Cryogenics as a technique involves the generation, control, and application of extremely low temperatures, typically below −150 °C, to manipulate physical, chemical, or biological systems. It encompasses methods for liquefying gases (e.g., helium, hydrogen, nitrogen) using staged compression–expansion, Joule–Thomson cooling, and regenerative heat exchange, as well as thermal insulation strategies such as multilayer insulation and high-vacuum environments. Cryogenic techniques enable superconductivity studies, low-temperature spectroscopy, quantum device operation, and preservation or embrittlement of materials by stabilizing phases, suppressing thermal noise, and altering transport properties, while requiring precise management of thermal loads, cryogen boil-off, and material behavior at cryogenic temperatures.
A high-pressure method of instantaneously freezing cells has proven to be effective in the first empirical validation of its kind. Through further development, the method holds promise in finding broad applications in regenerative ...
Cell & Microbiology
Mar 23, 2026
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The blobfish, once considered the ugliest animal in the world, has since had quite the redemption arc. Years after it was first discovered, scientists realized that the deep-sea creature appeared so unnervingly blobby only ...
Cell & Microbiology
Mar 23, 2026
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For more than a century, condensed matter physics has grappled with one of its greatest unsolved challenges: how to build superconductors that operate at room temperature and transmit electricity with no loss. Now, in a paper ...
Condensed Matter
Mar 20, 2026
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Researchers from the Texas Center for Superconductivity (TcSUH) and the department of physics at the University of Houston have broken the temperature record for superconductivity at ambient pressure—a breakthrough that could ...
Condensed Matter
Mar 15, 2026
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The laser you see in the photo above may one day enhance images taken by the most powerful microscopes in biology. This advancement, detailed in a paper published in eLife from scientists at Columbia's Zuckerman Institute ...
Biotechnology
Feb 21, 2026
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Scientists are proposing to build a laser in a crater on the moon to help future lunar missions land safely in the dark and find their way around. This ultra-stable light source could also help us keep time more accurately, ...
In collaboration with the National Institute of Technology (KOSEN), Oshima College, the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) succeeded in developing a new regenerator material composed solely of abundant elements, ...
Condensed Matter
Feb 3, 2026
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For quantum computers to function, they must be kept at extremely low temperatures. However, today's cooling systems also generate noise that interferes with the fragile quantum information they are meant to protect. Now, ...
Superconductivity
Jan 29, 2026
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Taking images of tiny structures within cells is tricky business. One technique, cryogenic electron tomography (cryoET), shoots electrons through a frozen sample. The images formed by the electrons that emerge allow researchers ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jan 17, 2026
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Behind every particle collision generated at the Large Hadron Collider is a multitude of technical feats. One of these is refrigeration on an industrial scale. To guide the particles, the thousands of superconducting magnets ...
General Physics
Dec 19, 2025
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