Stories by George Musser

• A Matter of Time | More Science

  Physicists and Philosophers Unite to Study Time’s Arrow

  Physicists can't seem to find the time—literally. Can philosophers help?

  November 22, 2014 |

• A Matter of Time | Space

  Time’s End Will Be the End of Endings

  Could time end? Yes. And no. Recent work in physics suggests a resolution to the paradox

  November 10, 2014 |

• Critical Opalescence | More Science

  Why Bother With Ordinary Fireworks When You Can Have Black Hole Fireworks?

  Theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli, one of the creators of loop quantum gravity, and his collaborator Hal Haggard have just come out with a new paper on black holes.

  July 4, 2014 |

• Critical Opalescence

  Physicists Think They Can Solve the Mysteries of Quantum Mechanics, Cosmology, and Black Holes in One Go [Guest Post]

  It’s lucky that debates over the meaning of quantum mechanics are so entertaining, because they seem to go on forever. The sundry proposed interpretations make the same experimental predictions, so many people fret that there’ll never be a way to decide among them.

  June 26, 2014 |

• Critical Opalescence | More Science

  Physicists Look Beyond the Large Hadron Collider, to the Very Large Hadron Collider

  In 1954 the renowned physicist Enrico Fermi did a simple but depressing calculation about future particle accelerators. To create particles with an energy of 3 teraelectron-volts, he estimated, you’d have to build a ring 8,000 kilometers in radius at a cost of $170 billion.

  June 9, 2014 |

• Critical Opalescence | Space

  Time Machines Would Run Afoul of the Second Law of Thermodynamics [Guest Post]

  Last year I got talking to theoretical physicist Aron Wall about the thermodynamics of quantum gravity. Now that's a deceptively beautiful phrase: in four words, you get three of the deepest areas in modern science.

  May 23, 2014 |

• Critical Opalescence

  As Ice Forms, It Can Create Amazing Spirals

  In our February issue, Scientific American had an article on the phenomenon of liquid-rope coiling--the way that viscous fluids curl as they fall onto a surface, forming what looks like a miniature basket.

  May 5, 2014 |

• Critical Opalescence | More Science

  Gravitational Waves Reveal the Universe before the Big Bang: An Interview with Physicist Gabriele Veneziano

  It’s not usually put like this, but the discovery of primordial gravitational waves two weeks ago has given us our first direct glimpse of a period before the big bang.

  April 3, 2014 |

• Nature | More Science

  Why the "Venus Rainbow" Is Actually a Glory

  The first sighting of the light spectacle on another planet reveals properties of the mysterious Venusian clouds

  March 14, 2014 |

• Critical Opalescence | More Science

  Amanda Gefters Ultimate Reality Party

  Last night I had the pleasure of going to Amanda Gefters book party, celebrating the release of Trespassing on Einsteins Lawn. I first got to know Gefter a decade ago when she audaciously contacted Sci Am to pitch her first-ever science story, and I followed her later career at New Scientist with admiration.

  January 17, 2014 |

• Critical Opalescence

  Cosmological Data Hint at a Level of Physics Underlying Quantum Mechanics [Guest Post]

  Two weeks ago, I blogged about David Bohm’s interpretation of quantum mechanics. Like Einstein and Louis de Broglie before him, Bohm argued that quantum randomness is not intrinsic to nature, but reflects our ignorance of a deeper level of reality.

  November 18, 2013 |

• Critical Opalescence

  What Happens to Google Maps When Tectonic Plates Move?

  A couple of weeks ago, I was writing up a description of Einstein’s general theory of relativity, and I thought I’d compare the warping of spacetime to the motion of Earth’s tectonic plates.

  November 11, 2013 |

• Critical Opalescence

  The Wholeness of Quantum Reality: An Interview with Physicist Basil Hiley

  One night in 1952, Richard Feynman and David Bohm went bar-hopping in Belo Horizonte. Louisa Gilder reconstructs the night in her brilliant book on the history of quantum mechanics, The Age of Entanglement.

  November 4, 2013 |

• Critical Opalescence

  Does Some Deeper Level of Physics Underlie Quantum Mechanics? An Interview with Nobelist Gerard ’t Hooft

  VIENNA—Over the past several days, I attended a fascinating conference that explored an old idea of Einstein’s, one that was largely dismissed for decades: that quantum mechanics is not the root level of reality, but merely a hazy glimpse of something even deeper.

  October 7, 2013 |

• Critical Opalescence

  When the Large Hadron Collider Is Too Small

  The Large Hadron Collider has only just begun its explorations, so it might seem a little premature to begin thinking about what new particle projects might come next.

  September 30, 2013 |

• Critical Opalescence

  What Would It Be Like to Fall Into a Naked Singularity? [Guest Post]

  Last year, novelist Sergio De La Pava compared the American criminal justice system to the strange physics concept of naked singularities. That inspired me to ask the author of Sci Am’s article on the concept, theoretical physicist Pankaj Joshi of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai (right in photo), for an update.

  September 16, 2013 |

• Solar at Home

  Save the Earth, Save Money—There’s No Need to Choose

  Earlier this year, I blogged about a new website set up to ease the chore of shopping for solar panels, EnergySage, and since then the company’s own blog has described two financial benefits of solar which I hadn’t thought about before.

  September 13, 2013 |

• Critical Opalescence | More Science

  Can We Resolve Quantum Paradoxes by Stepping Out of Space and Time? [Guest Post]

  June 21, 2013 |

• Critical Opalescence | More Science

  What Would It Mean for Time to Come to an End? [Video]

  May 28, 2013 |

• Solar at Home | Energy & Sustainability

  It Used to be a Super Pain to Shop for Solar Installers, but No Longer

  March 28, 2013 |

• Critical Opalescence | More Science

  It from Bit or Bit from It? Announcing the 5th Foundational Questions Institute Essay Contest

  March 25, 2013 |

• Solar at Home | Energy & Sustainability

  Should You Add Backup Batteries to Your Grid-Tied Solar Array?

  March 18, 2013 |

• Critical Opalescence | More Science

  George and John's Excellent Adventures in Quantum Entanglement, Part Two [Video]

  March 16, 2013 |

• Critical Opalescence | More Science

  Newly Published Einstein Writings Show the Prehistory of His Debates with Niels Bohr [Guest Blog]

  February 21, 2013 |

• Critical Opalescence | More Science

  How to Build Your Own Quantum Entanglement Experiment, Part 2 (of 2)

  February 14, 2013 |