erwin Schrödinger engaged in a rich, multifaceted and sometimes fretful correspondence about the implications of the new theory of quantum mechanics. The focus of their worry was what Schrödinger later dubbed entanglement: the inability to describe two quantum systems or particles independently, after they have

Quantum computing promises to revolutionise the power and scale of our computing systems, if only we can figure out how to harness it. Now scientists have made a discovery about how optimal quantum computation might be achieved – and gravity may be the key. More specifically, the geometric rules for finding the shortest distance between

Photons – those fundamental particles of light – have a slew of interesting properties, including the fact they don’t tend to crash into one another. That hasn’t stopped physicists from trying, though. University of Chicago physicists have now come up with a new, highly flexible way to make photons behave more like the particles that

It may be Independence Day, but there’s nothing revolutionary about the way your 4th of July fireworks are made. Fireworks have been built from a mix of explosive powder, chemicals, and glue for ages. The earliest fireworks shows date back more than a thousand years. But not all fireworks are built the same. You can’t

Using a new technique, scientists have performed the world’s smallest magnetic resonance imaging to capture the magnetic fields of single atoms. It’s an incredible breakthrough that could improve quantum research, as well as our understanding of the Universe on subatomic scales. “I am very excited about these results,” said physicist Andreas Heinrich of the Institute

For the first time, scientists have clearly linked together two types of gamma-ray phenomena in thunderclouds, suggesting that weak bursts of gamma-ray activity might precede lightning flashes in certain conditions. The two phenomena in question are weak emissions called gamma-ray glows, which last about a minute, and much shorter and more intense terrestrial gamma-ray flashes

Nothing says welcome to the future like having your wound fixed by a tiny lightsaber. It might sound wild at first, but that’s basically what a new plasma technology advance is now promising. This exciting development means we could soon commercialise low-temperature atmospheric pressure plasma jets (APPJs) that operate out in open air, promising a

In 1949, famous physicist Lars Onsager published a paper discussing the potential implications of superfluids and turbulence. Now, 70 years later, a team of Australian researchers has conducted an experiment to back his theory – using a tiny quantum version of Jupiter’s ‘Great Red Spot’ to do it. The swirling fluids on the surface of

Our entire living reality happens in a three-dimensional Universe, so naturally it’s hard to imagine a universe with just two dimensions. But, according to new calculations, a 2D universe could actually support life, too. The new paper is the work of physicist James Scargill at the University of California, Davis, who wanted to test the

The super-thin ‘wonder material’ graphene has been shaking up science for years with its amazing properties, but things get really interesting when you stack this 2D nanomaterial up against itself. In new experiments, physicists in the US have found that when graphene is assembled in a double-layer vertical stack – with two adjacent sheets of

Who better to make the perfect crêpe than two French physicists who specialise in fluid dynamics? Edouard Boujo and Mathieu Sellier are experts in their field, and yet both have struggled in the past to cook the thin pancakes with no lumps and bumps in the middle. Frustrated by their failed attempts and prompted by their hungry families,

Scientists have discovered an unexpectedly simple formula that governs one of the most seemingly unknowable limits in physics: determining how much of an electric field a water droplet can withstand before it will burst. This infinitesimal phenomenon has been studied by physicists for decades, but while the overall concept may be easy to imagine, discerning

There’s something about a bubble of soapy water that causes it to freeze in a peculiar yet beautiful way. The magical-looking reaction has been an internet sensation for years now, and physicists at Virginia Tech think they finally have an explanation. When a normal drop of water ices over, it starts at the coldest point and

The word uncertainty is used a lot in quantum mechanics. One school of thought is that this means there’s something out there in the world that we are uncertain about. But most physicists believe nature itself is uncertain. Intrinsic uncertainty was central to the way German physicist Werner Heisenberg, one of the originators of modern

Nothing lasts forever. Humans, planets, stars, galaxies, maybe even the Universe itself, everything has an expiration date. But things in the quantum realm don’t always follow the rules. Now, scientists have found that quasiparticles in quantum systems could be effectively immortal. That doesn’t mean they don’t decay, which is reassuring. But once these quasiparticles have

The particle known as a Majorana fermion is as mysterious and uncontrollable as it is unique. It’s the only known particle that is also its own antiparticle, and has properties that make it an alluring candidate for qubits, the basic unit of information in a quantum computer. Harnessing that potential, however, is easier said than

A new superconducting magnet has briefly sustained an astonishing 45.5 tesla magnetic field intensity. For comparison, your flimsy fridge magnets have about 1 percent of a single tesla. The measurement, achieved by researchers at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (MagLab) at Florida State University resets the bar on what’s possible in direct current magnetic

New research has revealed a previously unknown source of magnetism deep within our planet’s stupidly hot, squishy layers. Far from being magnetically dead, some of Earth’s mantle might have pockets of iron oxide (Fe2O3) with enough magnetic pull to have a real effect. A research team made up of scientists from around the globe has

For nearly 20 years, scientists have debated the viability of an EM Drive, a hypothetical type of engine that could propel a spacecraft without the need for any fuel. If that sounds too good to be true, that’s because it probably is – a working EM Drive would literally break one of the foundational laws