Emily Conover

Physics, Senior Writer, Science News

Physics writer Emily Conover loves physics for its ability to reveal the secret rules about how stuff works, from tiny atoms to the vast cosmos. Before becoming a science journalist, she studied physics at the University of Chicago. There, she investigated the weird ways of tiny particles called neutrinos. She has previously written for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 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. Humans

    Snap! High-speed video captures the physics of snapping fingers

    Inspired by the infamous snap of the Avengers rival Thanos, scientists set out to investigate the physics behind finger-snapping.

  2. Physics

    Here’s why ducklings swim in a row behind mom

    Baby ducks save energy by surfing their mother’s waves, but only if they do it in an orderly line.

  3. Physics

    Research on climate and more brings trio the 2021 physics Nobel Prize

    Syukuro Manabe and Klaus Hasselmann pioneered work on simulations of Earth’s climate. Giorgio Parisi probed complex materials.

  4. Physics

    Take a look at this weird, bendy type of ice

    These specially grown threads of ice bend into curves, then spring back when released.

  5. Space

    Moon-sized white dwarf is the smallest ever found

    This dead star is also spinning very fast and has an amazingly powerful magnetic field.

  6. Space

    Spin in this Milky Way bar may show cosmic dark matter does exist

    A method akin to studying a tree’s rings reveals the timeline of a slowdown in those stars at the heart of our Milky Way galaxy.

  7. Animals

    Birds could get their sense of direction from quantum physics

    Songbirds could detect north and south using a protein in their eye. It works somewhat like a compass.

  8. Physics

    Nuclear clocks are nearly here

    More precise clocks could improve technologies such as GPS and help scientists test major ideas in science.

  9. Space

    Light from space has record-breaking energy

    Hundreds of newly detected gamma rays hint at environments in the cosmos that accelerate particles to energy extremes.

  10. Materials Science

    ‘Smart’ pasta morphs into fun shapes as it cooks

    The trick to this shape-shifting are grooves cut into the raw pasta. Those grooves affect how the noodles swell as they cook.

  11. Space

    Here’s why people picked certain stars as constellations

    Patterns of human eye movement help explain why particular sets of stars form iconic shapes, a high school student showed.

  12. Chemistry

    Extreme pressure? Diamonds can take it

    Diamond retains its structure even at extreme pressures, which could reveal how carbon behaves in the cores of some exoplanets.