Interactions & forces, as a research area, focuses on the quantitative description and theoretical understanding of how physical entities influence one another via fundamental interactions and emergent effective forces. It encompasses studies of gravitational, electromagnetic, strong, and weak interactions, along with interatomic, intermolecular, and many-body forces in condensed matter, soft matter, and plasma systems. Research typically integrates field theories, potential models, and numerical simulations to characterize force laws, energy landscapes, and response functions across scales, from subatomic particles to macroscopic structures, enabling predictive models of structure, dynamics, and phase behavior in diverse physical and engineered systems.
Have you ever wished to drive microscopic matter along an arbitrarily tailored trajectory instead of just a circle? That's exactly what we set out to achieve.
Although the fundamental constitutive laws for steel and concrete were established more than a century ago, weak layers in snow remain a mystery. There are currently two theories about how they fail. A study published in ...
Earth Sciences
Apr 15, 2026
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When tectonic plates move, they rarely do so smoothly. Sometimes they slide almost imperceptibly; at other times, stress is suddenly released—resulting in an earthquake. What exactly governs this behavior remains one of the ...
Earth Sciences
Apr 9, 2026
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13
Researchers at the National University of Singapore (NUS) have built a molecular "leash" to pull directly on a force-sensing protein called Piezo1, and discovered it switches on at about 15 piconewtons, proving that it can ...
Biotechnology
Apr 7, 2026
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7
Plants need water, light, and air to thrive. But when they transport water from the soil up to their leaves, they defy gravity. Scientists describe this astonishing phenomenon as "negative water potential," a form of negative ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Mar 23, 2026
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167
The world is never really at rest. Even in a vacuum near ultracold temperatures where all classical motion should come to a halt, you'll find quantum fluctuations. In thin, two-dimensional materials, these include random ...
Superconductivity
Feb 26, 2026
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500
Bacteriophages are viruses that can kill bacteria through highly specific interactions. While this property can be beneficial in selected applications, bacteriophages represent a serious threat to laboratories and industries ...
Bio & Medicine
Feb 13, 2026
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26
If you've ever watched a glass blower at work, you've seen a material behaving in a very special way. As it cools, the viscosity of molten glass increases steadily but gradually, allowing it to be shaped without a mold. Physicists ...
Constructed with tubulin heterodimers connected into a hollow cylinder, the microtubule, an essential component of the cytoskeleton, plays a vital role in various intracellular processes. In a recent study, a cross-disciplinary ...
Biotechnology
Feb 9, 2026
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14
Scientists have identified the molecular interactions that give spider silk its exceptional strength and flexibility, opening the door to new bio-inspired materials for aircraft, protective clothing and medical applications, ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 6, 2026
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