Universe

After a decade of meticulous measurements, scientists announced Thursday that a fundamental particle – the W boson – has a significantly greater mass than theorized, shaking the foundations of our understanding of how the Universe works.  Those foundations are grounded by the Standard Model of particle physics, which is the best theory scientists have to describe the most basic building blocks of the Universe, and what forces govern them.The W boson governs what is called the weak force, one of the four fundamental…

The world's largest particle collider is getting ready to smash atoms harder than ever before.Following a three-year break of scheduled maintenance, upgrades, and pandemic delays, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is preparing to power up for its third, and most powerful yet, experimental period.  If all initial tests and checks starting this month go well, scientists will begin experiments in June and slowly ramp up to full power by the end of July, experts told Live Science.The new run could finally reveal the…

Does time exist? The answer to this question may seem obvious: Of course it does! Just look at a calendar or a clock.But developments in physics suggest the non-existence of time is an open possibility, and one that we should take seriously.  How can that be, and what would it mean? It'll take a little while to explain, but don't worry: Even if time doesn't exist, our lives will go on as usual.A crisis in physicsPhysics is in crisis. For the past century or so, we have explained the Universe with two wildly successful…

The world of particle physics has been on shaky ground lately. For years, researchers have been scrutinizing particles to make sure that the rules we use to explain the Universe hold up – with troublingly inconsistent results.  To add to the endeavor, physicists using the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) have now measured the heaviest known elementary particle with an unprecedented amount of precision.In a much-needed win for the Standard Model of particle physics – the set of rules that predict the behavior of all particles…

After nearly 13.8 billion years of nonstop expansion, the Universe could soon grind to a standstill, then slowly start to contract, new research published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests.  In the new paper, three scientists attempt to model the nature of dark energy – a mysterious force that seems to be causing the Universe to expand ever faster – based on past observations of cosmic expansion.In the team's model, dark energy is not a constant force of nature, but an entity called…

Hawkeye episode 1 is out now on Disney+ and Disney+ Hotstar, and it is all about introducing Kate Bishop to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. She's not just a new character, but also the Marvel series' co-lead and expected to be the future Hawkeye, with our former Avenger (Jeremy Renner) training her to be more than an expert archer. At least, that's how the story goes in the Marvel comics that Hawkeye is inspired by. That would make Hawkeye the first MCU TV show on Disney+ to be centred so much on a new character.…