Physics writer Emily Conover joined Science News in 2016. She has a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Chicago, where she studied the weird ways of neutrinos, tiny elementary particles that can zip straight through the Earth. She got her first taste of science writing as a AAAS Mass Media Fellow for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. She has previously written for Science Magazine and the American Physical Society. She is a two-time winner of the D.C. Science Writers’ Association Newsbrief award.

All Stories by Emily Conover

  1. Black hole ripping star apart illustration

    A star shredded by a black hole may have spit out an extremely energetic neutrino

    A star’s fatal encounter with a black hole might have produced a neutrino with oomph.

  2. lithium atoms confined in lasers
    Quantum Physics

    Physicists exploit a quantum rule to create a new kind of crystal

    Cold atoms can form crystals as a result of the Pauli exclusion principle.

  3. woman running barefoot across pit of ooblek

    Physicists have found a way to foil a classic oobleck science trick

    Cornstarch and water solidifies under impact, but a new technique can make it remain a liquid.

  4. a superconductor being squeezed between two diamonds

    50 years ago, superconductors started feeling the pressure

    Today, high-pressure superconductors are a hot topic. 50 years ago, scientists were just starting to explore the possibilities.

  5. Illustration of a hard edge

    A newfound superconducting current travels only along a material’s edge

    In a first, scientists spot electricity flowing without resistance on the rim of a topological superconductor.

  6. chemical bonds within a molecule

    Scientists ‘strummed’ a molecule’s chemical bonds like guitar strings

    Scientists dragged an atomic force microscope tip, with a single carbon monoxide molecule dangling from it, across a chemical bond.

  7. illustration of unequal-sized black holes

    Gravitational waves have revealed the first unevenly sized black hole pair

    For the first time, LIGO and Virgo scientists spotted gravitational waves produced when one big black hole merged with a smaller one.

  8. Star orbit around black hole

    A star orbiting the Milky Way’s giant black hole confirms Einstein was right

    An oddity previously seen in Mercury’s orbit has been spotted in a star circling the supermassive black hole at the Milky Way’s center.

  9. Researchers from QuTech work
    Quantum Physics

    New quantum computers can operate at higher temperatures

    Silicon chips operate at higher temperatures than many others, raising hopes for building quantum integrated circuits.

  10. steak

    To cook a perfect steak, use math

    As a steak cooks in an oven, movement of liquid within the meat causes it to become extra juicy in the center in a way that can be predicted by mathematics.

  11. Steel production
    Science & Society

    How materials science has changed humankind — for better and worse

    As people began wielding new materials, the technologies fundamentally changed humankind, the new book ‘The Alchemy of Us’ argues.

  12. Physics

    Collisions reveal new evidence of ‘anyon’ quasiparticles’ existence

    Scientists report evidence that a class of particle called an anyon appears in two-dimensional materials.