Chemistry
Tabletop lightning helps make an alcohol used for fuels and more
Methanol is used in plastics, paints and as a race car fuel. It’s been hard to make. But engineers have found a simple trick: Add lightning to methane.
Physics
More Stories in Physics
- Physics
Exploding black holes could solve a big cosmic mystery
Tiny black holes in the early universe could explain why matter is common and antimatter is not.
- Physics
Origami research takes top prize at 2026 Regeneron ISEF competition
The top three winners each won at least $80,000. Other teen finalists shared in more than $7 million in prizes at this international science fair.
- Animals
Physics explains how snakes climb and stand without limbs
Tree snakes can raise their body into the air without falling over. They keep their balance by bending their bodies close to their base.
- Physics
Thunderstorms can make trees twinkle with an electric glow
The tiny, storm-driven electric zaps dance and jump around pine needles and other leaves. Videos have just captured that subtle flickering in forests.
- Life
Scientists Say: Biophoton
All living things glow with this mysterious light. But scientists need ultra-sensitive tools to detect it.
- Space
Scientists Say: Observable universe
No light will ever reach Earth from beyond this distant horizon of space.
- Space
Do multiple universes exist?
Some branches of physics hint that our universe is just one of many in a vast “multiverse.”
- Physics
Scientists Say: Entropy
To understand the universe, we must look to entropy — the chaos engine of the cosmos.
- Tech
Backyard leafhoppers inspire next-generation cloaking tech
Engineers are borrowing this insect’s trick, an "invisibility cloak" of anti-reflective spheres. It could lead to new clean energy tech or military gear.
