Department of Physics and Astronomy



A team including Northwestern researchers has proposed a revolutionary approach toward terraforming Mars using engineered dust particles. Image by NASA/JPL/MSSS

How we could warm Mars

A new idea among a rich history of proposals to make the surface of the cold planet habitable

Ever since learning the surface of the planet Mars is cold and dead, scientists have wondered if there was a way to


A 3D reconstruction of select neurons within a small region of the human cortex.

Brain’s structure hangs in ‘a delicate balance’

New finding appears to be universal across insects, mammals and humans

When a magnet is heated up, it reaches a critical point where it loses magnetization. Called “criticality,” this point of high complexity is reached when a physical object is …