Magnetic reconnection is a process that occurs when the magnetic fields of a conductive plasma quickly rearrange and release massive amounts of stored magnetic energy. It is widely thought to be the ...

Physics is supposed to be predictable. Drop a ball, and gravity pulls it down. Heat water, and it boils. Light travels in straight lines. Yet throughout history, scientists have encountered ...

Physicists are always searching for new theories to improve our understanding of the universe and resolve big unanswered questions. But there's a problem. How do you search for undiscovered forces or ...

Dark matter search: Team co-leader Christopher Tunnell is an associate professor of physics and astronomy at Rice University. (Courtesy: Jeff Fitlow/Rice) A tiny neodymium particle suspended inside a ...

Rice University researchers have used a magnetically levitated particle to search for ultraheavy dark matter, extending the hunt for some of the heaviest possible forms of the invisible matter thought ...

Scientists have used levitation to transform a tiny magnet into a detector that can sense some of nature’s faintest forces.

A new superconducting magnet that will help scientists solve a puzzling nuclear physics discrepancy is currently undergoing functionality tests at Indiana University’s Swain Hall West. The magnet, ...

On a breezy afternoon last autumn in Cambridge, Mass., in a laboratory thrumming with the huff-whish-huff sound of refrigeration pumps, Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate student Jiaruo Li ...

Researchers have overturned a century-old physics rule about magnetic field detection. They engineered a custom quantum material to trigger the Hall effect sideways. This breakthrough allows a single ...