Claudia de Rham: In search of the true nature of gravity ');
document.write('Claudia de Rham has spent much of her life dedicated to unravelling the true nature of gravity, thinking deeply about gravitons, the hypothetical carrier of this enigmatic force');
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Most accurate clock ever can tick for 40 billion years without error ');
document.write('The record for the most accurate clock has been broken in an experiment with strontium atoms almost as cold as absolute zero, and it is twice as accurate as any predecessor');
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The physicist searching for quantum gravity in gravitational rainbows ');
document.write('Claudia de Rham thinks that gravitons, hypothetical particles thought to carry gravity, have mass. If she’s right, we can expect to see “rainbows” in ripples in space-time');
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‘Running of the bulls’ festival crowds move like charged particles ');
document.write('Researchers have studied the movements of thousands of people waiting for the opening of the San Fermín festival and found they behave like electrons circling in a magnetic field');
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‘Sound laser’ is the most powerful ever made ');
document.write('A new device uses a reflective cavity, a tiny bead and an electrode to create a laser beam of sound particles ten times more powerful and much narrower than other “phonon lasers”');
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Is the universe conscious? It seems impossible until you do the maths ');
document.write('The question of how the brain gives rise to subjective experience is the hardest of all. Mathematicians think they can help, but their first attempts have thrown up some eye-popping conclusions');
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Rethinking space and time could let us do away with dark matter ');
document.write('Most physicists believe that only a quantum theory of gravity can fully explain mysteries of the universe like dark matter, but now an idea called \"post-quantum gravity\" is demonstrating an alternative approach');
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Jupiter’s stormy surface replicated in lab ');
document.write('By rotating a tank of water at 75 revolutions per minute, it’s possible to replicate some of the stunning, swirling patterns on Jupiter’s surface');
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A tale of two mysteries: ghostly neutrinos and the proton decay puzzle ');
document.write('Searching for the true nature of neutrino particles also provides the perfect experimental conditions to seek evidence of another slippery customer – proton decay, says Chanda Prescod-Weinstein');
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UK spurns European invitation to join ITER nuclear fusion project ');
document.write('Since Brexit, the UK no longer has access to ITER, the world\'s largest nuclear fusion experiment, through the European Union. After an invitation to rejoin this week, the UK government has confirmed it prefers to go it alone');
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How do you recycle a nuclear fusion reactor? We\'re about to find out ');
document.write('The UK\'s JET nuclear fusion reactor has been shut down after 40 years, and now researchers hope to repurpose many of its components in a world-first attempt at recycling a tokamak reactor');
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Odd quantum property may let us chill things closer to absolute zero ');
document.write('We can already cool objects with fridges and with lasers. Now there is a third cooling technique involving special quantum states – and it could, in theory, allow us to reach the lowest temperatures yet');
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A single atom could drive a piston in a quantum engine ');
document.write('In a quantum engine, a single atom can emit radiation that bounces around a reflective cavity and creates enough pressure to push down a piston');
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Why string theory has been unfairly maligned - and how to test it ');
document.write('String theory is widely considered beyond empirical investigation. But we could conceivably test it thanks to ancient particles called moduli, which might appear in astronomical observations, says theorist Joseph Conlon');
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The existence of a new kind of magnetism has been confirmed ');
document.write('Altermagnets, theorised to exist but never before seen, have been measured for the first time and they could help us make new types of magnetic computers');
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Quantum quirk explains why carbon dioxide causes global warming ');
document.write('A phenomenon called the Fermi resonance, which affects how molecules vibrate, is responsible for a large part of carbon dioxide’s planet-warming effect');
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Why physicists are rethinking the route to a theory of everything ');
document.write('Physicists’ search for a theory that explains all reality in one framework appeared to have stalled. But now they are reinvigorating the hunt by exploring a wild landscape of abstract geometry');
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Nuclear fusion reaction releases almost twice the energy put in ');
document.write('The US National Ignition Facility has achieved even higher energy yields since breaking even for the first time in 2022, but a practical fusion reactor is still a long way off');
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A bold new take on quantum theory could reveal how reality emerges ');
document.write('At the smallest scales, everything is made out of a cloud of quantum possibilities. A new idea attempts to explain how our everyday world comes from this, using the laws of thermodynamics');
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Record broken for the coldest temperature reached by large molecules ');
document.write('Four-atom molecules glued together by microwaves have broken the record for being the most complicated molecule to reach temperatures just billionths of a degree away from absolute zero');
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First working graphene semiconductor could lead to faster computers ');
document.write('Researchers have created a functional semiconductor from graphene for the first time, creating the possibility of computer chips with greater performance and efficiency');
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Supernova neutrinos could break physics – if we can make sense of them ');
document.write('Neutrinos produced inside an exploding star could betray exotic particles that would lead to a deeper theory of physics. Will our detectors be ready in time for the next nearby supernova?');
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5 must-see time travel movies reviewed by a metaphysicist ');
