For centuries, scientists have tried to measure the speed of light directly and failed every single time. Light moves so fast ...

Today’s Google Doodle pays homage to a discovery that has had a profound effect on astronomy and essentially all of our observations of the Universe. The animation depicts Ole Rømer, a Danish ...

The constancy of the speed of light is a pillar of modern physics, but questions persist about its absolute universality.

No matter how fast you move, the light will always catch you. Nowadays we take the speed of light for granted. It's a fundamental constant of the universe: light simply travels at the speed it does ...

The motion of any object is relative. On Earth we tend to ignore that, because the vast background of the ground gives us a seemingly fixed and absolute frame of reference. Sitting comfortably at our ...

One of the most controversial parts of modern physics is what it tells us about philosophy. Both quantum mechanics and special relativity have much to say on the limits of what can be casually related ...

Scientific American is the authority on science and technology for a general audience, with coverage that explains how research changes our understanding of the world and shapes our lives. First ...

In 2015, a team of Scottish scientists announced they had found a way to slow the speed of light. By sending photons through a special mask, the researchers altered their shape. In this malformed ...

The following essay is reprinted with permission from The Conversation, an online publication covering the latest research. Astronomers strive to observe the universe via ever more advanced techniques ...