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. Within tiny halos of light clinging to a vanishingly thin wisp of optical fiber, scientist Jongmin Lee guides atoms like marbles through a narrow pipe. Rock the fiber and the atoms shift side by side; they just don't fall off. But don't be deceived by the seemingly delicate nature of his experiment. Lee is exploring how to measure motion precisely in rough-and-tumble environments. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-tightly-atoms-enable-power-quantum.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 10 Sep 2026 15:40:10 EDT news708260101 Radiation from space is constantly entering Earth's atmosphere, but how much of it reaches the altitudes used by commercial aircraft depends not only on height and location, but also on the activity of the sun. A new study based on high-altitude balloon measurements over southern Israel has mapped these changes through the atmosphere and found that radiation levels at aviation altitudes rise as solar activity falls. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-cosmic-flight-altitudes-sun.html Earth Sciences Tue, 08 Sep 2026 17:40:03 EDT news708100801 The BESIII Collaboration, led by the Institute of High Energy Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has achieved the world's most precise measurement of the electric dipole moment (EDM) of the Lambda (Λ) hyperon using quantum-entangled Λ–anti-Λ pairs produced in J/ψ decays. The result improves the experimental sensitivity by about three orders of magnitude compared with the previous measurement, providing a new way to probe charge-parity (CP) violation in particles containing strange quarks. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-besiii-world-stringent-limit-lambda.html General Physics Thu, 03 Sep 2026 14:00:17 EDT news707655901 The hidden world of quantum mechanics exists at scales many orders of magnitude smaller than living organisms, yet scientists have long theorized that quantum effects play an important role in biology. Birds' ability to sense magnetic fields during migration is one of the best-known mysteries in this field, with leading theories suggesting that this sensing could be achieved by exploiting quantum entanglement. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-quantum-algorithm-birds-migrate.html Quantum Physics Thu, 03 Sep 2026 09:20:07 EDT news707643721 An archaeological excavation is a little like eating a layered cake: Once you have removed a layer, you cannot put it back. The problem becomes even trickier if two layers look almost exactly the same. Researchers from Aarhus University and Moesgaard Museum in Denmark have now developed a relatively inexpensive multispectral imaging system that gives archaeologists more ways of looking at the soil before they dig into it. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-archaeologists.html Archaeology Tue, 01 Sep 2026 18:40:07 EDT news707501701 One of the central ideas in modern physics is the phase transition—a sudden transformation of the state of a material. We encounter phase transitions throughout everyday life: water freezes into ice, wax melts in the warmth of a flame, and water vapor condenses into droplets on a cold window. In these familiar examples, the atoms themselves rearrange into a new structure, giving the material entirely different properties. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-faint-infrared-insulator-metal-transition.html Condensed Matter Mon, 31 Aug 2026 18:20:03 EDT news707384285 A collaborative research team has successfully visualized in real space the ultrafast optical modulation of hyperbolic phonon polaritons (HPhPs) in a van der Waals heterostructure composed of hBN and WS2. The research is published in the journal Nano Letters, and was led by Kazuki Kamada of the Institute for Molecular Science (IMS) and Osaka Metropolitan University, along with Dr. Jun Nishida, assistant professor at IMS, and Takashi Kumagai, associate professor at IMS. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-femtosecond-nano-imaging-reveals-ultrafast.html Nanophysics Mon, 31 Aug 2026 18:00:07 EDT news707405941 Table tennis professionals are true masters at redirecting fast-moving projectiles. Putting a targeted spin on a serve can make the little white ball fly straight toward the edge of the table but then, at the last moment, take a sharp curve into the left corner. The physical phenomenon behind this sporting trick is known as the Magnus effect. It acts on balls of all sizes and has helped decide more than a few soccer matches. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-optical-magnus-effect-sharpen-quantum.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 27 Aug 2026 11:20:04 EDT news707047501 While quantum computing could be the future, it is currently plagued by finicky hardware. To make the technology practical, researchers must demonstrate that it consistently and continuously works and performs at scale. In a new study, published in Physical Review Letters, researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and the Ion Storage Group at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder, Colorado, created a robust process for entangling trapped-ion qubits. The result means better building blocks for ion-based quantum computers. