NASA picked SpaceX for the launch of a space telescope dedicated to searching for near Earth objects.

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Uncertain funding, government firings, and distressed universities hit vulnerable groups especially hard

Spacecraft with gather and analyze infrared light in new ways to explain why our universe is “boring”

Temporary order blocking the change extended until a decision is handed down

NIH is appealing loss of some lab leaders among in-house research program while bracing for the next actions from Trump administration

Top Democrats on the House Science Committee want details about the work DOGE is doing at NASA, calling the lack of transparency “ominous and unacceptable.”

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Conflicting signals are painting a confusing picture for a space economy caught between short-term caution and long-term optimism.

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CT technology could help archaeologists better understand an ancient population’s health, without damaging bones.

BAE Systems won a $230.6 million contract to deliver spacecraft for NOAA's Lagrange 1 Series space weather project.

The post BAE wins $230.6 million contract for space weather program appeared first on SpaceNews.

Learn more about the finding of over 550 fossils from horses, armadillos, and other animals in a sinkhole in Florida’s Steinhatchee River.

Learn how researchers analyzed Neanderthals’ inner ears to understand their genetic history.

Learn how losing REM sleep disrupts your brain’s ability to block unwanted memories – especially in people with mental health struggles.

Learn how archeological investigation reveals the Great Wall of China had three distinct building styles over time.

OpenAI researchers challenged cutting edge AI systems to tackle software development tasks that humans had been paid $1 million to solve. This is how they performed.

Lenacapavir, a twice yearly injection that prevents HIV transmission, was named the breakthrough medicine of 2024. But without US foreign aid dollars, its delivery to millions worldwide is under threat.

Rodent and monkey facilities imperiled by Trump plan to cut overhead payments

The Seattle-based startup will attempt to demonstrate metasurface antenna technology for space-based radar

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Spanish company PLD Space plans to conduct launches of its Miura 5 small launch vehicle from a new spaceport in Oman starting as soon as 2027.

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The semaglutide shortage has officially ended in the US—which means the GLP-1 drug industry is about to undergo massive changes.

We’ve had the LEGO Large Hadron Collider, a LEGO-based quantum computer and even a LEGO Kibble balance. But now you can now add a LEGO interferometer to that list thanks to researchers from the University of Nottingham.

Working with “student LEGO enthusiasts”, they have developed a fully functional LEGO interferometer kit that consists of lasers, mirrors, beamsplitters and, of course, some LEGO bricks.

The set, designed as a teaching aid for secondary-school pupils and older, is aimed at making quantum science more accessible and engaging as well as demonstrating the basic principles of interferometry such as interference patterns.

“Developing this project made me realise just how incredibly similar my work as a quantum scientist is to the hands-on creativity of building with LEGO,” notes Nottingham quantum physicist Patrik Svancara. “It’s an absolute thrill to show the public that cutting-edge research isn’t just complex equations. It’s so much more about curiosity, problem-solving, and gradually bringing ideas to life, brick by brick!”

A team at Cardiff University will now work on the design and develop materials that can be used to train science teachers with the hope that the sets will eventually be made available throughout the UK.

“We are sharing our experiences, LEGO interferometer blueprints, and instruction manuals across various online platforms to ensure our activities have a lasting impact and reach their full potential,” adds Svancara.

If you want to see the LEGO interferometer in action for yourself then it is being showcased at the Cosmic Titans: Art, Science, and the Quantum Universe exhibition at Nottingham’s Djanogly Art Gallery, which runs until 27 April.

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How does a compass work in space? From the moon to Venus, here’s how a compass would work beyond Earth’s magnetic field.

Either way, it sucks. But at least there’s some fun physics to ponder while you’re sitting in the repair shop.

HELSINKI — Researchers are examining how artificial intelligence technologies could support a planned Chinese mission to the boundaries of the solar system, according to a new paper. Artificial intelligence can […]

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German launch vehicle company Isar Aerospace has completed tests of its first Spectrum rocket and is ready to launch, pending a license.

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1 Can you name the mascot for IYQ 2025?

2 In quantum cryptography, who eavesdrops on Alice and Bob?

3 Which artist made the Quantum Cloud sculpture in London?

4 IBM used which kind of atoms to create its Quantum Mirage image?

5 When Werner Heisenberg developed quantum mechanics on Helgoland in June 1925, he had travelled to the island to seek respite from what?
A His allergies
B His creditors
C His funders
D His lovers

6 According to the State of Quantum 2024 report, how many countries around the world had government initiatives in quantum technology at the time of writing?
A 6
B 17
C 24
D 33

7 The E91 quantum cryptography protocol was invented in 1991. What does the E stand for?
A Edison
B Ehrenfest
C Einstein
D Ekert

8 British multinational consumer-goods firm Reckitt sells a “Quantum” version of which of its household products?
A Air Wick freshener
B Finish dishwasher tablets
C Harpic toilet cleaner
D Vanish stain remover

