For more than a century, pianists and music teachers have argued over whether a performer’s touch can actually change the tone color of a piano note — and now scientists say the answer is yes。 Using a cutting-edge sensor system that tracked piano key movements at 1,000 frames per second, researchers discovered that elite pianists subtly manipulate
Scientists have proposed a new method for finding tightly bound supermassive black hole pairs by searching for stars that flash repeatedly as their light is magnified by the black holes’ gravity。 The timing and brightness of these bursts could provide a unique fingerprint of black holes slowly spiraling toward a future collision
A breakthrough hydrogen-production method could make clean fuel far cheaper and easier to generate。 Researchers at the University of Birmingham developed a perovskite-based catalyst that splits water into hydrogen at much lower temperatures than existing technologies, potentially allowing factories, steel plants, cement works, and renewable energy
Scientists have uncovered a surprising new way to control superconductivity — the mysterious phenomenon where electricity flows with zero energy loss。 By pairing twisted layers of graphene with a synthetic diamond material, researchers were able to effectively switch superconductivity on and off by tweaking how electrons interact with their surroun
A team at the University of Chicago has discovered a surprisingly simple way to create powerful quantum states that are normally difficult to produce。 By making small adjustments to the energy levels of atoms inside an optical cavity, researchers can generate a wide variety of highly entangled states without adding complicated hardware
Scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory recreated part of the intense chaos inside a nuclear fireball to better understand how radioactive fallout forms。 Their experiments revealed that the way vaporized materials cool can dramatically change the particles that eventually form, especially for volatile elements like cesium
NASA’s Fermi telescope has detected what may be the first confirmed gamma-ray signal from a superluminous supernova — one of the most extreme explosions in the universe。 Scientists believe the blast was powered by a rapidly spinning magnetar, an exotic neutron star with unbelievably strong magnetic fields。 The event, called SN 2017egm, erupted 440
Nicolas Cage was born to play 1930s PI Ben Reilly/The Spider: part Bogart, part Bugs Bunny, 100% Cage-y
As traditional chip miniaturization slows, researchers have found a way to pack more computing power into the same space by stacking silicon circuits in multiple layers。 The new process uses ultra-thin silicon membranes and low-temperature manufacturing techniques to overcome a major obstacle that has long blocked the production of true 3D chips
A new room-temperature quantum device uses twisted light to entangle photons and electrons, overcoming one of the biggest hurdles in quantum technology。 The breakthrough could pave the way for smaller, cheaper quantum systems with applications ranging from secure communications to future AI and computing platforms
June's night sky delivers several must-see events, starting with a close encounter between Venus and Jupiter after sunset。 Mercury joins the pair to form a rare three-planet lineup, while the Moon puts on a special show by passing in front of Venus for viewers in parts of the Americas。 The month also marks the start of astronomical summer and the r
A stunning spiral galaxy called Messier 88 is racing through the crowded Virgo Cluster on a journey that will dramatically reshape its future。 At its heart lies a supermassive black hole about 100 million times the mass of the Sun, while its graceful spiral arms sparkle with young star clusters and dark clouds of dust。 But as M88 plunges deeper int
A decades-old mystery about Saturn has finally been solved thanks to the James Webb Space Telescope。 Scientists discovered that Saturn’s changing “rotation rate” was never caused by the planet speeding up or slowing down, but by powerful winds high in its atmosphere。 Webb’s unprecedented observations revealed that Saturn’s northern lights actively