Dozens of times over the last decade NASA scientists have launched laser beams at a reflector the size of a paperback novel about 240,000 miles (385,000 kilometers) away from Earth. They announced ...

Scientists have found a competitor to the lightning rod — one of the most tried and true methods of controlling where lightning strikes. The new method is far more expensive, but it allowed scientists ...

Physicists are learning to carve laser beams into intricate shapes that can grab hold of electrons and push them with a ...

Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. There’s a reason lightning rods haven’t changed much since ...

The properties of dense helium (He) — which happens to be a principal constituent of giant gas planets like Jupiter — at thermodynamic conditions between those of condensed matter and high-temperature ...

Lightning rods have been used to guide lightning strikes for centuries, but now scientists have demonstrated something a bit more advanced than a humble metal stick. Beaming a high-powered laser into ...

Physicists are teasing a potential leap in nuclear fusion that sounds almost absurd on its face: a path to reactions that are ...

The ZEUS laser facility at the University of Michigan has roughly doubled the peak power of any other laser in the U.S. with its first official experiment at 2 petawatts (2 quadrillion watts). At more ...

Scientists at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI have, for the first time, demonstrated a technique that synchronizes ultrashort X-ray pulses at the X-ray free-electron laser SwissFEL. This achievement ...

Experts at the BELLA Center used dual laser beams focused onto a sheet of gas to reach a milestone energy in laser-driven electron acceleration. Four members of the larger team gathered with the ...