Paul Sutter

Paul Sutter

Astrophysicist

Paul M. Sutter is a research professor in astrophysics at  SUNY Stony Brook University and the Flatiron Institute in New York City. He regularly appears on TV and podcasts, including  "Ask a Spaceman." He is the author of two books, "Your Place in the Universe" and "How to Die in Space," and is a regular contributor to Space.com, Live Science, and more. Paul received his PhD in Physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2011, and spent three years at the Paris Institute of Astrophysics, followed by a research fellowship in Trieste, Italy. 

Articles by: Paul Sutter

The CDF detector, which is part of the Tevatron particle accelerator at Fermilab in Illinois, just stunned physicists with new “hefty” measurements of the W boson’s mass.

Oddly heavy particle may have just broken the reigning model of particle physics

By Paul Sutter last updated

An ultraprecise measurement of the mass of the W boson may diverge from the Standard Model, a long-reigning framework that governs the strange world of quantum physics.

Particles of the Standard Model of particle physics.

What is the Standard Model, the subatomic physics theory that has been tested more than any other?

By Paul Sutter published

The Standard Model is the modern physical understanding of three of the four forces of nature: electromagnetism, the strong nuclear force and the weak nuclear force.

Artist's concept of a supermassive black hole.

Do black holes explode?

By Paul Sutter published

Black holes go boom in several ways.

Computer generated image of a dense star formation (quark star)

Never-before-seen 'strange quark star' may have formed after cosmic collision, physicists say

By Paul Sutter published

A team of physicists has found that the remnant of a neutron star merger observed in 2019 has just the right mass to be a strange hypothetical quark star.

Wormholes are still the stuff of science fiction.

Are black holes wormholes?

By Paul Sutter published

And can we use them to traverse the universe?

An artist’s impression of the cosmic web. It looks like a vast cobweb-like structure or mostly purple and some orange filaments on a black background.

Giant voids of nothingness may be flinging the universe apart

By Paul Sutter published

Dark energy could be caused by pressure from giant voids of nothingness that may be flinging the universe apart.

Albert Einstein's famous equation

Why does E=mc^2?

By Paul Sutter published

Albert Einstein's famous equation E = m^2 connects energy to mass via the speed of light. Find out why E = m^2.

Atoms consist of a nucleus made of protons and neutrons orbited by electrons.

Where do electrons get energy to spin around an atom's nucleus?

By Paul Sutter published

Quantum mechanics explains why the electrons can keep spinning indefinitely.

Abstract image of an alarm clock against a black space-like background.

Physicists link two time crystals in seemingly impossible experiment

By Paul Sutter published

New time crystal achievement could help bridge classical and quantum physics.

A 3D rendering of a Dyson sphere in a galaxy.

The aliens are all hanging out on Dyson spheres circling white dwarfs, physicist argues

By Paul Sutter published

If aliens exist, they do exist, they might be hanging out on Dyson spheres circling the husks of sunlike stars called white dwarfs.

Climate change is pushing hurricanes to their extremes. In 2018, Hurricane Michael (shown here in this digitally enhanced image) became the first Category 5 hurricane to make landfall on the Florida Panhandle.

Physicists predict Earth will become a chaotic world, with dire consequences

By Paul Sutter published

Humans aren't just making Earth warmer, they are making the climate chaotic, a stark new study suggests.

Artist's concept of a pulsar. There is a small blue sphere in the center with light pulsing out from the NW and SE areas of the pulsar.

What are pulsars?

By Paul Sutter published

Reference Pulsars are the ultradense cores of gigantic stars that emit beams of radio waves in regular pulses, like cosmic lighthouses.

Artist concept of an alien planet. In this image is feels like you're standing on a mountain, looking over the top of the clouds as the sun sets in the background. There are several stars and planets just visible in the sky. There are also two sphere-shaped buildings to the right.

Humans could become a truly interplanetary species within 200 years, physicists claim

By Paul Sutter published

Harness renewable energy to explore the cosmos or risk planetary doom, new physics study argues

The universe. Nebula Abstract background. Xuanyu Han via Getty Images

What is the universe?

By Paul Sutter published

Reference It's quite a big question and a lot is still unknown about the universe, but we'll tell you everything that we do know, from how the universe was created, how old it is and what it's even made of.

An illustration of a clock spiraling into space-time.

What is time?

By Paul Sutter published

Reference From the beginning of the universe to the present day, it's one of the few things we regard as regular and unchanging. But is it really so constant? We take a look at the physics of time.

In this illustrative concept image, a black hole is sucking in all the nearby matter in space.

A spiderweb of wormholes could solve a fundamental paradox first proposed by Stephen Hawking

By Paul Sutter published

A seemingly intractable black hole paradox first proposed by physicist Stephen Hawking could finally be resolved — by wormholes through space-time.

This illustration shows what a multiverse of bubble universes might look like.

Our universe may have a twin that runs backward in time

By Paul Sutter published

A mirror universe that runs backward in time sprouted up before the Big Bang.

Northern lights glow green and purple above Great Slave Lake in the Northwest Territories of Canada.

Northern Lights: What are the aurorae borealis?

By Paul Sutter published

REFERENCE The northern lights appear in the sky when charged particles from the sun slam into molecules in the atmosphere, releasing energy in the form of colorful lights.

Abstract representation of photons_Dizzo via Getty Images

What are photons?

By Paul Sutter published

Reference Photons carry the electromagnetic force, and act as both particles and waves.

Magnetism. TEK IMAGE via Getty Images

What is magnetism? Facts about magnetic fields and magnetic force

By Jim Lucas, Paul Sutter published

Reference Magnetism is a force of nature produced by moving electric charges.

The ribonucleic acid is a messenger that makes organisms build the right proteins.

The first life on Earth depended on a deadly poisonous gas, study suggests

By Paul Sutter published

Toxic hydrogen cyanide gas, used in chemical weapons today, may have been involved in the early stages of life's evolution, a new study suggests.

Do we live in a computer simulation? We'll likely never know.

Do we live in a simulation? Here's why we may never know.

By Paul Sutter published

Does the simulation hypothesis offer a compelling argument, or is it just interesting food for thought? Let's find out.

This abstract illustration depicts a bubble-like multiverse.

The Higgs boson could have kept our universe from collapsing

By Paul Sutter published

The Higgs boson particle could have kept our universe from collapsing within a larger multiverse, physicists say.

In this illustration, a neutrino interacts with Antarctic ice, shedding a muon in the process. As that muon moves at ultrafast speed, it leaves a telltale trail of blue light, known as Cherenkov radiation.

Astronomers propose building a neutrino detector out of the Pacific Ocean

By Paul Sutter published

The Pacific Ocean Neutrino Experiment would turn a massive swath of the Pacific Ocean into nature's own neutrino detector.

This illustration shows the diamond rain on Neptune.

'Diamond rain' on Uranus and Neptune seems likely

By Paul Sutter published

Hiding beneath the outer layers of some planets, there may be something spectacular: a constant rain of diamonds.