Life-Changing Cystic Fibrosis Treatment Wins $3-Million Breakthrough Prize
A trio of scientists who developed the combination drug Trikafta are among the winners of five major awards in life sciences, physics and mathematics
Stories by Zeeya Merali
Zeeya Merali is a freelance writer based in London and author of A Big Bang in a Little Room (Basic Books, 2017).
AlphaFold Developers Win $3-Million Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences
DeepMind’s system for predicting the 3D structure of proteins is among five recipients of science’s most lucrative awards
New Phase of Matter Opens Portal to Extra Time Dimension
Physicists have devised a mind-bending error-correction technique that could dramatically boost the performance of quantum computers
God, Dark Matter and Falling Cats: A Conversation with 2022 Templeton Prize Winner Frank Wilczek
The physics Nobelist and author has not exactly found religion—but that doesn’t mean he’s stopped looking
COVID Advances Win $3-million Breakthrough Prizes
Pioneers of mRNA vaccines and next-generation sequencing techniques are among the winners of science’s most lucrative awards
Discoverer of Neural Circuits for Parenting Wins $3-Million Breakthrough Prize
Biologist Catherine Dulac netted one of four big life sciences awards. Also announced were one for mathematics and two for physics
This Twist on Schrödinger’s Cat Paradox Has Major Implications for Quantum Theory
A laboratory demonstration of the classic “Wigner’s friend” thought experiment could overturn cherished assumptions about reality
First Ever Picture of a Black Hole Scoops $3-Million Prize
The Event Horizon Telescope team is one of six winners of the Breakthrough Prize, which covers physics, the life sciences and mathematics
Revolutionary Microscopy Technique Nets Most Lucrative Prize in Science
The Breakthrough awards, each worth U.S. $3 million, honor advances in the life sciences, physics and mathematics
Universe’s Baby Picture Wins $3 Million
Image joins 13 other winners in lucrative Breakthrough Prizes
LIGO Black Hole Echoes Hint at General Relativity Breakdown
Gravitational wave data show tentative signs of firewalls or other exotic physics
Black-Hole Fireworks Win Big in Multimillion-Dollar Science Prizes
Breakthrough awards announce winners in physics, life sciences and mathematics
Quantum 'spookiness' passes toughest test yet
A cunning experiment plugs loopholes in previous demonstrations of quantum "spookiness," a concept that galled Einstein
Did Cancer Evolve to Protect Us?
A physics-based, “atavistic” model posits that cancer is a “safe mode” for stressed cells and suggests that oxygen and immunotherapy are the best ways to beat the disease
A Meta-Law to Rule Them All: Physicists Devise a “Theory of Everything”
“Constructor theory” unites in one framework how information is processed in the classical and quantum realms
Stephen Hawking: "There Are No Black Holes"
The notion of an "event horizon," from which nothing can escape, is incompatible with quantum theory, Hawking says
Fat Gravity Particle Gives Clues to Dark Energy
Force-carrying "gravitons" with mass could help to explain the universe's accelerating expansion
Temporal Cloak Erases Data from History
A technique that hides rapid data streams could provide ultrasecure communications
Quantum Gas Goes below Absolute Zero
Ultracold atoms pave way for negative-Kelvin materials
Quantum Cryptography Conquers Noise Problem
Encoded photons sent a record distance along busy optical fibers
Leap Second Granted Extra Time
Vote to unshackle clock time from its link to Sun is postponed to 2015
Rummaging for a Final Theory: Can a 1960s Approach Unify Gravity with the Rest of Physics?
To unify the four forces of nature, physicists are turning to Lie groups, an approach famously resurrected in 2007 by a surfer-dude theorist
Splitting Time from Space—New Quantum Theory Topples Einstein's Spacetime
Buzz about a quantum gravity theory that sends space and time back to their Newtonian roots
Splitting Time from Space—The Evidence
Hořava gravity could explain missing spatial dimensions in a computer simulation