Time already behaves strangely in modern physics. It can stretch, slow, and split depending on speed and gravity.

Over the last few years, optical atomic clocks have broken record after record in precision timekeeping. Atoms are cooled to ...

In quantum mechanics, particles do not behave like everyday objects. Instead of existing in one clearly defined state, they ...

The cosmological constant has been a problem in physics since Einstein, but new research may show why it takes the value that ...

A new study suggests that certain 'quantum collapse models'—which posit that wavefunction collapse happens spontaneously—could be tied to gravity, introducing a tiny intrinsic uncertainty in time ...

Physicists are preparing to test whether time itself can exist in a quantum superposition, using ultra-sensitive atomic clocks capable of detecting minute fluctuations. The proposed experiment could ...

Few concepts in physics are as familiar, yet as enigmatic, as time. In Einstein's theory of relativity, time is not absolute: ...

A tiny silica bead, just 100 nanometers across, sits suspended in a vacuum and vibrates under the grip of laser light. Those ...

A quantum spin liquid is a phase of matter in which the magnetic moments in a material do not align or freeze, even at ...

The Casimir effect, a striking manifestation of quantum fluctuations, arises from the zero‐point energy inherent in the electromagnetic field. Predicted originally by Hendrik Casimir, this phenomenon ...

Theoretical and experimental work described in Nature Physics expands the repertoire of exotic phases of matter.

A single nanoparticle made of glass (a white point near the center of the photo) is confined in an optical potential created with a focused laser beam. By detecting the light scattered by the ...