Rydberg atoms are excited atoms that contain one or more electrons with a high principal quantum number. Due to their large size, long-range dipole-dipole interactions and strong coupling to external fields, these atoms have proved to be promising systems for the development of quantum technologies.

If not for the soupy, fast-moving atmosphere on Venus, Earth's sister planet would likely not rotate. Instead, Venus would be locked in place, always facing the sun the way the same side of the moon always faces Earth.

An international team of paleontologists has discovered remarkable new evidence that pterosaurs, the flying relatives of dinosaurs, were able to control the color of their feathers using melanin pigments.

A team of astronomers, with the help of the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (ESO's VLT), have observed a new type of stellar explosion—a micronova. These outbursts happen on the surface of certain stars, and can each burn through around 3.5 billion Great Pyramids of Giza of stellar material in only a few hours.

Using the MeerKAT radio telescope, an international team of astronomers have detected radio flares on a nearby M dwarf star known as SCR 1746−3214. The finding, reported in a paper published April 7 on the pre-print server arXiv.org, could advance our understanding of flaring behavior of M dwarfs.