SCIENCE
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CERN to lead particle physics throughout the 21st century
CERN’s Large Hadron Collider superseded Fermilab’s TeVatron in 2008, but now nears the end of its run. The ambitious FCC…
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Ask Ethan: What do surveys of physicists actually reveal?
At and beyond the current frontiers of knowledge, many physicists have strongly held opinions. Can surveys point the way to…
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Why the tooth fairy is important for theoretical physics
Theoretical physics is notorious for wild ideas that seem, at first, to be nonsensical fantasies. That’s where the tooth fairy…
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Ask Ethan: Is the Universe the same age everywhere?
Today, in the here-and-now, a full 13.8 billion years have elapsed since the start of the hot Big Bang. But…
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What physics gets wrong about the idea of “fundamental”
In physics, we reduce things to their elementary, fundamental components, and build emergent things out of them. That’s not the…
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A brief history of the cosmic distance record
Only nearby objects appear to the naked eye. With telescopes of all types, especially in space, we’ve smashed those records…
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Ask Ethan: How empty are the depths of space?
There’s a lot of room in interplanetary, interstellar, and intergalactic space, but just how low the densities go is truly…
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The science case for why Pluto should become a planet (again)
In 2006, the IAU defined “planet” for the first time, excluding Pluto and all other dwarf planets. In 2026, is…
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Ask Ethan: How can ultra-distant galaxies move so fast?
It takes incredible energies to accelerate masses near the speed of light. So how do the farthest galaxies speed away…
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Dark matter in the Bullet Cluster celebrates 20 years
The first colliding galaxy cluster to reveal dark matter, empirically, turns 20 this year. Here’s why it cements dark matter’s…
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