https://phys.org/physics-news/physics/ en-us The latest news on physics, materials, nanotech, science and technology. Welding plastic is a critically important part of everyday engineering—especially for preventing leaks in underground water and gas pipes. For decades, engineers have understood that a properly welded joint in polyethylene pipe can be just as strong as the pipe itself, if not stronger. However, the reason for this strength has remained a mystery. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-plastic-welds-retain-molecular-memory.html General Physics Sat, 29 Aug 2026 13:10:01 EDT news707138144 Despite all the advertisements for engagement rings and necklace gifts, natural diamonds are imperfect. Their carbon atoms are arranged in a cubic lattice, but they nonetheless contain several types of crystallographic defects due to impurities that occasionally replace a carbon atom. The most common types of impurities are nitrogen and boron; "Type I" diamonds contain nitrogen impurities, which can be isolated or clustered, at concentrations of up to 1%, and make up about 95% of all natural diamonds. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-diamond-clock-combines-temperature-driven.html General Physics Fri, 28 Aug 2026 10:40:01 EDT news707129885 When an athlete swings upside down atop a 7-meter (23-foot) pendulum, it may seem like a feat of strength, courage or technique. A new study suggests it is something more fundamental: a striking demonstration of how intelligence emerges from the interaction of brain, body and environment. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-physics-kiiking-estonia-extreme-sport.html General Physics Thu, 27 Aug 2026 12:09:22 EDT news707051333 High-energy nuclear collisions recreate extreme conditions similar to those in the early universe, producing quark–gluon plasma (QGP), a hot state of matter in which quarks and gluons are no longer confined inside protons and neutrons. While large systems such as lead–lead collisions can produce matter that behaves like a fluid, collective behavior has also been observed in smaller systems. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-oxygen-collisions-reveal-quarkgluon-approaches.html General Physics Thu, 27 Aug 2026 12:00:03 EDT news707048702 In the hunt for one of nature's most elusive substances—dark matter, which makes up 85% of all matter in the universe—scientists are going to extremes. Deep underground and chilled to near absolute zero, the Super Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (SuperCDMS) SNOLAB—one of the world's most sensitive dark matter searches—has begun collecting its first scientific data. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-deep-underground-supercdms-dark-cryogenic.html General Physics Thu, 27 Aug 2026 11:40:06 EDT news707048521 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 surfaces. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-geomimicry-framework-sustainable-materials.html General Physics Thu, 27 Aug 2026 08:27:53 EDT news707038047 Physics is most readily applied to relatively simple systems: a pendulum, two electrons colliding or the structure of the solar system. But when systems become complicated—when many particles interact with one another, in condensed matter systems such as gases and fluids or in the cosmology of the early universe—simplifications can be made using a technique called classical or extended mean-field theory. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-simple-neural-networks-field-theory.html General Physics Thu, 27 Aug 2026 07:20:06 EDT news706956708 Scientists have developed a new acoustic levitation technique using an ultrasonic beam capable of levitating and moving small objects in midair over distances of up to 40 cm (16 inches), six times farther than previously achieved using conventional methods. The study, carried out by a research team from the University of Tsukuba in Japan and the University of Bristol, was published in the journal Physical Review Letters. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-narrow-ultrasonic-enables-stable-3d.html General Physics Wed, 26 Aug 2026 12:00:09 EDT news706957020 Astronomers can't see dark matter directly, but they know it's there: Its gravity shapes galaxies and the large-scale structure of the cosmos. In an effort to uncover the composition of this hidden mass, a team at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is pursuing evidence of particles that exist beyond the standard model of physics. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-plutonium-probe-universe-magneto-advances.html General Physics Tue, 25 Aug 2026 15:13:14 EDT news706889564 Every high-energy nuclear collision leaves behind a trail of clues about the structure of atomic nuclei. Deciphering those clues, however, depends on the accuracy of the underlying theory. Physicists at Osaka Metropolitan University have now performed a full calculation within Glauber theory, a cornerstone framework for describing high-energy nuclear collisions. