Marcus Chown
Marcus Chown is an award-winning writer and broadcaster and a former radio astronomer at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. He is the author of Breakthrough: Spectacular stories of scientific discovery from the Higgs particle to black holes (Faber & Faber, 2021).
Recent articles by Marcus Chown
This hidden ice base is mining the Antarctic for ghostly cosmic particles
Neutrinos are everywhere, yet they’re almost impossible to detect. Now, some of these ghostly particles have been picked up coming from the Milky Way for the first time.
What's inside the fifth dimension?
What else could there be beyond the three dimensions of space and one of time? And how can we begin to conceive of it?
How a simulation wormhole may unite gravity and quantum theory
Are physicists nearing in on the Holy Grail 'theory of everything'?
If the universe is expanding, how are the Milky Way and Andromeda getting closer together?
Recent data from Hubble suggests that the Universe is expanding at a rate of around 73km per megaparsec (3.26 million light-years).
What is on the other side of a black hole?
Not even light can escape a black hole.
Dark matter: Is it time we gave up looking for it?
After decades of searching for dark matter and coming up short, some researchers say we should take the possibility of a new theory of gravity more seriously.
These 4 signs of alien technology could lead us to extraterrestrial life
Pioneering scientists think we should start looking for extraterrestrials in a whole new way: by seeking out alien technology.
Project Galileo: The search for alien tech hiding in our Solar System
The search for alien life is ramping up. But what if, instead of searching for signs of biology, we looked for something more familiar: an extraterrestrial civilisation.
Superluminous supernovae: How we’ll find the most powerful explosions in the Universe
As new telescopes around the world power up, they could answer an ancient mystery: what’s powering the most energetic explosions in the Universe?
Earth's magnetic field: Should we be worried about the poles flipping?
From time to time, the Earth's magnetic poles flip, leaving us without a protective magnetic field for up to centuries at a time.
Where did all the antimatter go?
Some of our antimatter must be missing, given the amount of matter leftover in the Universe.
Why a theory of everything may never be possible – or any use
One theory to rule them all – is such a thing plausible? According to some physicists, it could cause more problems than it solves.
Does the universe have an edge?
It’s all very well saying the Universe encompasses everything, but everything has to end somewhere, right? Well, not exactly.
Inside the simple computer program that could explain why the Universe exists at all
Stephen Wolfram is trying to find a rule that dictates the Universe. And in doing so, he might even become the first person to finally devise a complete, fundamental theory of physics. Elegant, or what?
The cracks in cosmology | Why our Universe doesn't add up
In terms of our understanding of the Universe, some things just don’t add up. Which means either our measurements are wrong, or our theories are.
The Universe’s 7 biggest mysteries (and why they’re unsolved)
Dark matter, the nature of time, aliens and supermassive black holes: these seven things will be puzzling astronomers for years to come.
What was before the Big Bang? Everything you need to know
What was before the Big Bang? And how do we know it happened? Let BBC Science Focus give you the low down on the birth of The Universe.
What is the Standard Model?
All the elementary particles are important, but some for less evident reasons.
Neutrinos | The vital clue to a 'theory of everything'
Ninety years after its prediction and 25 years since the Nobel Prize was awarded for its discovery, the neutrino particle is still surprising us. It may, in fact, be the key to understanding everything.
Wolfgang Pauli and the discovery of the Universe's most elusive particle
Pauli called the neutrino 'a particle that cannot be detected.' Luckily for physics, he was wrong.
Science history | The incredible story of how we discovered black holes
How the theories of a 40-year-old astronomer fighting on the Eastern Front changed our understanding of the Universe.
What if the Big Bang was not the beginning?
Our best description of how it all began doesn’t add up. But now a team of theoretical physicists think they’ve found a way to test a controversial new theory that the Universe came to life with a bounce and not a bang.
Messier 87 | Why the first black hole photo was so hard to capture
This week, scientists unveiled a photograph of a cosmic phenomenon that defies the laws of physics, making headlines worldwide. So how did they do it, and what does this landmark achievement actually teach us?
Cosmology | The hunt for the oldest galaxies in the Universe
The deeper we look into the vastness of space, the further back in time we are able to see. Now, NASA’s RELICS project is pushing this phenomenon as far as it can in an attempt to observe galaxies that formed at the very beginning of the Universe.