What is the meaning of life? Even the best of us couldn't hope to answer that question in a Universe Today article. But there are those who would try to "constrain" it, at least in terms of physics. A ...

Over the years, many physicists have wondered whether the fundamental constants of nature might have been different when the universe was younger. If so, the evidence ought to be out there in the ...

One of the most exciting prospects in physics has been discovering that fundamental constants are not actually constant at all. When I first started writing, physicists and astronomers were just ...

There’s no reason to think that the fundamental constants have always had the value we measure today. And there’s no reason to think they’re changing either. We simply don’t know one way or the other, ...

Not so constant: is α different here? Is the fine-structure constant different in different parts of the universe? The answer to this intriguing question could be one step closer, thanks to a new way ...

The core element of the experiment: a crystal containing thorium atoms. (Courtesy: TU Wien) New high-precision laser spectroscopy measurements on thorium-229 nuclei could shed more light on the fine ...

In physics, the Fine Structure Constant is one the strangest numbers. The Fine Structure Constant is one the strangest numbers in all of physics. It’s the job of physicists to worry about numbers, but ...

Researchers at the Kastler Brossel Laboratory in Paris have made the most precise measurement of one of the fundamental constants, called the fine-structure constant, providing physicists with a vital ...