Physics
From particles and cosmology to new materials, the physical sciences at the frontier.
- WikiCERNCERN is the European laboratory for particle physics near Geneva. Its members, the LHC, the 2026 strategy update and its role in projects worldwide.Updated
- WikiCommonwealth Fusion SystemsCommonwealth Fusion Systems is building the SPARC tokamak and the ARC power plant around HTS magnets. Its progress, funding and deals as of 2026.Updated
- WikiDARPA Quantum Benchmarking Initiative (QBI)DARPA's Quantum Benchmarking Initiative tests whether any quantum computer can reach utility scale by 2033. Its stages, teams and October 2026 Stage C.Updated
- WikiDESI (Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument)DESI maps tens of millions of galaxies to measure dark energy. Its 2025 hint of evolving dark energy, its completed 2026 survey and what comes next.Updated
- WikiDeep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE)DUNE is a Fermilab-led neutrino experiment beaming neutrinos 1,300 km to South Dakota. Its goals, scale, 2026 construction status and first-beam target.Updated
- WikiElectron ptychographyElectron ptychography uses scattered electrons and algorithms to image atoms at record resolution. How it works and why materials scientists use it.Updated
- WikiFuture Circular Collider (FCC)The Future Circular Collider is CERN's proposed 90.7 km successor to the LHC. Its design, cost, the 2026 strategy decision and the funding question.Updated
- WikiGoogle WillowWillow is Google Quantum AI's 105-qubit superconducting chip, used for the first below-threshold error correction and the Quantum Echoes experiment.Updated
- WikiHelion EnergyHelion Energy builds pulsed field-reversed-configuration fusion machines and is constructing Orion, a plant meant to power Microsoft from 2028.Updated
- WikiHigh-temperature superconducting fusion magnetsREBCO high-temperature superconducting magnets reached 20 tesla in 2021 and enable compact tokamaks like SPARC. How they work and why they matter.Updated
- WikiIBM QuantumIBM Quantum builds superconducting quantum computers. Its Nighthawk and Loon chips, 2026 advantage claims and the 2029 fault-tolerant Starling plan.Updated
- WikiITERITER is the international fusion megaproject in southern France. Its goals, members, 2024 rebaseline to 2034 and 2039, and assembly progress in 2026.Updated
- WikiLarge Hadron Collider (LHC) and High-Luminosity LHCThe Large Hadron Collider is CERN's 27 km particle collider. Its history, the Higgs discovery, the end of Run 3 in 2026 and the High-Luminosity upgrade.Updated
- WikiLIGO, Virgo and KAGRA gravitational-wave detectorsThe LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA network detects gravitational waves from colliding black holes. Its O4 run, the record GW250114 signal and plans for 2026 onward.Updated
- WikiLK-99: the room-temperature superconductor that wasn'tLK-99 was claimed in July 2023 as a room-temperature superconductor. How replication showed otherwise within weeks, and the lessons for science.Updated
- WikiMetamaterials and metasurfacesMetamaterials get their properties from engineered structure, not chemistry. Negative refraction, cloaking, and flat metalenses now in phones.Updated
- WikiMuon g-2 experimentFermilab's Muon g-2 experiment measured the muon's magnetic anomaly to 127 parts per billion. What it found and why the anomaly faded in 2025.Updated
- WikiNational Ignition Facility (NIF)The National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore achieved fusion ignition in 2022 and 11 times by June 2026. Records, method and caveats.Updated
- WikiNeutral-atom qubitsNeutral-atom quantum computers trap thousands of atoms with laser tweezers. How they work, the 448-atom and 6,100-atom milestones, and who builds them.Updated
- WikiNickelate superconductorsNickel-oxide superconductors are the fastest-moving high-temperature family. Pressure records to 96 K and thin films at 63 K without pressure.Updated
- WikiQuantinuumQuantinuum builds trapped-ion quantum computers, including the 98-qubit Helios. Its fidelity records, logical-qubit results and DARPA status.Updated
- WikiStellaratorStellarators confine fusion plasma with twisted external coils and no plasma current. How they differ from tokamaks and who is building them in 2026.Updated
- WikiSuperconducting qubitsSuperconducting qubits are chip-based circuits cooled near absolute zero, used by Google, IBM and USTC. How they work and where they stand in 2026.Updated
- WikiSurface codeThe surface code is the leading quantum error-correcting code for chip-based qubits. How it works, its 2024 below-threshold result and its limits.Updated
- WikiTokamakThe tokamak is the doughnut-shaped magnetic fusion machine behind ITER, JET, EAST and SPARC. How it works, its records and its limits in 2026.Updated
- WikiTopological insulators and topological materialsTopological materials have properties fixed by mathematics, such as protected surface currents. What they are and why quantum computing cares.Updated
- WikiTopological qubitsTopological qubits would store quantum information in exotic states of matter. Microsoft's Majorana 1 claim, the scientific dispute and DARPA's review.Updated
- WikiTrapped-ion qubitsTrapped-ion qubits use charged atoms held in electromagnetic fields. Why they lead on gate fidelity, who builds them, and their 2026 milestones.Updated
