Stories by Elizabeth Gibney

The first peer-reviewed study of the DeepSeek AI model shows how a Chinese start-up firm made the market-shaking LLM for $300,000

Time crystals, a state of matter once thought physically impossible, could soon be on a banknote

A survey of more than 1,000 physicists finds deep disagreements in what quantum theories mean in the real world

Straight out of science fiction, these contact lenses convert infrared light into visible light that humans can see

A Google DeepMind system improves chip designs and addresses unsolved math problems but has not been rolled out to researchers outside the company

Scientists at Europe’s famous particle collider briefly created gold ions from lead in a modern twist on the alchemical goal

Scientists in China have transmitted encrypted images a record 12,900 kilometers, paving the way for quantum messaging anywhere on Earth

Experiments suggest an unusual magnetic material could help harness energy from Earth’s rotation. But not everyone is convinced

A long-awaited calculation of the W boson’s mass agrees with theory, contradicting a previous anomaly that had raised the possibility of new physics beyond the Standard Model

Queen guitarist Brian May has spent a decade studying the science of bovine tuberculosis, which can be carried by badgers, and has identified a new method of spread

Molecular Bose-Einstein condensates could help to provide the answers to fundamental questions or form the basis of new quantum computers

The radioactive unit will help to deliver Europe’s first Mars rover to the planet’s surface

A feasibility study on CERN’s Future Circular Collider identifies where and how the machine could be built—but its construction is far from assured

The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna could discover gigantic ripples in spacetime from merging supermassive black holes and more

Satellite navigation systems for lunar settlements will require local atomic clocks. Scientists are working out what time they will keep

Fusion researchers at the U.S. National Ignition Facility created a reaction that made more energy than they put in

Prolific generation of data drove the need for prefixes that denote 10²⁷ and 10³⁰

How, and whether, to keep atomic time in sync with Earth’s rotation is still up for debate

Middle Eastern governments are ramping up their green ambitions ahead of the COP27 climate summit but show few signs of reining in fossil-fuel exports

When Russia invaded Ukraine, many analysts expected an unprecedented level of cyberattacks—which so far haven’t materialized

In the next five years, the nation hopes to launch a robotic craft to an asteroid, two lunar missions and an orbital observatory

Detective work reconstructs the final movements of the European Space Agency’s Philae probe

Researchers have spent decades searching for the elusive particles. A final generation of detectors should leave them no place to hide

Celebration is tinged with relief as $200-million orbiter embarks on 7-month odyssey to the Red Planet