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-exact-sharpen-view-atomic-nuclei.html General Physics Tue, 25 Aug 2026 12:40:04 EDT news706870981 For decades, physicists have used a technique called Mössbauer spectroscopy to peer inside solid materials, revealing fine details of their surroundings by studying how their atomic nuclei absorb and re-emit gamma rays. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-thorium-sites-pave-nuclear-clocks.html General Physics Mon, 24 Aug 2026 14:40:04 EDT news706793098 A research team at City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK) has developed a new optical corner-detection imaging method that uses azimuthal Hilbert transform metasurfaces and is designed to work as a universal framework. The study marks an important advance in high-speed, low-power optical information processing and has demonstrated potential for motion-tracking applications. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-corners-focus-metasurface-enables-motion.html General Physics Mon, 24 Aug 2026 13:00:06 EDT news706792142 Many people are aware that the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN smashes tiny subatomic particles together at nearly the speed of light to test foundational laws of physics and discover new fundamental particles, but some experiments also help scientists better visualize the actual structure of atoms we are already familiar with, like oxygen and neon. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-lhc-collisions-reveal-oxygen-neon.html General Physics Fri, 21 Aug 2026 13:10:01 EDT news706535076 Is the universe as stable as we think it is? That's one of the big questions that particle physicists worldwide are preparing to answer with the Large Hadron Collider, or LHC—the world's most powerful particle accelerator—when its upgrade is completed in about four years. In the meantime, researchers, including a cohort at the University of Michigan, are working to sharpen their analytical tools and techniques to make the most of the LHC's current and future data. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-ai-boosts-sensitivity-higgs-signatures.html General Physics Thu, 20 Aug 2026 17:10:01 EDT news706463461 What happened in the first moments of the universe—before the building blocks of life and the world we know today came into existence? Physicists at the CERN research facility in Switzerland are trying to answer this question by recreating some of the extreme conditions that prevailed in the universe during its earliest history. Now, researchers from the Niels Bohr Institute, together with colleagues from the international ALICE collaboration, have come one step closer to understanding those conditions. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-big-bowling-pin-nuclei-universe.html General Physics Thu, 20 Aug 2026 12:20:05 EDT news706440544 For close to a century, physicists have pursued a way to unite gravity with quantum mechanics. Known as quantum gravity, this goal has remained frustratingly out of reach so far. Similarly elusive is the force of dark energy, which is believed to be driving the universe's accelerating expansion. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-dark-energy-quantum-gravity-deeply.html General Physics Thu, 20 Aug 2026 07:40:06 EDT news706364525 When different materials transition from one phase to another, such as water coming to a boil or a magnet losing its ability to attract metals, something remarkable can happen: They begin to behave identically, following the same mathematical rules. "Physicists call this trait universality—the messy, microscopic details wash out and only a few essential features survive," explains Jason Alicea, William K. Davis Professor of Theoretical Physics. The math underlying these universal traits is commonly described by a theoretical framework called conformal field theory. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-universal-pattern-revealed-quantum.html General Physics Wed, 19 Aug 2026 17:20:01 EDT news706363021 Quantum batteries, devices that store energy by exploiting quantum mechanical phenomena, could, in principle, be charged faster and more efficiently than classical ones. Despite their potential, connecting these batteries to chargers is known to create quantum correlations that can trap some energy inside the combined battery-charger system. This can reduce useful work, or the energy available to complete a task that can be extracted from the battery alone. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-quantum-battery-environmental-sensitivity-advantage.html General Physics Wed, 19 Aug 2026 10:40:07 EDT news706351396 Despite science's best efforts to classify the vast menagerie of subatomic particles discovered over the past few decades, some exotic varieties defy explanation. Now, nuclear physicists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility have found evidence of two unexpected structures that could help better sort the zoo of exotic particles. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-strange-quark-sector-reveals-particle.html General Physics Wed, 19 Aug 2026 10:20:05 EDT news706350601 Standing on the sandy, windswept shores of Provincetown, Massachusetts, people may find themselves squinting at the horizon, waiting for a whale to make its grand entrance with a spectacular breach. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-echo-einstein-unexpected-link-whale.html General Physics Wed, 19 Aug 2026 10:00:10 EDT news706350301 In the coming years, increasingly larger and more powerful quantum systems are expected to tackle problems that are difficult or impossible to solve using conventional computers. However, the more powerful quantum simulations become, the more difficult it is to independently verify their results. Where classical simulation is still feasible, results can be cross-checked directly; beyond that regime, other methods are needed. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-quantum-simulators-gain-quantitative-error.html General Physics Wed, 19 Aug 2026 09:45:31 EDT news706351469 Niobium-94, an isotope of niobium with 41 protons and 53 neutrons, is a critical crossroads in the complex nuclear processes that forge heavy elements under the intense pressures and temperatures of dying stars. In an article published in Physical Review Letters, the n_TOF Collaboration reports the first-ever measurement of the probability of niobium-94 taking one of the paths at this crossroads—that is, undergoing neutron capture. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-neutron-capture-ancient-stardust.html General Physics Wed, 19 Aug 2026 09:20:05 EDT news706349342 Anyone who has had to share a room—or worse, a bed—with a loud snorer knows the effect unchecked snoring can have on sleep, sanity and emotional stability. An entire industry of products, technologies and treatments claims to cure or prevent loud snoring, with varying degrees of success. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-loud-simulation-reveals-physical-mechanism.html General Physics Tue, 18 Aug 2026 11:00:01 EDT news706203002 Close to a phase transition, very different materials can follow the same mathematical rules. The concept of universality, which groups seemingly distinct systems based on their common properties, was developed to describe this phenomenon. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-range-magnetic-interactions-ferrimagnet-approaches.html General Physics Tue, 18 Aug 2026 10:20:01 EDT news706264082 What is heat, and what is useful work if a machine consists only of an atom and light particles? In modern quantum technologies, this kind of question connects thermodynamics with quantum physics. Researchers at the University of Basel, Switzerland, have developed a theoretical approach that can reconcile both theories. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-quantum-links-atom-photon-thermodynamics.html General Physics Mon, 17 Aug 2026 17:30:02 EDT news706204501 New results from the STAR detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) suggest that gluons, the glue-like particles that hold quarks together inside protons, play a central role in the conservation of baryon number—an essential part of a particle's quantum identity. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-gluons-play-central-role-baryon.html General Physics Mon, 17 Aug 2026 14:40:07 EDT news706187401 A new study published in Science Advances takes a closer look at how AI agents' choices are influenced by their peers. The team found that more advanced models tend to follow the majority when shown other agents' choices, and they maintain stable agreement in groups far larger than those seen in humans. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-ai-agents-behavior-based-majority.html General Physics Mon, 17 Aug 2026 12:40:09 EDT news706188771 Theoretical physicists have long predicted the existence of millicharged particles (mCPs), hypothetical particles that carry a very small electric charge. These particles are expected to interact very weakly with ordinary matter and electromagnetic fields; hence, they would be difficult to detect in conventional particle physics experiments. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-centuries-physics-millicharged-particles.html General Physics Sun, 16 Aug 2026 08:00:01 EDT news705918245 When one mentions "waves," we immediately think of a perturbation that propagates. This applies to waves on the shore, sound waves in the air or electromagnetic waves that we use to transmit information via optical fibers. The same idea of propagating perturbations applies to gravitational waves (GWs), which entered the mainstream media a decade ago after their first direct detection. These are perturbations of the elastic fabric that we are all embedded in, called spacetime. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-bound-gravitational-photonic.html General Physics Fri, 14 Aug 2026 17:00:01 EDT news705839245 Diamond is more than a dazzling gem—the extremely hard form of carbon makes up the pellet that encases fuel for inertial confinement fusion, and scientists believe it rains down deep inside ice giant planets like Neptune and Uranus. In both cases, the material experiences enormous pressures. Until now, experiments and simulations have disagreed about how it actually behaves under those conditions. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-diamond-triple-fusion-gain-secrets.html General Physics Thu, 13 Aug 2026 11:40:05 EDT news705836281