- WikiTwisted bilayer graphene and twistronicsTwisting two graphene sheets to a "magic angle" makes a superconductor. How twistronics works and its 2023-2026 fractional quantum Hall results.Updated
- WikiWendelstein 7-XWendelstein 7-X in Greifswald is the world's largest stellarator. Its design, 2025 triple-product record and role in Europe's stellarator push.Updated
- ● DevelopingFusion energy tracker: milestones toward fusion powerA dated, sourced timeline of fusion energy milestones: NIF ignition shots, ITER assembly, SPARC, Helion, stellarator records, funding and regulation.Updated 21 confirmed
- ● DevelopingMaterials science frontier trackerLive tracker of frontier materials science: superconductivity records, 2D and moiré materials, perovskite solar, and AI-driven discovery, 2023-2026.Updated 19 confirmed2 disputed
- ● DevelopingParticle physics and cosmology tracker: milestones 2024-2026A live timeline of particle physics and cosmology: LHC upgrade, the FCC decision, DESI, muon g-2, DUNE, dark matter and gravitational waves.Updated 26 confirmed
- ● DevelopingQuantum computing frontier trackerA dated, sourced timeline of quantum computing milestones: error correction, logical qubits, advantage claims and DARPA's benchmarking, 2024-2026.Updated 18 confirmed3 disputed
- AnalysisWhen will fusion power reach the grid? The 2026 debateCompanies and governments target fusion electricity between 2028 and the mid-2030s. The evidence for and against those timelines as of October 2026.Updated
- AnalysisThe Hubble tension and evolving dark energy: is cosmology broken?Is the standard model of cosmology cracking? The evidence on the Hubble tension and DESI's evolving dark energy hint, and the competing explanations.Updated
- AnalysisAfter the LHC: the debate over the next big colliderShould Europe build the 15 billion franc Future Circular Collider? The evidence on cost, physics case, alternatives and China's CEPC as of October 2026.Updated
- AnalysisHas quantum advantage arrived? The 2026 debateQuantum advantage claims from Google, USTC and IBM, why classical computers keep catching up, and what would settle the debate.Updated
- AnalysisRoom-temperature superconductors: how close, and how to tell?After LK-99 and a retracted Nature paper, how close is room-temperature superconductivity, and what evidence should convince us? Views compared.Updated
- ExplainerDark matter and dark energy, explainedWhat dark matter and dark energy are, how we know they exist, how scientists search for them, and what the 2025-26 DESI and LZ results showed.Updated
- ExplainerFusion energy in 2026: a crash courseA sourced crash course on fusion energy: tokamaks, stellarators, laser fusion, HTS magnets, private companies and the frontier as of October 2026.Updated
- ExplainerFusion's engineering wall: tritium fuel and neutron-proof materialsWhy tritium supply, breeding blankets and 14 MeV neutron damage are among fusion's hardest remaining problems, and what is being built to solve them.Updated
- ExplainerHow 2D materials work: graphene, stacks and twistsGraphene and other atom-thin crystals behave unlike bulk materials. How they are made, stacked and twisted, and what they could do for chips.Updated
- ExplainerHow fusion worksHow nuclear fusion releases energy, why it needs 150 million degrees, and what the triple product, ignition and Q actually measure.Updated
- ExplainerHow particle colliders workHow particle accelerators and colliders work: radiofrequency cavities, superconducting magnets, luminosity, detectors, and why physicists want bigger machines.Updated
- ExplainerHow qubits workWhat a qubit is, how superposition, entanglement and interference power quantum computers, and why qubits are so fragile.Updated
- ExplainerHow superconductivity worksSuperconductors carry current with zero loss below a critical temperature. What they are, why cooling matters, and the 2026 temperature records.Updated
- ExplainerHow the Standard Model of particle physics worksThe Standard Model in plain language: quarks, leptons, force carriers and the Higgs field, plus the gaps that physicists are trying to fill in 2026.Updated
- ExplainerMagnetic vs inertial fusion: the main ways to confine a plasmaHow tokamaks, stellarators, laser fusion and magnetized-target machines each try to hold fusion fuel long enough to burn, and where each stood in 2026.Updated
- ExplainerMaterials science in 2026: a crash courseA sourced crash course on frontier materials: superconductors, LK-99, graphene and twistronics, perovskite solar, metamaterials and AI labs.Updated
- ExplainerParticle physics and cosmology in 2026: a crash courseA sourced crash course on particle physics and cosmology: the Standard Model, colliders, neutrinos, dark matter, dark energy and the Hubble tension in 2026.Updated
- ExplainerQuantum computing in 2026: a crash courseA sourced crash course on quantum computing: qubits, error correction, logical qubits, advantage claims and who leads as of October 2026.Updated
- ExplainerQuantum error correction: from noisy to logical qubitsHow quantum error correction turns many noisy physical qubits into reliable logical qubits, what "below threshold" means, and the 2026 state of play.Updated
- ExplainerWhat quantum computers are good for (and what they are not)The problems quantum computers are expected to help with - simulation, cryptanalysis - how close each is, and why "faster at everything" is wrong.Updated