Quantum mechanics, one of the most successful theories in all of science, says some strange things about the fundamental nature of the world. For all practical purposes, physicists can and do ignore ...

Is the electron a wave or a particle? Are the orbits of electrons in atoms similar to planetary orbits? What is the nature of light? Such were the questions that physicists were struggling with in the ...

Retired psychiatrist Dr. Sam D. Toney releases Revelation Equation, a science fiction novel grounded in real physics that ...

In the 1920s, when quantum mechanics was young, physicists Jane Dewey and Laura Chalk performed some of the first experimental tests of the theory, based on a phenomenon called the Stark effect. Later ...

Using ultracold atoms and laser light, researchers recreated the behavior of a Josephson junction—an essential component of ...

We’re celebrating 180 years of Scientific American. Explore our legacy of discovery and look ahead to the future. This year is the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology, according to ...

Picture Victorian London, but its skies are filled with airships. Steam-powered robots crowd the streets, mingling with people in top hats and petticoats. That type of retrofuturistic mash-up is the ...

Even young babies can grasp that what they do with their heads, hands, and feet can produce effects that, upon repetition, become predictable to them. As they grow, babies’ experience of personal ...