Researchers say a new theory to deal with the Big Bang could change the way physicists think about the early history of the universe. A team from the University of Waterloo and the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics has taken a different approach to analyzing the origin of the universe from previous efforts, with a … Read more
Learn more about how microwaves have changed the way we communicate and helped us understand the origins of the universe. The Pope is watching. This had a better job. Such thoughts probably crossed Guglielmo Marconi’s mind in 1932 as he set up a special antenna in the Vatican gardens while His Holiness Pope Pius XI … Read more
Scientific experiments can change the world around us. Throughout history, several experiments have led to amazing inventions that have rewritten our collective rule book. But the experiment of making light materials can produce a new flexible film that produces its light and energy? How did this new energy and lighting technology come about? How ultra-thin … Read more
In 1916, just a year after Albert Einstein published his general theory of relativity, Karl Schwarzschild used mathematical calculations to show this: If enough mass were packed into a very small volume, then this dense enough mass would create a region where the gravitational force is so strong that nothing, including light, could escape from … Read more
A hundred years ago, Albert Einstein predicted that massive objects in orbit would send small spirals into space themselves and gradually line up together. Astronomers are now watching that process happen, step by step, in dying stars about 4,000 light-years from Earth. Their slow collision is not just cosmic drama. It gives scientists the clearest … Read more
Try to bend a piece of glass, and it may break. But what if it were possible to create a different, stronger type of glass? Researchers at the University of Oregon conducted physics experiments and developed a mathematical solution to create what they call “perfect glass.” That is, glass is made of molecules packed as … Read more
Light usually travels in straight paths, but what if it was twisted, spun, and behaved like a mini-tornado? Scientists have now made this possible by creating optical vortices—small swirling particles of light in a microscopic system. Until now, generating such complex light systems required multiple setups or complex nanostructures, making it difficult to scale. A … Read more
Drexel University researchers have found that water can break down like solids under certain conditions. In a discovery that could revolutionize our understanding of fluid mechanics, it now appears that viscous fluids can suddenly break when stretched with sufficient force. Unlike solids, which will stretch and eventually break, water has never been believed to have … Read more
Your support helps us tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is breaking new ground as the story unfolds. Whether it’s investigating the finances of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest film, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on American women fighting for reproductive rights, … Read more
Researchers have developed a new holographic data storage system that records and retrieves information in three dimensions by combining three important aspects of light – amplitude, phase and polarization. By using these three together, this method allows more data to be stored in one place, providing a potential solution to the world’s growing demand for … Read more