How does a black hole generate a magnetic field and how can it be measured and visualized? Alan CroftSeattle, Washington As ...

Speed in space gets confusing fast. We throw around terms like kilometers per second, fractions of the speed of light, ...

A microscopic layer of environmental carbon solves a long-standing mystery about static electricity's true origins.

Two microscopic grains collide and produce a tiny spark. This phenomenon may have provided the energy to kick off life on Earth. But if these solid particles have the same composition, what factor ...

We took a look at how close our real world is to some of the most remarkable parts of Ryan Gosling’s sci-fi blockbuster. The ...

You’d be the world’s worst journalist.” She is, of course, correct. An interview is not an ideal forum for fiction. But what sort of recording device is the novel? A poor one, at least from the ...

The spark that transfers a charge from one carbon particle to another, generating lightning and possibly life itself, is finally understood.

When high-voltage electricity breaks out in open air, it rips through the atmosphere, forming chaotic, branching fingers of electric plasma. These electrical arcs are difficult to control. They branch ...

The ALICE Collaboration takes a step further in addressing the question of whether a quark–gluon plasma can be formed in proton–proton and proton–nucleus collisions. In the first few microseconds ...