Every time I write about particle physics, I encounter a moment of uncertainty about a quantity that, at first glance, ought to be clear. How many kinds of elementary particles should I say there are?

Physicists know that their elegant theoretical description of forces and particles — the standard model of particle physics — must be incomplete, because there are a host of phenomena it cannot ...

A tightly packed ball of office staples can be surprisingly strong.Try to pull it apart and the tangled metal resists like a solid object. But with the right movement or vibration, that same bundle ...

While science has a solid grasp on calculating drag and resistance on microscopic spherical objects, particles like dust, microplastics, and viruses are rarely spherical. A new study re-analyzes a ...

When you drill down into the very fabric of reality—where elementary particles make up the matter that is you and me and everything around us in three-dimensional space—things get divided nicely into ...

Quantum physics paints a strange picture of the world, one filled with spooky connections, unsettling uncertainties and—perhaps oddest of all—particles that spontaneously spring into being from the ...

A clever mathematical tool known as virtual particles unlocks the strange and mysterious inner workings of subatomic particles. What happens to these particles within atoms would stay unexplained ...

A new video podcast from GBH and the producers of NOVA, hosted by Hakeem Oluseyi. Should we bring back extinct species? Are we missing a fundamental law of nature? What can ancient fossils tell us ...

In a twist on conventional wisdom, researchers have discovered that in ocean-like fluids with changing density, tiny porous particles can sink faster than larger ones, thanks to how they absorb salt.

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. The particles that are in ...

How can you minimize your exposure? How worried should you be about the health effects? And other questions, answered. How can you minimize your exposure? How worried should you be about the health ...