https://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. For scientists, breakthroughs often stem from unexpected turns. A research team led by Oscar Dahlsten, an associate professor in the Department of Physics at City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK), set out to prove a theoretical limitation, only to discover a quantum solution. The finding breaks traditional physical constraints and introduces a strategy for harvesting energy from fluctuating sources. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-quantum-pathway-entropy-free-energy.html General Physics Tue, 20 Oct 2026 11:00:01 EDT news711706981 Organizations are unprepared for the risks posed by quantum computing, IBM's Europe and Africa vice president Alessandro Curioni told AFP Wednesday, referring to the high-speed technology that could crack security encryptions and enable large-scale cyberattacks. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-ibm-quantum-hacks.html Quantum Physics Wed, 14 Oct 2026 14:50:01 EDT news711207380 Many outdoor enthusiasts have spent hours in front of a computer, racing to reserve a campsite, backpacking permit or national park entrance ticket. A recent study suggests that the way these reservation systems are designed can favor higher-income visitors. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-richer-people-edge-national.html Environment Tue, 06 Oct 2026 16:10:01 EDT news710520661 Since its launch in 1998, Google, the world's leading search engine, has transformed how people find information online. For years, search results appeared as ranked lists of sources: Google decided what to show, but users decided what to read and whom to trust. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-extensive-reveals-gaps-google-ai.html Economics & Business Tue, 29 Sep 2026 13:20:07 EDT news709903022 University of Massachusetts Amherst's Jeff Podos and his former graduate student João C.T. Menezes have identified two contenders for the title of world's loudest bird: the bare-throated bellbird and the red-legged seriema. Their findings also help explain why some birds are so much louder than others. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-biologists-world-loudest-birds.html Plants & Animals Tue, 29 Sep 2026 09:00:08 EDT news709804021 SpaceX launched its enormous Starship into orbit for the first time Monday and successfully delivered the most advanced Starlink satellites yet, but cut the flight short to ensure safety. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-spacex-supersized-starship-orbit.html Space Exploration Mon, 28 Sep 2026 09:07:51 EDT news709805242 We are continuously sending information to each other, transmitting zeros and ones through a giant network of connected computers and devices. Scientists are now trying to extend this familiar concept of the internet to the quantum realm, looking for an efficient way to exchange quantum rather than classical information: qubits instead of bits. The motivation is not just scientific curiosity. Qubits can be a 0, a 1 or any superposition of the two. They can also become entangled, showing a degree of correlation that is out of reach for classical bits. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-rephasing-quantum-memories-photon-states.html Optics & Photonics Fri, 25 Sep 2026 13:10:01 EDT news709556304 Reliably verifying the location of a device connected to the internet or other networks is important for various real-world applications. For instance, it could be valuable for authorizing financial transactions, securing communications and controlling who can access specific databases or services. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-quantum-protocol-device-position-stations.html Quantum Physics Tue, 22 Sep 2026 09:40:03 EDT news709287636 Around 631,000 years ago—a geological blink of an eye—catastrophe unfolded in what is now northwestern Wyoming, U.S. During what is thought to have been a series of immense volcanic eruptions, life within hundreds of kilometers of the blasts was shattered. Ash was dispersed across much of North America, and the effects were felt worldwide. This was a super-eruption of the massive volcanic system located in what is now Yellowstone National Park. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-humanity-blowbyblow-account-yellowstone-supervolcano.html Earth Sciences Mon, 21 Sep 2026 10:40:06 EDT news709205583 For decades, an idea has grown in paleontology that, long before scientists began digging up and reconstructing dinosaur bones, the Indigenous San and Basotho in southern Africa noticed them too, incorporating them into songs, myths and immortalizing them on cave walls. But under closer scrutiny, these claims begin to crumble. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-monsters-werent-dinosaur-tusked-beast.html Archaeology Sat, 19 Sep 2026 10:00:02 EDT news708605303 The vast majority of modern quantum technologies—from quantum cryptography to the quantum internet to the quantum computer—rely on one essential element: the transmission of photons. Two qubits (two atoms, for example) exchange information: One qubit emits a photon, and the other qubit absorbs it. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-photons-reliable-quantum-communication.html Optics & Photonics Mon, 14 Sep 2026 12:20:06 EDT news708602102 The COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns forced people to find ways to get things done remotely. Companies developed systems that made working from home run smoothly. Educators also had to shift to mobile phones and group video calls to get their lessons across and make sure students didn't lose out on their progress. This exposed the need for education systems to be more resilient and adaptive to local and global disruptions. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-lessons-children-emergency-school-closures.html Education Fri, 11 Sep 2026 09:20:08 EDT news708335529 Electronic voting, the use of electronic systems to cast, record or count votes, could potentially simplify the process of electing new political leaders or other representatives. While some countries have already started using internet-connected devices or electronic voting machines at polling stations, the trustworthiness, security and anonymity of electronic voting systems are still widely debated. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-quantum-protocols-electronic-voting.html Quantum Physics Wed, 09 Sep 2026 09:40:10 EDT news708080473 Biologists and linguists alike have long puzzled over the universal human tendency to see and name colors as a combination of four "pure" hues—red, yellow, green and blue. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-nature-palette-red-yellow-green.html Molecular & Computational biology Mon, 31 Aug 2026 18:30:03 EDT news707415961 Resources such as sea level rise viewers, heat maps and flood prediction services are crucial tools in a changing climate. NASA Earth Observations (NASA EO) datasets provide important information on these and other natural hazards, but many communities that may benefit from these tools face barriers to accessing them. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-puerto-rico-residents-climate-tools.html Environment Mon, 31 Aug 2026 14:40:07 EDT news707398381 On the surface, posting online reviews looks like a win-win activity. It helps both businesses we like and people who might frequent them. But although posting reviews can benefit others, it can also put us all at risk, according to new research from the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin. It can inadvertently expose our personal connections and make us and our online friends more vulnerable to cyberattacks. