Emily Conover

Here’s why sneakers squeak on the basketball court Tiny, repeating detachments between sole and floor — thousands of times a second — create the distinctive squeak heard on the court, data show.

We all need some joy right now, so please read this story, in which physicists play Star Wars' Imperial March with an instrument inspired by squeaky sneakers www.sciencenews.org/article/bask...

A precise proton measurement helps put a core theory of physics to the test After years of confusion, a new study confirms the proton is tinier than once thought. That enables a test of the standard model of particle physics.

In my previous reporting on measurements of the size of the proton, one of the main arguments I heard for why we should care is that we need to know the proton's radius to test the standard model. Well, here we go: www.sciencenews.org/article/prot...

Physicists dream up ‘spacetime quasicrystals’ that could underpin the universe Quasicrystals are orderly structures that never repeat. Scientists just showed they can exist in space and time.

It's unclear if any spacetime quasicrystals exist in the real world, but they sure were fun to think about!
www.sciencenews.org/article/spac...

The only U.S. particle collider shuts down – so a new one may rise The famed collider at Brookhaven National Laboratory has ended operations, but if all goes to plan, a new collider will rise from its ashes.

RHIC investigated the extreme conditions that followed the Big Bang and detailed the inner workings of protons. Here's my very personal story for @sciencenews.bsky.social about RHIC, and the collider that will follow it, the Electron-Ion Collider.
www.sciencenews.org/article/part...

Me standing in front of the sPHENIX detector

Today, the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider collided its last ions. I grew up nearby, in the era when RHIC switched on. It played a huge role in establishing my fascination with physics. I was lucky to tour the facility at @brookhavenlab.bsky.social, on the last day it collided gold ions, in December

Science News Media Guild ratifies first contract, securing major gains in pay and leave | The NewsGuild - TNG-CWA Science News Media Guild, workers who publish Science News and Science News Explores, have voted to ratify their first collective bargaining agreement.

NEW: After 625 days of negotiations, workers at Science News (@sn-media-guild.bsky.social) have voted to ratify their first collective bargaining agreement!✊

newsguild.org/science-news...

Calls to restart nuclear weapons tests stir dismay and debate among scientists Many scientists say “subcritical” experiments and computer simulations make nuclear weapons testing unnecessary.

See my recent feature on nuclear weapons testing for explanations www.sciencenews.org/article/nucl...

Trump's post in full:

Because of other countries testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis. [Russia and China aren’t testing right now, but they might if the US does!] That process will begin immediately. [Expected time to ready a test is ~2 years]

Because of the tremendous destructive power, I HATED to do it, but had no choice! [Not his decision, but OK.] Russia is second, [it’s first] and China is a distant third, but will be even within 5 years. [probably not that soon.]

Annotating Trump's statement on nuclear weapons. (My comments in []):
Trump: The United States has more Nuclear Weapons than any other country. [No it doesn’t.]This was accomplished, including a complete update and renovation of existing weapons, during my First Term in office. [No it wasn’t.]

I had fun speaking today at the Quantum World Congress panel on Demystifying Quantum: How to Communicate Cutting Edge Science to Diverse Audiences. Alongside the fantastic moderator @csrday.bsky.social and esteemed panelists @nicoleyh11.bsky.social and Ben Stein #QWC2025

😆 Anyone who dislikes cool Mars rocks is advised to leave the chat immediately!

Stop AI-Shaming Our Precious, Kindly Em Dashes—Please Human writers have always used the em dash. In fact, it’s the most human punctuation mark there is.

"Notice, please, how gracious it is, how welcoming, like an outstretched arm guiding you over a tricky step." www.theringer.com/2025/08/20/p...

Frilly bug feet inspire a water-striding robot Ripple bugs’ nimble movements on the surface of water inspired a robot with automatically unfurling fans on its feet.

Frilly bug feet for your Friday www.sciencenews.org/article/ripp...

The Vera Rubin Observatory is ready to revolutionize astronomy Sporting the world’s largest digital camera, the new telescope is poised to help solve some of the universe’s biggest mysteries.

Rubin in motion was like a dragon waking up. 🐲🤩 www.sciencenews.org/article/vera... Beautiful words about Vera Rubin Observatory (and a fascinating peek at troubleshooting) by @astrolisa.bsky.social

Not good news for gravitational-wave or multimessenger astronomy "In FY 2026 NSF will operate only one of the two [LIGO] sites and will support a reduced level for technology development"

☄️⚛️🧪🔭

Wow. "the agency intends to wind down one of the sites for the celebrated Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO).... NSF had previously planned to upgrade LIGO’s facilities and the two sites are both needed to localize the celestial sources of the waves."

Trump’s ‘Golden Dome’ plan has a major obstacle: Physics Scientists suggest the missile defense plan will face big hurdles, especially given its projected timeline and cost.

Scientists on Golden Dome: "Even the most optimistic assumptions ... would suggest that that is impossible.” www.sciencenews.org/article/gold... My story for @sciencenews.bsky.social

A claimed hint of alien life whips up spirited debate Astronomers have a lot of thoughts about the latest paper claiming we’ve found the strongest hints of alien life yet on the distant planet K2 18b.

We love a @astrolisa.bsky.social knowledge bomb www.sciencenews.org/article/alie...

I only just started reading this book and it's already reshaping how I think about all kinds of stuff. It's a truly bonkers future that some of the most powerful people in tech are envisioning.

Tech billionaires’ vision of an AI-dominated future is flawed — and dangerous Adam Becker’s new book, More Everything Forever, investigates the dangers of a billionaire-driven tomorrow, in which trillions of humans live in space, served by AI.

I've been waiting for @adambecker.bsky.social's book "More Everything Forever" to come out for YEARS. Unfortunately its release has the best/worst possible timing. Go read it, be horrified, get motivated.
www.sciencenews.org/article/more...

Happy for someone more knowledgeable to contradict me if I'm wrong here, but this is my understanding of why we still care about this problem.

Also, there's the whole "harvest now, decrypt later" thing, which means quantum attacks on encryption could still be important even after PQC is implemented. We're basically relying on the encrypted information becoming obsolete in the window of time before there's a capable enough quantum computer

I also rolled my eyes at that headline. But NIST setting out post-quantum encryption standards is not the same as them actually being implemented. That is going to take a lot of work over, I believe, at least a decade. Given, uh, *gestures at everything* I wouldn't say the problem is solved.

Trump Administration Set to Pause $510 Million for Brown University The administration has now targeted five schools’ federal funding as part of a pledge to combat what it considers to be antisemitism on university campuses.

Always proud to be a Brown graduate. #EverTrue www.nytimes.com/2025/04/03/u...

Calls to restart nuclear weapons tests stir dismay and debate among scientists Many scientists say “subcritical” experiments and computer simulations make nuclear weapons testing unnecessary.

I was in third grade the last time the U.S. tested a nuclear weapon. When I heard from nuclear policy experts that a resumption of testing could be on the horizon, I wanted to understand what that would mean, and if there was any scientific basis for testing. www.sciencenews.org/article/nucl...

Physicists are mostly unconvinced by Microsoft’s new topological quantum chip Majorana qubits could be error resistant. But after a contentious talk at the Global Physics Summit, scientists aren’t convinced Microsoft has them.

I wouldn’t call myself a physics person, but dang, this story about the controversy over Microsoft’s qubits chip claim kept me on the edge of my seat. By @econover.bsky.social

www.sciencenews.org/article/micr...

A truer statement has never been said.

Making new friends at #apssummit25