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Soft Matter news
Maxwell's demon learns to turn concealed information into usable energy for microscopic systems
Since its introduction more than 150 years ago, the thought-provoking idea of Maxwell's demon has profoundly shaped our understanding of the relationship between information and energy. Maxwell's demon is an imagined microscopic ...
General Physics
Oct 16, 2026
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Storing memory on a chip with flowing water
Like the folds in crumpled sheets or the footprints on recently trodden sand, certain materials mark their histories. Now, Yale researchers show that networks of flowing water and other fluids can store their own memories—similar ...
General Physics
Oct 14, 2026
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Robotic 'time crystal' organizes itself into a single rhythm despite random disturbances
Scientists have developed a material that can grow and coordinate its own movement until the entire structure pulses in unison, paving the way for versatile robots that behave more like living systems.
Condensed Matter
Oct 14, 2026
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Gravity and light reveal how liquids turn into thin fibers
From spiders spinning their webs to the manufacturing of textiles, the formation of fibers from liquids plays an important role in both nature and industry. Yet accurately predicting the properties of such fibers remains ...
Soft Matter
Oct 8, 2026
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What pig hearts and a little noise can teach us about designing better soft valves
Some of the best engineers and inventors are copycats. They look at how the natural world solves complex problems and use those mechanisms as the basis for innovations. But Mother Nature doesn't always give up her secrets ...
Whirlpool in a water tank reveals long-predicted wave turbulence
When water drains from a bathtub, a whirlpool often forms above the drain, and its narrow core can start to wobble and twist. For almost 150 years, physicists have predicted that these wobbles can become turbulent, passing ...
From swarming bacteria to tissue cells, living matter defies classic physical models of motion
A new study led by researchers from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) reveals that living matter violates previously known physical principles of symmetry when cellular flows form and break down collective patterns. ...
General Physics
Sep 22, 2026
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Cooling liquids reveal self-limiting particle clusters behind glass transition
Before diving into the mystery of glass, theoretical physicist Corentin Laudicina takes us back to high school physics for a moment. Although he has spent years studying exactly what happens in a material during the glass ...
General Physics
Sep 20, 2026
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Roll waves emerge as uniform water flow destabilizes on steep slopes, equations show
When it rains, traveling waves appear on steep asphalt pavement, slowly making their way down the slope. Because these so-called "roll waves" propagate without deforming and are typically characterized by abrupt discontinuities, ...
General Physics
Sep 16, 2026
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Sliding droplets point to charging mechanism beyond mobile ions
Whether on a windowpane at home or during the industrial cleaning of computer chips: droplets sliding over solid surfaces become electrically charged. Yet the physical mechanism behind this charging remains a subject of debate. ...
Condensed Matter
Sep 16, 2026
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New simulations link unusual particle diffusion to yielding in soft jammed matter
Soft materials such as colloidal suspensions, emulsions, foams and gels often display complex and unusual behaviors compared with ordinary solids or liquids. From a mechanical point of view, for instance, they can resist ...
Soft Matter
Sep 16, 2026
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From atomic vibrations to laboratory mechanics: Bridging 20 orders of magnitude in time
How can we predict the way a real material, such as a polymer, responds mechanically over timescales ranging from the ultrafast motion of atoms to the slow deformations measured in a laboratory? This is a deceptively difficult ...
Tiny polymer particles keep water jets stable for longer
Tiny, soft polymer particles—known as microgels—can help to stabilize extremely thin liquid jets. How this works is the finding of a study led by researchers at TU Darmstadt, which has been published in Nature Communications. ...
Condensed Matter
Sep 7, 2026
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Soft nanoscale confinement prevents ice, exposing water's liquid-to-glass transition
An international collaboration of researchers has used ANSTO's facilities to uncover new properties of one of the most fundamental everyday materials, water, and answer an important scientific question. The findings, published ...
Condensed Matter
Sep 3, 2026
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Surf's up: How the seafloor shapes breaking waves
A new study led by surfing scientists at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego revealed the physical relationships underlying a pattern familiar to generations of surfers.
Soft Matter
Sep 3, 2026
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Fast but error-prone AI assists in solving a decades-old fluid mechanics problem in five weeks
An AI assistant helped University of Colorado Boulder researchers solve a mathematical problem that had challenged their lab for a year and a half, though it made subtle errors along the way. The breakthrough could improve ...
Soft Matter
Aug 27, 2026
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Geomimicry offers a new framework for engineering sustainable materials
When engineers look to nature for inspiration, they often turn to living systems. The flight of birds has influenced aircraft design, gecko feet inspired new adhesives and lotus leaves led to the development of self-cleaning ...
General Physics
Aug 27, 2026
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One step closer to the ideal glass—simulations reveal hidden order at absolute zero
In the physical sense, glass is not limited to familiar window glass; it forms whenever a liquid is cooled so quickly that it cannot crystallize. As a result, glass has an amorphous structure—that is, its "building blocks" ...
Condensed Matter
Aug 24, 2026
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Century-old physics idea explains why cubic fluid equations work
The Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology (KICT) has developed a new cubic equation of state (EOS) that provides a physical justification for a mathematical structure that the chemical and petroleum ...
General Physics
Aug 20, 2026
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Newton's momentum principles could help design safer offshore facilities in extreme waves
Researchers have developed a novel model to accurately and efficiently predict the impact of "green water"—water washing onto the deck of an offshore facility during extreme wave conditions.
General Physics
Aug 20, 2026
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More news
Tiny particles defy action-reaction symmetry to stay in motion
Chocolate syrup-like fluid stores multiple interacting memories
Other news
Transparent minispheres reveal that some look-alike cancer drugs part ways in 3D
Quantum probability can't be derived without assuming it first
A century of records paints a worrying picture for Europe's bees
AI challenges math by solving the unsolvable
The Orionid meteor shower is coming. Here's how and when to watch
Using eyedrops in space—wearable patch offers a new approach
Giant canyon on Mars is still tectonically active today
