Emily Conover

Physics, Senior Writer, Science News

Physics writer Emily Conover loves physics for its ability to reveal the secret rules about how stuff works, from tiny atoms to the vast cosmos. Before becoming a science journalist, she studied physics at the University of Chicago. There, she investigated the weird ways of tiny particles called neutrinos. She has previously written for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Science Magazine and the American Physical Society. She is a two-time winner of the D.C. Science Writers’ Association Newsbrief award.

All Stories by Emily Conover

  1. Physics

    Scientists used lasers to make ‘smoke rings’ of light

    Physicists had a bright idea: Make light into swirling, ring-shaped vortices, similar to smoke rings or bubble rings.

  2. Physics

    When dominoes fall, how fast the row topples depends on friction

    Two types of friction help determine how quickly a line of dominoes collapses, computer modeling shows.

  3. Computing

    A new supercomputer just set a world record for speed

    Able to perform more than a quintillion calculations per second, it will allow scientists to study exploding stars, subatomic particles and more.

  4. Physics

    Muons reveal the inner worlds of pyramids, volcanoes and more

    Tracking these subatomic particles can uncover surprising hidden structures.

  5. Space

    Gravitational waves ‘kicked’ a newborn black hole across space

    Two black holes merged into one, and then sped off at around 5 million kilometers (3.1 million miles) per hour.

  6. Space

    We finally have an image of the black hole at the heart of our galaxy

    New observations from the Event Horizon Telescope reveal the chaotic region around the Milky Way’s central black hole, Sagittarius A*, in extreme detail.

  7. Humans

    Snap! High-speed video captures the physics of snapping fingers

    Inspired by the infamous snap of the Avengers rival Thanos, scientists set out to investigate the physics behind finger-snapping.

  8. Physics

    Here’s why ducklings swim in a row behind mom

    Baby ducks save energy by surfing their mother’s waves, but only if they do it in an orderly line.

  9. Physics

    Research on climate and more brings trio the 2021 physics Nobel Prize

    Syukuro Manabe and Klaus Hasselmann pioneered work on simulations of Earth’s climate. Giorgio Parisi probed complex materials.

  10. Physics

    Take a look at this weird, bendy type of ice

    These specially grown threads of ice bend into curves, then spring back when released.

  11. Space

    Moon-sized white dwarf is the smallest ever found

    This dead star is also spinning very fast and has an amazingly powerful magnetic field.

  12. Space

    Spin in this Milky Way bar may show cosmic dark matter does exist

    A method akin to studying a tree’s rings reveals the timeline of a slowdown in those stars at the heart of our Milky Way galaxy.