If there is one thing our readers like it’s a good story about fundamental constants – and the fine structure constant (α) is always a favourite. In case you are not familiar with α, it’s a ...

Legislators change laws from time to time, but Mother Nature's laws are eternal -- or so it has seemed. Now, though, scientists are debating clues that suggest the laws of physics change over time.

The core element of the experiment: a crystal containing thorium atoms. (Courtesy: TU Wien) New high-precision laser spectroscopy measurements on thorium-229 nuclei could shed more light on the fine ...

What is the meaning of life? Even the best of us couldn't hope to answer that question in a Universe Today article. But there are those who would try to "constrain" it, at least in terms of physics. A ...

There’s no reason to think that the fundamental constants have always had the value we measure today. And there’s no reason to think they’re changing either. We simply don’t know one way or the other, ...

In sports and in cosmology, the rules of the game aren't supposed to change as you go along. Athletes call this playing fair. Cosmologists call it the cosmological principle, and it means that the ...

Using two separate tests, scientists have measured a new value for a fundamental natural quantity – G, the gravitational constant – that is slightly higher than previous experiments. Though the result ...

Why is our Universe the way it is, and not some other way? There are only three things that make it so: the laws of nature themselves, the fundamental constants governing reality, and the initial ...

Thorium atomic nuclei can be used for very specific precision measurements. This had been suspected for decades, and the search for suitable atomic nucleus states had been ongoing worldwide. In 2024, ...

Electronics is really an applied branch of physics, so it isn’t surprising that if you are serious about your electronics, you probably know a little physics, too. If you’ve ever heard the term “fine ...