Among this week's highlights: the fluid dynamics of hagfish snot, LIGO disputes claims of galaxy-warped gravitational waves, and measuring gravity by dropping individual atoms. Me at Ars Technica: Meet the Snot Snake: It's the drag that helps the humble hagfish...

Happy New Year (belated), and welcome to 2019. We're back after several weeks' hiatus--although I still found time to write a special Twelve Days of Christmas series of science posts, plus a few others. And I've thrown in some of...

It was kind of a light week in physics news in advance of the holidays. Among the highlights: a supersolid helium state confirmed; how people walking avoid collisions; and a mathematical function for how societies remember and forget. Me at...

Man, this year is coming to an end fast, and we're feeling a bit frazzled trying to get a bunch of stuff done before then. But we still pulled together some cool physics goodness for you this week. Among the...

Among this week's physics highlights: NASA's Insight lands safely on Mars; the math of how paper crumples; and analog computing with WiFI. Me at Ars Technica: This Too Shall Pass: Six people swallowed LEGOs and pored through their own poo...

Happy belated Thanksgiving! Since you're all likely still recovering from the culinary excesses of the holiday, here's some nifty physics links to peruse at your leisure. Among this week's highlights: how microfluidic devices could help Ant-Man and the Wasp breathe...

We were AWOL last week due to travel, but that means an extra helping of physics goodness this week. Among the highlights: remote controlled bacterial swarms, making atoms dance on a quantum donut, and cave acoustics to enhance artificial reverb....

Metamaterials make a chip-sized synchrotron, a strange new state of matter called rigid light, and claims casting doubt on LIGO's first detection of gravitational waves are among this week's physics highlights. Me at Ars Technica: Signal to Noise: Danish physicists...

A weird phase of water called ice-VII, a critical tipping point for the demise of Angkor, and when rock moves like a fluid are among this week's physics highlights. Me at Ars Technica: A Catastrophic Tipping Point: Collapse of ancient...

Astronomers spot another neutron star merger, the first BEC created in space, and how Leonardo da Vinci's vision disorder may have influenced his art are among this week's physics highlights. Me at Ars Technica: Probable Cause: “Fixed mindsets” might be...

More mysterious fast radio bursts; pilot wave theory might be dead at last; and Stephen Hawking's final paper suggests that black holes have "soft hair" are among this week's physics highlights. Me at Ars Technica: A Hairy Conundrum: Stephen Hawking’s...

The 2018 physics Nobel Prize, extra dimensions are probably tiny, and the physics of a perfect baseball pitch are among this week's physics highlights. Me at Ars Technica: 2018 physics Nobel Prize honors 3, including first woman in 55 years....

We're back from our wanderings! And we have two weeks' worth of tantalizing physics-y links for your reading pleasure. Among the highlights: reimagining Schroedinger's cat might break quantum mechanics, scientists produced the strongest indoor magnetic field ever (and blew up...

Antimatter seen in two places at once, a "lens-less" camera, and a quantum version of Maxwell's Demon were among this week's physics highlights. (Note: Our weekly linkfest will be on hiatus for the next couple of weeks due to travel....

A Breakthrough Prize for Jocelyn Bell Burnell, when solid cargo (granular media) mysteriously liquefies, and the physics of perfect pork butt were among this week's physics highlights. Me at Ars Technica: Jocelyn Bell Burnell wins $3 million prize for discovering...

Happy Labor Day weekend! This week's physics highlights include computer vision to see around corners; LHC detects most favored Higgs boson decay; and the debate between dark matter proponents and MOND enthusiasts heats up. Me at Ars Technica: Swirling your...

Black holes might be stringy fuzzballs, concrete blocks are great for storing energy, and using cosmic rays to image Brunelleschi's famous dome are among this week's physics highlights. Me at Ars Technica: They Do It With Muons: Italy’s famous dome...

Among this week's physics highlights: thousands of new "topological" materials discovered, the physics of breaking spaghetti strands neatly in two, and the latest work on how black holes might be giant stringy fuzzballs. But first, some big personal news: I...

Among this week's physics highlights: dark energy and string theory might not mix, excess gamma rays due to pulsars and not dark matter, and speculation about what would happen if the Earth turned into blueberries. Just because. Dark Energy May...

Among this week's physics highlights: An infrared cloaking device thanks to salt-infused graphene, the string theory universe landscape may not exist, and closing the door on "hidden variable" theories. My latest for Quanta: A Math Theory for Why We Hallucinate:...

Among this week's physics highlights: a star orbiting a black hole confirms relativity yet again; how rainbow physics can help self-driving cars; and the physics of drafting in the Tour de France. Astronomers Confirm Einstein’s Theory of Relativity By Watching...

Shape-changing material triggered by light, the first full-color 3D x-rays, and how much energy Marvel superhero Iron Fist packs into a punch are among this week's physics highlights. The Peculiar Math That Could Underlie the Laws of Nature. New findings...

Astronomers track a neutrino to its source for the first time; the physics of the perfect S'more; and how a dead fish could swim upstream are among this week's physics highlights. For the First Time, Astronomers Detected a 'Ghost Particle'...

Among this week's physics highlights: the physics of launching fireworks from a drone; the science and scientists behind Marvel's Ant Man; and using a three-body star system to test relativity (spoiler alert: Einstein is still right). Einstein's Theory of Gravity...

