Physicists are finally getting their heads round what information truly is – and using it to gain new insights into life, the universe and, well… everything

Google's Sycamore quantum computer, which recently demonstrated its dominance over ordinary computers, is now breaking records in quantum chemistry

Time travel brings up paradoxes that break the laws of physics, but multiple similar timelines running parallel to one another could get around this

A relatively small quantum computer has broken a number-factoring record, which may one day threaten data encryption methods that rely on factoring large numbers

It certainly wasn’t big, and probably didn’t bang – and the surprises in the conventional story of the universe's origins don’t end there

Google has put the algorithm it used to achieve quantum supremacy to work. It generated verifiably random numbers, which could be used one day in encryption or lotteries

Science-fiction sitcom Rick and Morty is back for season four and the hapless duo are up to their usual intergalactic tricks. But how realistic is the show's use of obscure scientific concepts and futuristic technology?

Dark energy dominates the universe, and could lead it to a cold, bleak end. But that's not to say we have much clue what it is or how it works

Graphene particles that seed ice formation in water only need to be 8 square nanometres to kick-start the freezing process – any smaller and they can stop ice forming

The 2010s saw huge advancements across science and technology. Relive the best moments with our definitive ranking of the decade

The universe’s most common element could also be its most wondrous. Two different groups of researchers say they've made it - but can either claim withstand scrutiny?

There is no law of physics dictating that dark matter and dark energy can’t be connected, and it is natural to wonder about it, writes Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

The US assassination of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani has raised fears of nuclear conflict, but Iran has been on the road to building nuclear weapons for some time

Mathematicians have come up with a way to explore strange 3D spaces that could be related to the shape of the universe

A NASA science balloon picked up two high-energy particles and a new analysis reveals that they can't be explained by the standard model of particle physics

A chemical bond between two metal atoms has been filmed breaking and forming for the first time – something scientists say they only dreamed of seeing

A molecule shaped like a bow tie changes colour in the presence of toxic chemicals, which could make it useful for monitoring air

In everyday life, causes always precede effects. But new experiments suggests that no such restriction applies in the quantum world

Baristas normally aim to grind coffee finely to maximise surface area and extract the most coffee compounds, but a mathematical analysis has found that coarse grounds are better as they reduce clogging

It’s the ultimate scientific quest – to understand everything that there is. But the closer we get, the further away it seems. Can we ever get to grips with the true nature of reality?

What our senses allow us to experience may not reflect what actually exists. It may be a creation of our own consciousness, or a computer simulation designed by superintelligent beings

A glass bead has been brought down to its coldest possible quantum state using a new method that may one day allow us to observe an object in two places at once

A basic rule of quantum physics is that knowing too much about an experiment will break quantum interference, but now physicists have discovered a way to bend that rule

In a universe that unthinkingly follows the rules, human agency is an anomaly. Can physics ever make sense of our power to change the physical world at will?

A communications network secured by the laws of quantum physics would be unhackable, but building one requires a component called a quantum memory, which is still being developed

This week, hide behind the sofa from mind-altering plants, listen and learn from technologies past and find out how the world is underpinned by numbers

Brian Greene's new book argues that life is rare and extraordinary, probably transient, and that in the search for purpose, the only significant answers are ones we create  

A difference in the properties of matter and antimatter could help explain our universe – but a property called the Lamb shift is similar in particles of both

Why is there something rather than nothing? We’re finally making enough antimatter to extract an answer – and it might reveal the dark side of the universe too

A lightweight liquid metal alloy that is less dense than water could be used to make exoskeletons and transformable flexible robots

This Pi Day, try calculating everyone’s favourite mathematical constant using balls and a cardboard tube, thanks to a mathematical trick involving the balls’ masses

In a cornfield in India, Urbasi Sinha ran an experiment that may challenge the rules of quantum mechanics and paves the way for higher dimensional quantum computing

The 2020 Abel prize was awarded to mathematicians Hillel Furstenberg and Gregory Margulis for their use of probability and dynamics in group theory, number theory and combinatorics

A number of difference forces are involved in producing sound when a bubble pops, and the exact noise depends on the chemical properties of the soap film

A new film squares up to the tough task of reinventing Marie Curie, one of science's biggest stars, by building a big picture of her work – and its future fallout

The "wave function collapse" transforms vague clouds of quantum possibilities into the physical reality we know – but no one knows how. New experiments are finally revealing reality in the making

Our measurements of the Hubble constant can't seem to come up with a consistent answer. What we learn next may alter our view of the cosmos, writes Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

A new book from Jim Al-Khalili makes cutting-edge physics easily understandable and makes it clear why he fell in love with the subject as a teenager

Fundamental limits on space and time mean that the motion of three black holes is impossible to predict, even with the most powerful computer that could ever be built

Wine tears – the drops that form inside a glass after wine is swirled in a glass – are caused by the formation of an unstable shock wave

Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, who discovered that hydrogen dominates our universe, finally gets the recognition she deserves in a rich biography, What Stars Are Made Of

In 2012, mathematician Shinichi Mochizuki produced a proof claiming to solve the long-standing ABC conjecture, but no one understood it. Most mathematicians still don't, but it will now be published in a journal

Strange particles observed by an experiment in Antarctica could be evidence of an alternative reality where everything is upside down

For the universe to exist as it does now, there must have been an imbalance between matter and antimatter early on, which may have been caused by neutrinos

Most molecules exist in mirror-image forms, and yet life prefers one over the other. How this bias began and why it persisted is one of the most baffling questions in biology – but now we have an answer

Are shark attacks and ice cream sales linked? Do drugs work? Being able to distinguish cause and effect is crucial. Now we have the maths to do it reliably

The question of how the brain gives rise to subjective experience is the hardest of all. Mathematicians think they can help, but their first attempts have thrown up some eye-popping conclusions

Our best mathematical theory of consciousness is sparking a rethink of one of science’s hardest problems – how simple matter gives rise to a complex mind

STAMFORD, CT - HARMAN, the premium global audio and infotainment group (NYSE:HAR), has been awarded two Plus X Awards in the categories Innovation and High Quality for their ground-breaking sound solutions QuantumLogic Surround 3D and Clari-Fi. In addition, Clari-Fi also received the Plus X Award for “Best Audio Software of the Year”. The awards have been presented earlier today at the German Bundestag in Bonn. The Plus X Award honors manufacturers for new and innovative technologies, extraordinary design and intelligent and easy to use operating systems. With an international and independent panel of judges from 25 industries, the Plus X Award is the world’s largest competition for technology, sports and lifestyle.

LOS ANGELES, CALIF. – "The Distortion of Sound,” a documentary exposing the decline of sound and how technology has changed the way we listen to music, premieres this evening at an invitation-only event at the GRAMMY® Museum in Los Angeles, California. Following tonight’s screening, the documentary will air on “The Distortion of Sound” YouTube channel, DistortionofSound.com, the Sundance Channel the IFC Channel on July 23 at 6 p.m. ET and PT.*