The writer Malcolm Gladwell popularized the term "tipping points" to refer to the moment when a trend or social behavior crosses a threshold and rapidly spreads everywhere. In physics, tipping points ...

Limbs evolved as a means of locomotion. From the primitive rotating flagella of bacteria to the wings of flies and even our own legs, animals use these appendages to travel to find food or mates, or ...

First light is the threshold moment in astronomy when a telescope makes its first observation and opens a new window to discovery. That same spirit of possibility defines the Caltech community.

Kareem El-Badry, associate professor of astronomy at Caltech, has been selected as one of 20 Packard Fellows for 2026. The Packard Fellowships for Science and Engineering provide just under $990,000 ...

Caltech students come from all over the world, bringing diverse experiences, perspectives, and passions. They share an unbridled sense of curiosity and an extraordinary aptitude for science, ...

Our cosmos is awash with radio waves, originating from fierce jets blasting out of distant black holes, blinking dead stars closer to home, and many other exotic objects. To observe radio waves—which ...

Bacteria are remarkably good swimmers—a trait that can be detrimental to human health. One of the most common bacterial infections in a healthcare setting comes from bacteria entering the body through ...

There has been renewed discussion and interest into understanding the biological origins of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that has caused the COVID-19 pandemic. Similar viruses before it have been shown to ...

In the same way that earthquakes cause our planet to rumble, oscillations in the interior of Saturn make the gas giant jiggle around ever so slightly. Those motions, in turn, cause ripples in Saturn's ...

In 2015, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, or LIGO, made history when it made the first direct detection of gravitational waves, or ripples in space and time, produced by a pair ...

Although increased cell proliferation is a hallmark of cancerous tissues, in some cases, it may actually be protective against tumor growth, according to a new study from Caltech researchers. Using ...

On September 14, 2015, a signal arrived on Earth, carrying information about a pair of remote black holes that had spiraled together and merged. The signal had traveled about 1.3 billion years to ...