9 John Bell’s famous theorem of 1964 provides a mathematical framework for understanding what quantum paradox?
A Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen
B Quantum indefinite causal order
C Schrödinger’s cat
D Wigner’s friend

10 Which celebrated writer popularized the notion of Schrödinger’s cat in the mid-1970s?
A Douglas Adams
B Margaret Atwood
C Arthur C Clarke
D Ursula K le Guin

11 Which of these isn’t an interpretation of quantum mechanics?
A Copenhagen
B Einsteinian
C Many worlds
D Pilot wave

12 Which of these companies is not a real quantum company?
A Qblox
B Qruise
C Qrypt
D Qtips

13 Which celebrity was spotted in the audience at a meeting about quantum computers and music in London in December 2022?
A Peter Andre
B Peter Capaldi
C Peter Gabriel
D Peter Schmeichel

14 What of the following birds has not yet been chosen by IBM as the name for different versions of its quantum hardware?
A Condor
B Eagle
C Flamingo
D Peregrine

15 When quantum theorist Erwin Schrödinger fled Nazi-controlled Vienna in 1938, where did he hide his Nobel-prize medal?
A In a filing cabinet
B Under a pot plant
C Behind a sofa
D In a desk drawer

16 Which of the following versions of the quantum Hall effect has not been observed so far in the lab?
A Fractional quantum Hall effect
B Anomalous fractional quantum Hall effect
C Anyonic fractional quantum Hall effect
D Excitonic fractional quantum Hall effect

17 What did Quantum Coffee on Front Street West in Toronto call its recently launched pastry, which is a superposition of a croissant and muffin?
A Croissin
B Cruffin
C Muffant
D Muffcro

18 What destroyed the Helgoland guest house where Heisenberg stayed in 1925 while developing quantum mechanics?
A A bomb
B A gas leak
C A rat infestation
D A storm

• This quiz is for fun and there are no prizes. Answers will be revealed on the Physics World website in April.

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The launch of the Blue Ghost module, scheduled to land on the moon early next month, is a key step in creating an Earth–moon supply chain.

The company will offer deployable missile defense and hypersonic test solutions

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However, more proof that the chip will work as advertised will be needed to convince some skeptical scientists.

Learn more about the experience of exclusion by narcissists, who feel socially shut out more frequently than non-narcissists.

Learn about the promising advance in prenatal treatment of spinal muscular atrophy, introducing a potential approach to suppress symptoms of the disorder in infants.

Learn more about recent monkeypox mutations that have increased the disease’s ability to spread between humans.

SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk said that NASA should deorbit the International Space Station “as soon as possible,” preferably in the next two years.

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The excavation started in 2022 and has unearthed important ancient Egyptian history.

Stamp-size devices running machine learning models are tackling agricultural, health, and conservation problems in resource-poor regions

The latest in science and policy

“Exceptional” fossil collections housed by the Paleontological Research Institute risk being orphaned

Safe and effective, this pain-relieving medical procedure is still surrounded by myth and misinformation.

Images from ALMA telescope provide insight to the earlier years of our universe.

The blanket firing of Department of Agriculture scientists has thrown a host of climate science and crop projects into chaos.

As physicists, we like to think that physics and politics are – indeed, ought to be – unconnected. And a lot of the time, that’s true.

Certainly, the value of the magnetic moment of the muon or the behaviour of superconductors in a fusion reactor (look out for our feature article next week) have nothing do with where anyone sits on the political spectrum. It’s subjects like climate change, evolution and medical research that tend to get caught in the political firing line.

But scientists of all disciplines in the US are now feeling the impact of politics at first hand. The new administration of Donald Trump has ordered the National Institutes of Health to slash the “indirect” costs of its research projects, threatening medical science and putting the universities that support it at risk. The National Science Foundation, which funds much of US physics, is under fire too, with staff sacked and grant funding paused.

Trump has also signed a flurry of executive orders that, among other things, ban federal government initiatives to boost diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and instruct government departments to “combat illegal private-sector DEI preferences, mandates, policies, programs and activities”. Some organizations are already abandoning such efforts for fear of these future repercussions.

What’s troubling for physics is that attacks on diversity initiatives fall most heavily on people from under-represented groups, who are more likely to quit physics or not go into it in the first place. That’s bad news for our subject as a whole because we know that a diverse community brings in smart ideas, new approaches and clever thinking.

The speed of changes in the US is bewildering too. Yes, the proportion from federal grants for indirect costs might be too high, but making dramatic changes at short notice, with no consultation is bizarre. There’s also a danger that universities will try to recoup lost money by raising tuition fees, which will hit poorer students the hardest.

US science has long been a beacon of excellence, a top destination especially for researchers from other nations. But many scientists are fearful of speaking out, scared that they or their institutions will pay a price for any opposition.

So far, it’s been left to senior leaders such as James Gates – a theoretical physicist at the University of Maryland – to warn of the dangers in store. “My country,” he said at an event earlier this month, “is in for a 50-year period of a new dark ages.”

I sincerely hope he’s wrong.

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