https://phys.org/physics-news/soft-matter/ en-us The latest news on soft matter, soft condensed matter, liquids, colloids, polymers, foams, gels, granular materials 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. The findings could be of interest for the development of needle-free medical injection systems. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-tiny-polymer-particles-jets-stable.html Condensed Matter Mon, 07 Sep 2026 12:00:08 EDT news707995381 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 in Nature Communications, have practical implications for understanding water at very low temperatures. The findings are relevant to cryopreservation of biological materials, food-freezing technologies and understanding water in living cells, where it is often confined at the nanoscale. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-soft-nanoscale-confinement-ice-exposing.html Condensed Matter Thu, 03 Sep 2026 19:40:01 EDT news707669463 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. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-surf-seafloor.html Soft Matter Thu, 03 Sep 2026 12:40:01 EDT news707644621 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 how scientists study nanoparticles—tiny particles about 1,000 times thinner than a human hair—but it reveals both the promise and limitations of AI as a scientific research partner. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-fast-error-prone-ai-decades.html Soft Matter Thu, 27 Aug 2026 16:40:05 EDT news707063041 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 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" are not arranged regularly as in crystals. At the same time, however, glass is as resistant to deformation as a crystalline solid. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-closer-ideal-glass-simulations-reveal.html Condensed Matter Mon, 24 Aug 2026 13:40:03 EDT news706792561 Many materials, both living and engineered, are powered from within. Scientists have thoroughly investigated how such 'active' materials operate, but so far, mostly in circumstances where the curvature of the environment does not play a role. In research published in Physical Review Letters this week, a team of physicists proposes a framework to describe how active materials operate in the presence of curvature. The framework explains striking biological observations and may lead to geometry as a design parameter for new materials. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-surfaces-reshape-materials-localizing-vibrations.html Soft Matter Tue, 18 Aug 2026 17:30:01 EDT news706288381 Being able to measure something plays a vital role in our ability to understand many phenomena. But measuring can often affect what we are trying to measure. This is particularly the case when measuring substances that are very small, soft or fragile. In a recent study published in PRX Life, a research team led by the University of Osaka successfully used acoustic tweezers as a contactless method to investigate an important type of fragile material called biopolymer condensates. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-based-reveal-fragile-biomolecular-droplets.html Soft Matter Tue, 18 Aug 2026 16:20:01 EDT news706284410 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 The strongest glasses have an Achilles' heel that causes them to fail catastrophically when pushed past their limit. They do not bend or stretch, as all damage concentrates into a single plane and the material fails in an instant. This brittleness has long capped the usefulness of high-stability amorphous solids, from bulk metallic glasses to engineered metamaterials. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-particles-stable-glasses-stronger-catastrophic.html Soft Matter Sun, 16 Aug 2026 09:00:01 EDT news705982865 Basic biology courses teach that cells contain organelles—such as the nucleus, mitochondria and Golgi apparatus—set apart by lipid membranes to get things done. Recent cell biology research has revealed another organizational principle at work in cells across all orders of biology. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-cell-biochemistry-membranes-condensate-physics.html Soft Matter Fri, 14 Aug 2026 17:20:01 EDT news705933481 From schools of fish and flocks of birds to microscopic synthetic particles, many systems in nature and the laboratory consist of individual units or agents that move by consuming energy. These systems are known as active matter because their components continuously use energy to generate motion, either individually or through interactions with their environment. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-tiny-particles-defy-action-reaction.html General Physics Sun, 09 Aug 2026 12:40:01 EDT news705316928 Physicists from Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU), the Technical University of Darmstadt, Sapienza University in Rome and the University of Camerino (both in Italy) have calculated the fundamental laws of thermodynamics for a gas composed of spinning particles. In the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), they demonstrate that the pressure of this gas is similar to that of a normal gas but at an elevated temperature. In addition, localized surface currents arise that can be used for targeted particle transport. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-thermodynamic-framework-pressure-edge-currents.html General Physics Mon, 27 Jul 2026 18:20:04 EDT news704383741 Animals and electronic devices aren't the only things with memory. Materials can retain memories of past deformations in their microscopic structure. A common example is a crease in a sheet of paper that has been folded then unfolded. Understanding this type of memory could benefit the design of materials that respond to changes in their environment in predictable ways. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-chocolate-syrup-fluid-multiple-interacting.html Condensed Matter Thu, 23 Jul 2026 17:50:02 EDT news704043002 Reliably generating controlled miniature rotations has long been a challenge: Chemical propulsion systems wear out, and methods that use electric or magnetic fields require complex setups. A team from KIT's Institute of Microstructure Technology (IMT) and the Suzhou Institute of Nano-tech and Nano-bionics (SINANO) at the Chinese Academy of Sciences has now demonstrated that flow at a water surface alone is sufficient to rotate a floating object in a fixed direction. Their research is published in the journal Science Advances. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-surface-vortices-tiny-rotors-electricity.html General Physics Wed, 22 Jul 2026 18:00:01 EDT news703947421 Logically, you would think a sleek surface has optimal aerodynamics—but recent research at Tohoku University turns this fundamental principle on its head. Applying an irregular microscale surface texture reduced the aerodynamic drag of a test model. The innovation has potential applications in the design of fuel-efficient vehicles. The study is published in the Journal of Fluid Mechanics. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-microscale-roughness-breakthrough-defies-years.html General Physics Wed, 22 Jul 2026 12:00:04 EDT news703935124 Each summer, lawns are marked by a familiar addition: "silly sprinklers," whose loops and spirals spew water in creative ways. While seemingly frivolous in their construction, a team of mathematicians has used their design to address a long-standing mystery surrounding the laws of physics. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-silly-sprinklers-reverse-unravel-decades.html Soft Matter Mon, 13 Jul 2026 15:00:03 EDT news702907799 Cornstarch can thicken soup or serve as a base for a DIY shampoo, but there's more to the humble pantry staple. Given the right conditions, it seems to defy the laws of physics. Mixing cornstarch with water creates "oobleck"—a shape-shifting substance classified as a non-Newtonian fluid that changes states when subjected to a force. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-oobleck-droplets-reveal-ways-cornstarch.html Soft Matter Mon, 13 Jul 2026 09:00:07 EDT news703149113 Viscosity is one of the most fundamental physical properties used to describe how materials flow. It governs the movement of liquids, molten rocks and even slowly deforming regions deep inside the Earth. While scientists have long studied materials with low or moderate viscosities, a simple but important question has remained largely unexplored: Is there a physically meaningful upper limit to viscosity? https://phys.org/news/2026-07-earth-deepest-upper-limit-viscosity.html General Physics Mon, 06 Jul 2026 08:20:07 EDT news702543714 A study published in Nature Physics provides new molecular-level evidence from simulations that liquid water is not a single uniform substance, but a constantly shifting mixture of two distinct microscopic structures. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-scientists-molecular-evidence-liquid.html General Physics Thu, 25 Jun 2026 14:20:03 EDT news701609342 A research team from Hiroshima University, the University of Colorado, and other collaborators have demonstrated that space-time crystals—exotic structures that, under external drive, loop endlessly through both space and time—can be created using everyday liquid-crystal materials. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-scientists-classical-space-crystals-majorana.html Soft Matter Wed, 24 Jun 2026 10:07:24 EDT news701514422 When a physics student asked baristas at the Warsaw Coffee Conference what their biggest question for scientists was, the baristas said they wanted to know how to stop channeling during brewing. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-espresso-pucks-pressures.html General Physics Tue, 23 Jun 2026 11:00:08 EDT news701347039 Researchers at the University of Twente and Utrecht University have packed rigid, rod-shaped particles into soft lipid containers the size of a living cell and watched the container and its contents reshape each other. The vesicle's form determines how the rods line up; the tightly packed rods, in turn, bend the container into new shapes. This provides a minimal model for how physical coupling between a soft boundary and internal filaments can help cellular structures organize from within. The paper is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-minimal-cell.html Soft Matter Mon, 22 Jun 2026 17:00:08 EDT news701357761 Superfluids are intriguing states of matter in which particles behave like a giant collective wave, allowing them to flow without any friction. When this fluid flows past a fixed obstacle at a velocity below a specific threshold, it moves around it without slowing down or exerting any drag. Above this critical velocity, however, the superfluid state starts to break down, and the energy from the flow dissipates in the form of ripples and vortices in the fluid. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-tiny-superfluid.html Soft Matter Fri, 19 Jun 2026 13:20:01 EDT news701088049 Flocking birds and schools of fish are a familiar sight. While previous research has uncovered the broad dynamics driving these movements, their underlying intricacies remain a mystery. Now a study by a team of New York University mathematicians offers new insights into these phenomena. It reveals that flocks and schools behave in ways similar to a soft crystalline material, with individual birds and fish serving as "atoms" that are evenly spaced in a lattice-like formation. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-flocking-birds-schools-fish-crystal.html Soft Matter Thu, 18 Jun 2026 11:00:07 EDT news700932527 Amorphous materials such as glass are solids whose internal structure lacks a repeating pattern. Their molecules are arranged in a random and irregular way. Surprisingly, these disordered materials can "remember" past mechanical experiences; that is, the way they respond to a force can depend on how they have responded to external forces before. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-random-deformation-glassy-materials-precise.html Condensed Matter Tue, 16 Jun 2026 18:50:01 EDT news700846142 Certain substances can become magnetic when exposed to an external magnetic field. Magnetic susceptibility measures how easily a material can be magnetized. Materials known as organic radicals have been noted to possess anomalously large magnetic susceptibility. However, researchers have been unable to explain this phenomenon using conventional theories. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-intermolecular-collisions-radical-fluids-unusually.html Condensed Matter Tue, 16 Jun 2026 16:20:06 EDT news700830361 Pack enough string-like objects together, and they will begin to align with one another. But replace the strings with worms or bacteria living in your gut, and this self-organization becomes much more difficult. A team of University of Amsterdam (UvA) researchers has demonstrated that activity can fundamentally alter one of the most important phase transitions in soft matter physics. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-motion.html Soft Matter Sat, 13 Jun 2026 15:00:02 EDT news700326148 When a person coughs or sneezes, they expel a cloud of microscopic particles capable of carrying viruses and bacteria that act as vectors for respiratory diseases such as flu, COVID-19 or tuberculosis. Understanding how these aerosols disperse in the air is crucial for minimizing the transmission of pathogens in indoor spaces, but their dynamics are complex and depend on many factors: the force of the exhalation, the morphology of the respiratory system, the characteristics of the space, etc. Now, a new study led by researchers from the Universitat Rovira i Virgili has shown that temperature also plays an important role. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-temperature-gaps-clouds-stay-denser.html Soft Matter Wed, 03 Jun 2026 17:30:02 EDT news699722042 Summer brings with it the sight of surfers moving seamlessly across wave crests, with ocean waters carrying them along coastlines. A team of scientists has now created a similar phenomenon—with small objects rather than surfers—that can be controlled by humans rather than by nature. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-tweezers-tiny-surfers.html Soft Matter Wed, 03 Jun 2026 17:20:02 EDT news699718101