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Lure of the black hole: from science to art

Artwork of bright coloured strands around a black circle

Michael Frayn on Copenhagen: ‘When I wrote it, I didn’t think it would even be staged’

Chris Sinclair talks to Michael Frayn about a new revival of his classic science play Copenhagen

Michael Frayn’s play Copenhagen at the Hampstead Theatre in London

Word wave puzzle no.2

Can you guess the physics-related word in this puzzle?

Opinion and reviews

The dark heart of the lithium-ion battery revolution

Dozens of mine workers on a hillside in normal clothing, no protective gear

Will the demise of the US penny damage science education?

The humanity of machines: the relationship between technology and our bodies

Cartoon of person wearing and using lots of technology including VR headset and lots of sensors

The future of particle physics: what can the past teach us?

Robert P Crease reports from a conference at CERN on particle physics in the 1980s and 1990s

An illuminating, if imperfect, celebration of friction

Mike Follows reviews Friction: a Biography by Jennifer R Vail

Is our embrace of AI naïve and could it lead to an environmental disaster?

Johan Hansson says it is dangerous to treat artificial intelligence as a magic wand

The obscure physics theory that helped Chinese science emerge from the shadows

Robert P Crease reveals the curious twist in the development of Chinese physics in the 1960s

Can we compare Donald Trump’s health chief to Soviet science boss Trofim Lysenko?

Robert P Crease notes parallels between US and Soviet science

When is good enough ‘good enough’?

Honor Powrie extols the virtues being just “good enough” in life

Celebrating the best of Critical Point

Critical Point has appeared in Physics World magazine since May 2000, written by science historian and philosopher Robert P Crease. Enjoy our pick of the best columns, which bring the perspective of an outsider looking in on the “workshop of science”.

illustration of a person sat at a desk using a typewriter

Features

Mulugeta Bekele: the jailed and tortured scientist who kept Ethiopian physics alive

Twenty-three nominations, yet no Nobel prize: how Chien-Shiung Wu missed out on the top award in physics

The forgotten pioneers of computational physics

View of the backs of two women's heads as they operate a large old computer

Explore more in culture, history and society

Quiz of the week: how long will NASA’s Artemis II mission to the Moon last?

Have you been keeping up to date with physics news? Try our short quiz to find out

Word flower puzzle no. 2

How many words can you find in this puzzle?

Exploring the astrophysics behind Project Hail Mary

Author Andy Weir and astrophysicist Becky Smethurst unpack the physics in the new Hollywood space epic

Quiz of the week: how many antiprotons did CERN transport by truck?

Have you been keeping up to date with physics news? Try our short quiz to find out

Word wave puzzle no.1

Try out our new word finder game today

Is ‘vibe physics’ the future?

Scientists discuss whether AI could surpass human contributions to physics by 2035

Photo of Matthew Schwartz speaking in front of a slide saying "What happens next?"

Word flower puzzle no. 1

How many words can you find in this new interactive puzzle?

Celebrating 100 years of physics at Tsinghua University

Wenhui Duan outlines how Tsinghua aims to continue its rich history in physics

Shadow sculptures evoke quantum physics

The Midnight Ballet by Will Budgett is a treat for the eyes

Photo of a shadow sculpture by Will Budgett

The physics of why basketball shoes are so squeaky

The noise is down to the base of the shoe forming wrinkles that travel at near supersonic speeds

Basketball player on court dribbling a ball

Olympian Eileen Gu rules the piste with physics and international relations

There is lots of classical mechanics in freestyle skiing

Photo of Eileen Gu flying through the air

Happy new year: what’s happening in physics in 2026?

Predicting the future is hard, but here’s a flavour of what’s hot in physics right now

The quirkiest stories from the world of physics in 2025

Michael Banks picks his favourite articles this year from the world of everyday physics

Check your physics knowledge with our bumper end-of-year quiz

Try our new interactive end-of-year quiz compiled by Colin White

Oscar-winning computer scientist on the physics of computer animation

CGI pioneer Pat Hanrahan is our podcast guest

**Pioneers of 2D metals win the Physics World 2025 Breakthrough of the Year**

Researchers describe their success with five metals as the “tip of the iceberg”

How to make 2D metals: Guangyu Zhang on his team’s award-winning research

This podcast features a winner of the Physics World 2025 Breakthrough of the Year

Photo of Guangyu Zhang speaking at an event

Top 10 Breakthroughs of the Year in physics for 2025 revealed

A molecular superfluid, high-resolution microscope and a protein qubit are on our list

Physics World podcast

Explore our two regular podcast series! Physics World Weekly looks at the latest events and headlines in physics, as well as featuring short interviews with scientists and our team of journalists. Physics World Stories takes a more in-depth look at a topic.

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Condensed matter | Meeting JdA2026 – 55èmes Journées des Actinides 14—17 April 2026 | Cesky Krumlov, Czechia
Culture, history and society | Public event Physics on Film 18 April 2026 | London, UK
Education and outreach | Public event Synergy for Science – Public Lecture 13 July 2026 | Glasgow, UK

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