document.write('From Back to the Future to Tenet and Interstellar, cinema can explore time travel in many imaginative ways. Metaphysicist, Kristie Miller reviews five of her favourites');
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Quantum state of matter made with \'dipolar\' molecules for first time ');
document.write('A quantum state of matter comprising molecules with opposite charges at each end has been made for the first time. It could help probe our understanding of the quantum properties of exotic materials');
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Quantum physicists just got more certain about quantum uncertainty ');
document.write('An extension of Heisenberg\'s uncertainty principle, which places limits on how precisely you can measure the properties of quantum objects, has found that it really isn\'t possible to cheat the laws of quantum physics');
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The laws of physics were broken in 2023 - by sperm ');
document.write('New Scientist\'s most popular story of the year was about the discovery that sperm break Isaac Newton\'s third law of motion');
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Famous quantum experiment could be shrunk to the size of a single atom ');
document.write('A single, extremely cold atom could play the role of two slits in the classic double-slit experiment from quantum physics, something that was previously thought to be impossible');
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Make these four classic cocktails and become a fluid dynamics expert ');
document.write('Delicious drinks can be the perfect miniature laboratory for demonstrating the weird physics of fluids. Here are four of the best examples and how you can try them at home');
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LK-99 superconductor mania swept the internet for a few weeks in 2023 ');
document.write('The promise of a material that could revolutionise the way we use electricity captured imaginations on social media, which also helped researchers quickly determine that LK-99 wasn\'t what it seemed');
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Mystery of the quantum lentils: Are legumes exchanging secret signals? ');
document.write('For 100 years, we have puzzled over the purpose of biophotons, low-level radiation emitted by all plants. Precision studies of lentils now hint that it could be a form of quantum communication');
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Seams on a baseball shift its trajectory by unexpectedly large amount ');
document.write('When a baseball is tilted and spinning just right, its raised, hand-stitched seams skew the process by which its wake is created and radically shift its trajectory in the air');
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Why I\'ve been somewhat obsessed with space-time this year ');
document.write('I have been revisiting the Unruh effect, a beautiful, strange concept that describes quantum field theory in curved-space time, says Chanda Prescod-Weinstein');
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Why adding water when you grind coffee beans makes for a better brew ');
document.write('Coffee aficionados often add a drop of water to their beans before grinding – now scientists have shown that this leads to less mess and a more flavourful espresso');
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The wonder particle: How axions could solve more than just dark matter ');
document.write('Physicists are coming to realise that hypothetical particles called axions could explain not only dark matter, but dark energy too, and more besides. Now there is fresh impetus to detect them');
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Physicists have worked out how to pour water as quietly as possible ');
document.write('The sound of pouring water into a cup can be tamped down by changing the height of the pour or the diameter of the spout, but physicists have found that changing just one of these never makes it fully silent');
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Physicists find ultimate limit for how accurate clocks can be ');
document.write('A fundamental trade-off between the resolution of a clock and its accuracy could have important implications for quantum computers, which must measure short timescales accurately');
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A mysterious, incredibly energetic cosmic ray has smashed into Earth ');
document.write('A cosmic ray dubbed Amaterasu is the second most powerful one we have ever seen, beaten only by the \"Oh-My-God particle\". Both have baffled astronomers and defy explanation');
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Tiny lasers can be made from soap bubbles ');
document.write('Shining light on bubbles made from soapy water mixed with a fluorescent dye turns them into tiny lasers that can work as pressure sensors');
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Ultracold atoms in space will let us stress test Einstein\'s relativity ');
document.write('Potassium and rubidium atoms aboard the International Space Station have been cooled almost to absolute zero to put a fundamental principle of Einstein’s general theory of relativity to the ultimate test');
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Our sketchy understanding of the big bang is ripe for reimagining ');
document.write('Cosmologists have come to see the early universe as a whole series of transformations, or phase transitions, opening the door to intriguing possibilities for what really happened during the big bang');
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A second big bang? The radical idea rewriting dark matter’s origins ');
document.write('The enduring mystery of dark matter has led some physicists to propose that it was forged in a distinct moment of cosmic creation, potentially transforming our view of the early universe');
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Why the quantum universe is weirder than you think ');
document.write('The quantum realm is full of strange effects, but there’s a reason why everything looks normal from our point of view, writes physicist Sebastian Deffner');
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Physicists have invented a new way to shake a martini ');
document.write('Shaking a martini glass back and forth creates an intricate vortex pattern in the cocktail that takes on a different shape depending on the physical properties of the drink');
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Bubble collisions underwater may create tiny droplets in sea spray ');
document.write('We have long struggled to explain why sea spray contains so many tiny water droplets – now, experiments suggest the droplets may be created underwater when bubbles collide and merge');
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Superconductor hopes dashed after journal retracts ‘red matter’ study ');