Taming turbulence by flattening fluids, two ways a crystal shrinks, and the physics of steeping tea are among this week's physics highlights. Mathematicians Tame Turbulence in Flattened Fluids: By squeezing fluids into flat sheets, researchers can get a handle on...

Among this week's physics highlights: the physics of how cracks spread; resonating peacock crests, and Einstein's general relativity still holds at the galactic scale. (Takeaway: Don't bet against Einstein.) Why Some Cracks Repel: A theoretical study of crack propagation provides...

Brains may function best near, but not precisely at, the critical point between two phases; the math of how order falls into chaos; and shape-shifting antimatter neutrinos are among this week's physics highlights. Brains May Teeter Near Their Tipping Point:...

Top quarks and Higgs in the same collisions, a superfluid time quasicrystal, and using atomic clocks to test relativity are among this week's physics highlights. One Quadrillion LHC Collisions Lead to a Rare Discovery. Related: The perfect couple: Physicists see...

Among this week's physics highlights: There are two types of water that behave differently, dynamical dark matter, and just when you think the sterile neutrino is dead, new evidence comes in for its possible existence. New Skeptics Guide to the...

A quantum stopwatch, quantum effects in photosynthesis, 231 new solutions to the infamous three-body problem, and another blow for NASA's controversial EM-drive are among this week's physics highlights. Storing time from a quantum stopwatch with qubits – instead of losing...

We are spending the weekend in Vegas, partly to celebrate my birthday and partly to accept the 2018 Humanist of the Year award from the American Humanist Association -- a tremendous honor to be sure! But Jen-Luc Piquant still managed...

The thermodynamics of why birds migrate, theoretical "fractions" could be made in a crystal, and the physics of why water is slippery are among this week's physics highlights. Play a Video Game to Help Solve an 80-Year-Old Physics Debate About...

We skipped a week due to my nephew's college graduation, but we're back for Cinqo De Mayo! Time crystals have been created in two new types of materials, a super light aerogel inspired by dragonfly wings, and a peek behind...

"Electric blood" could enable soft robots, collective behavior in the NBA, and analyzing the mechanical behavior of rope in action films are among this week's physics highlights. Machine Learning’s ‘Amazing’ Ability to Predict Chaos: In new computer experiments, artificial-intelligence algorithms...

The ADMX experiment is all set to hunt for dark matter particles called axions; the physics of diving peregrine falcons; and why fastballs are unlikely to get any faster in baseball. Read about all that and more in this week's...

We're back from our travels and yes, Japan was a glorious experience. But we're thrilled to be home and getting back into groove of things. Among this week's physics highlights: measuring the color of antimatter, financial brownian motion, and the...

We're off to Japan for ten days, so there will be no link-fest next Saturday. We'll resume our regular linkages in April. In the meantime, here's this week's physics highlights, including graphene hair dye, what physics has to say about...

Among this week's physics highlights: physics loses one of its brightest stars; DARPA is interested in time crystals; and "black stars" or "gravastars" might totally be a thing that exists. It's been a year marked by loss thus far for...

The APS March meeting took place in Los Angeles this week and Jen-Luc Piquant was thrilled to be able to see all her old pals and hear about tons of exciting new physics on her home turf. Among this week's...

There was tons of exciting physics stories this week. Among the highlights: long-sought evidence of first stars forming may have implications for dark matter research; physicists created a giant mega-atom stuffed with other atoms; and scientists verified the quantum Zeno...

Jen-Luc Piquant is in Boston today learning all about Big Physics and Big Questions at New Scientist magazine's Instant Expert event. But we still have links for you. Highlights for this week include etching graphene into everyday materials, the latest...

Among this week's physics highlights: using a quantum computer to improve election forecasting; physicists create a new form of light; and a hotly debated new paper claiming scaling laws aren't universal to complex networks. I wrote an article for New...

There was a lot of cool physics-y news this week: the physics of swarming midges and of curling (as in, the Olympic sport), the successful SpaceX rocket launch that put a Tesla into space, and proving the existence of superionic...

An alternate cosmos might not need the weak force, merging black holes might have gamma ray bursts, and how the best Olympic snowboards use physics to win are among this week's physics highlights. January 30 was National Croissant Day. And...

Among this week's physics highlights: 3D holograms made with lasers, a possible tractor beam for human levitation, and why bigger drones can fly longer. The Era of Quantum Computing Is Here. Outlook: Cloudy. Quantum computers should soon be able to...

The atomic theory of origami, mini gamma ray bursts to study black holes, and the story of the Star Trek inspired 3D hyperchess are among this week's physics highlights. New Research Could Help Bring Secure Quantum Communication to Everyone. A...

Mysterious fast radio bursts could come from magnetars, birds of paradise have the ultimate black feathers, and there's more weird results regarding the mass of the proton. Plus much more in this week's physics highlights. New Nature paper strengthens the...

It's a brand new year with a bunch of shiny new physics links. Among this week's highlights: an effort to classify all phases of matter, metalens-shaped light for cloaking devices, and the mysterious Tabby star isn't aliens after all--just dust....

There's no physics linkfest this week, if only because so little happens (apart from year-end lists) in science news in the interval between Christmas and New Year's. But we'll be back next week. Meanwhile, here are Caliban (tuxedo) and Ariel...

A new proposed solution to the black hole firewall paradox, a new twist in the most famous fluid equations, and why bridges ice over before roads are among this week's physics highlights. The black hole firewall paradox has been vexing...