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-length-online-scammers-friends.html Social Sciences Sun, 30 Aug 2026 11:00:02 EDT news706979465 Imagine doctors could understand exactly which cells caused a patient's cancer or whether pathogens contributed to the disease. They could then use the information to tailor a treatment plan to the patient's specific cancer. But answering such questions would mean wading through data from thousands of experiments locked in massive databases around the globe. Moreover, the search would take at least several days. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-google-cell-rna-previously-impossible.html Biotechnology Fri, 28 Aug 2026 12:00:03 EDT news707135222 Researchers have captured in real time the "birth moment" when the performance of a next-generation memory material is determined. The key lies in controlling oxygen vacancies, microscopic defects created when oxygen atoms are missing from their normal positions. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-tiny-oxygen-gaps-generation-memory.html Nanomaterials Thu, 27 Aug 2026 19:20:01 EDT news707065262 There's a new lighthouse on Long Island. But instead of shining light to guide ships through waterways, this one transmits and receives particles of light that carry quantum information. Perched atop a seven-story building at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, the "Quantum Lighthouse" is a key pillar of the free-space optical (FSO) link spanning Brookhaven Lab, the State University of New York at Stony Brook (Stony Brook University) and Yale University. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-free-space-optical-link-wireless.html Optics & Photonics Mon, 24 Aug 2026 09:43:00 EDT news706783326 At the bottom of the ocean, optical fibers transmit telecommunications and internet data around the world. Waveguides make that feat possible by channeling and amplifying the light—and therefore the data within—over enormous distances. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-3d-ceramic-waveguide-lasers-surpass.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 19 Aug 2026 18:40:01 EDT news706369441 Eight years of painstaking research on the virtually unknown Wolffsohn's viscacha have helped to shine the spotlight on this super-rare South American rodent and catalyze the conservation action it so urgently needs. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-secrets-mystery-mammal-patagonia-revealed.html Plants & Animals Tue, 18 Aug 2026 16:20:07 EDT news706272541 Optical fibers are already the backbone of global communication systems. Recently, however, physicists have started to explore how their functionality could be boosted further by conveying information via entangled quantum particles—potentially enabling instantaneous exchanges of information across vast distances. Such a system could eventually be the basis of a future 'quantum internet,' offering a level of security and computing power beyond anything possible today. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-physicists-entangle-quantum-memories-km.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 18 Aug 2026 15:30:01 EDT news706284107 A new study, led by researchers at the University of Staffordshire, has found evidence of potentially hazardous microbial growth on mummified human and animal remains advertised for sale online—posing risks to both sellers and buyers. The paper is published in the International Journal of Cultural Property. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-real-mummy-curse-sale-mummified.html Archaeology Thu, 13 Aug 2026 16:20:05 EDT news705845281 A study involving more than 58,000 adolescents from 21 countries found that "unstructured free time"—defined as periods without adult supervision or activities guided by educational, cultural or athletic goals—is strongly associated with delinquent behavior and exposure to violence among young people. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-unsupervised-free-likelihood-adolescents-engage.html Social Sciences Wed, 12 Aug 2026 18:40:05 EDT news705763142 To date, close to 30,000 satellites have been launched into Earth's orbit, leading to mounting concerns over the debris created when they collide. In a new analysis posted to the preprint server arXiv, Hugh Lewis of the University of Birmingham shows that satellite constellations can grow so large that they cross a critical size beyond which they generate unstable, runaway amounts of debris. The findings point to an urgent need for tougher rules on which satellites are allowed into orbit in the first place. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-satellite-constellations-spiraling-space-debris.html Space Exploration Wed, 12 Aug 2026 15:00:08 EDT news705747610 According to new research, viewers often dismiss, trivialize or even romanticize signs of cat distress during "play" interactions, raising concerns for cat welfare. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-internet-cats.html Plants & Animals Wed, 12 Aug 2026 10:20:06 EDT news705745323 In his 1927 paper, "A law of comparative judgment," the American psychologist L. L. Thurstone proposed that when people select one option among multiple alternatives, they are picking the one that has the highest value to them, even though they cannot assign a particular number to that choice. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-people-pays-power.html Mathematics Mon, 10 Aug 2026 18:00:02 EDT news705595141 In early 2025, special signals wended their way through a fiber-optic highway strung above the streets and sidewalks of the Maryland suburbs. The arrival of those signals at their destination marks a significant step toward a long-held dream of building a "quantum network." Researchers believe that this emerging technology could someday link quantum devices in ways that supercharge scientific research, enable ultrasecure communications and boost the power of future quantum computers. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-spooky-particles-transit-dc-suburbs.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 05 Aug 2026 16:30:01 EDT news705164821 To turn abundant carbon dioxide into valuable fuel, we need a fast and efficient way to determine which catalysts work best over the longest time. AI models have the potential to help guide catalyst selection, but as with internet chatbots, AI models are only as good as the data you put into them. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-labs-experimental-differences-undermine-ai.html Analytical Chemistry Mon, 03 Aug 2026 19:20:01 EDT news704992501 Information and communication technologies (ICTs) driven by artificial intelligence (AI) are generating data at an unprecedented rate. Every internet search, AI-generated image, recommendation, scientific simulation and large language model creates and processes enormous amounts of information that must be stored, transferred and analyzed. As AI continues to expand across every sector of society, global demand for data storage and computing is rising dramatically. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-optimized-magnetic-pulses-memory-energy.html Condensed Matter Fri, 31 Jul 2026 16:00:01 EDT news704720412