SpaceX’s Falcon 9 is a rocket used for both human and nonhuman space missions, and since 2010, the rocket has been launched over 400 times. Motivated by noise concerns from residents in Ventura County, a team of researchers from BYU and California State University, Bakersfield collected 132 measurements from sonic booms over an area of 200 square miles during the summer of 2024. By collecting data on multiple qualities of the Falcon 9 sonic booms, researchers can help discern how different launch-day variables affect a boom’s impact.

Researchers have unveiled a groundbreaking mechanism in waveguide quantum electrodynamics (QED) that breaks conventional limits on quantum emitter lifetimes. By leveraging non-Markovian dynamics and delayed feedback, the team demonstrated a sub-local decay rate—where the total decay rate of emitters drops below their intrinsic free-space decay rate. This energy quantum confinement effect dynamically traps photons within the waveguide, enabling unprecedented suppression of local dissipation. The discovery opens new pathways for robust quantum memory, high-fidelity metrology, and scalable quantum networks.

Researchers analyzed a global database of 500,000 strange streaks that occur on steep Martian slopes, concluding that they’re most likely caused by dry processes rather than liquid flow.

The largest sample of galaxy groups ever detected has been presented by a team of international astronomers using data from the James Webb Space telescope (JWST) in an area of the sky called COSMOS Web. The study marks a major milestone in extragalactic astronomy, providing unprecedented insights into the formation and evolution of galaxies and the large-scale structure of the universe.