document.write('Nature has retracted the scientific paper that claimed earlier this year that the wonder material known as “red matter” was the world’s first room-temperature superconductor');
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Is space-time quantum? Six ways to unpick the fabric of the universe ');
document.write('One of the biggest questions in physics asks whether space-time is classical or quantum in nature. From slow neutrinos to quantum foam, these experiments are hoping to finally answer it');
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The physicist trying to create space-time from scratch ');
document.write('Monika Schleier-Smith is testing the idea that space-time emerges, like a hologram, from quantum interactions by attempting to make it in the lab');
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Sperm caught breaking Newton\'s third law of motion ');
document.write('Some biological cells swim freely in a way that apparently breaks one of Newton’s laws of motion – but only if they have strange elastic properties');
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Strange upward lightning shoots out X-rays as it rises to the clouds ');
document.write('Tall buildings made from electrically conductive materials can send lightning bolts up into the heavens during a thunderstorm, and they generate X-rays at the same time');
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Could nuclear weapons testing resume as global tensions rise? ');
document.write('Only North Korea has detonated nuclear weapons during the 21st century, but recent indications suggest Russia, the US and China are preparing to resume tests');
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Nobel prize for physics goes to trio who sliced up time with light ');
document.write('Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L’Huillier figured out how to generate attosecond pulses of light, which last a billionth of a billionth of a second and can be used to make movies of electrons - a find that has won them the 2023 Nobel prize in physics');
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Force that holds atoms together measured more precisely than ever ');
document.write('We know less about the strength of the strong force than of any of the other fundamental forces of nature, but researchers at CERN have now made the most precise measurement of it ever');
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Raisins and nuts dance in fizzy drinks and now we know why ');
document.write('Dropping raisins, nuts or other small objects in a fizzy liquid makes them dance up and down for hours because they keep gaining and losing bubbles');
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Inside ALPHA-g: The detector measuring gravity\'s effect on antimatter ');
document.write('New research has shown that if you drop a piece of antimatter, it will fall down to the ground just like regular matter. We visited CERN\'s antimatter factory to find out more');
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Antimatter definitely doesn\'t fall up, physicists confirm ');
document.write('In a blow for the hopes of antigravity machines, the first ever test of how antimatter responds to gravity confirms it falls down, not up');
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Twisted lasers could let us send messages with gravitational waves ');
document.write('Ripples in space-time called gravitational waves are normally associated with massive objects like black holes, but we could make our own using lasers – and perhaps even use them to communicate');
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Squeezing loofah sponges creates enough electricity to power LEDs ');
document.write('Sponges derived from luffa plants could act as tiny power sources for small devices, say researchers - but they may not supply enough energy to be practical');
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The world’s brightest X-ray machine has been turned on ');
document.write('The LCLS-II X-ray laser is unprecedentedly bright, and will make it possible to record exactly what atoms and molecules do during photosynthesis and other chemical reactions');
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The quantum world: A concise guide to the particles that make reality ');
document.write('Get to grips with the deepest layer of reality we know of with our inventory of the subatomic realm, from known particles like quarks and the Higgs boson to hypotheticals including the fifth force and strings in 11 dimensions');
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Roger Penrose: \"Consciousness must be beyond computable physics\" ');
document.write('The mathematician shares his latest theories on quantum consciousness, the structure of the universe and how to communicate with civilisations from other cosmological aeons');
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How soap operas can help us understand special relativity ');
document.write('Time scales in my favourite soap opera Emmerdale make no sense, but maybe this helps avid fans to normalise the concept of time dilation, says Chanda Prescod-Weinstein');
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Physicists can complete our amazing, imperfect picture of reality ');
document.write('On its 50th anniversary, the standard model of particle physics remains an unfinished masterpiece. The quest to finally fill in the blanks should be treated not with frustration but joyful anticipation');
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Why nature is the ultimate quantum engineer ');
document.write('Historically, researchers believed that quantum properties disappear at the scale of biology, but there is increasing evidence that this isn\'t the full story, says physicist Clarice Aiello');
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Super-heavy oxygen hints at problem with the laws of physics ');
document.write('An unprecedentedly heavy version of oxygen is significantly less stable than expected, which suggests a problem our understanding of the nuclear strong force');
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Physicists create bizarre quantum Alice rings for the first time ');
document.write('Researchers manipulated thousands of extremely cold atoms to make a ring-like defect that can change the properties of quantum objects that pass through it');
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Maxwell\'s demon imagined by physicists really exists inside our cells ');
document.write('Proteins in the cell membranes of most organisms act like the hypothetical “demon” imagined by James Clerk Maxwell in 1867, which was thought to break the laws of physics');
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Why Isaac Newton\'s laws still give physicists a lot to think about ');
document.write('The apparent equivalence of gravitational mass to inertial mass is a remarkable and beautiful feature of the cosmos, with a deep implication, says Chanda Prescod-Weinstein');
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