I learned in October 2022’s Breakthrough that the spikes of stars in high-power photos are called diffraction spikes. Why do they appear as two crosses at 45 degrees to each other? The diffraction ...

For decades, astronomers have been puzzled by strange “zebra stripe” patterns in radio waves from the Crab Pulsar — bright bands separated by complete darkness. Now, new research suggests the answer ...

Researchers at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology have measured “dark points” inside light waves that appear to ...

Physics is simple. In fact, it never ceases to astonish me how, with a few simple ideas from physics in your suitcase, you can travel from your own backyard to the most exotic realms of the universe, ...

Light is well known to exhibit both wave-like and particle-like properties, as imaged here in this 2015 photograph. What's less well appreciated is that matter particles also exhibit those wave-like ...