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-ramped-fields-robust-entanglement-ion.html Quantum Physics Wed, 26 Aug 2026 18:20:06 EDT news706969261 Researchers at Queen Mary University of London have shown that making extremely small changes to the structure of a material can dramatically improve its ability to respond to electrical signals. Published recently in Science Advances, the breakthrough could help create a new generation of wireless devices that can change frequency on demand, making communication systems more flexible and energy efficient. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-tiny-atomic-smarter-wireless-technology.html Nanophysics Wed, 26 Aug 2026 14:00:12 EDT news706896901 Researchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have demonstrated a promising new way to protect fragile quantum information using nothing but mechanical vibrations—essentially extremely small sound waves. The breakthrough, which comes from the lab of Marko Lončar, Tiantsai Lin Professor of Electrical Engineering, paves a path toward compact, sound-based quantum networks on chips, as well as hybrid quantum systems that combine many different types of quantum bits, or qubits. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-duty-quantum.html Quantum Physics Tue, 25 Aug 2026 17:00:03 EDT news706882021 In a study published in Nature on Aug. 19, a research team has enhanced superconductivity through vacuum fluctuations for the first time. The achievement marks a significant advance in controlling quantum states of matter. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-vacuum-fluctuation-superconductivity.html Superconductivity Mon, 24 Aug 2026 16:50:01 EDT news706806661 Quantum sensors, devices that collect measurements by exploiting quantum-mechanical phenomena, could potentially detect extremely weak magnetic, gravitational and electromagnetic signals with greater sensitivity than classical sensors. Some quantum sensors leverage entanglement, a phenomenon that prompts distant particles to become so strongly linked that the physical state of one particle dictates the state of the others. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-approach-noise-resistant-quantum-sensors.html Quantum Physics Tue, 18 Aug 2026 08:00:07 EDT news705926571 The deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) of living organisms contains regulatory elements that control when, where and to what extent specific genes are turned on or off. They can be co-opted to create "gene switches" that hold significant potential for understanding gene expression and for therapeutic applications, particularly for the noninvasive treatment or management of genetic disorders. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-molecular-electromagnetic-sensor-enable-remote.html Biotechnology Mon, 17 Aug 2026 19:40:04 EDT news706196881 Our sun is capable of storms far bigger than we've ever recorded. Studying the world's oldest trees suggests we could soon be due one of these gargantuan events. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-ancient-trees-enormous-solar-storm.html Planetary Sciences Mon, 17 Aug 2026 14:00:06 EDT news706186321 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 A medieval monastery complex, long believed to be lost, has now been identified using ground-penetrating radar (GPR) in Roskilde, Denmark. The investigations have uncovered extensive and well-preserved remains of the St Clare's Convent from the 13th century, approximately 1 meter (3 feet) below today's ground surface. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-lost-convent-rediscovered-soccer-field.html Archaeology Fri, 14 Aug 2026 12:00:03 EDT news705925743 A popular myth about black holes is that they act like giant cosmic vacuum cleaners, sucking in everything around them. But Wladimir Lyra's research found a new mechanism around supermassive black holes that is more like a cosmic nursery, giving birth to planets more massive than Jupiter. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-supermassive-black-holes-massive-planets.html Astronomy Thu, 13 Aug 2026 09:11:08 EDT news705831033 A University of Kansas physicist played a leading role in a CERN study showing that two rival explanations for how gluons behave inside atomic nuclei can now be experimentally distinguished. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-cern-conventional-gluons-atomic-nuclei.html General Physics Tue, 11 Aug 2026 17:40:04 EDT news705672722 Every year, millions of migratory birds travel between different geographical regions on Earth to find food, escape cold weather or reach safe environments to raise chicks. To determine which direction to fly, these birds rely on various types of sensory cues and information, including the magnetic field surrounding our planet, known as the geomagnetic field. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-pulsed-radiofrequency-magnetic-fields-disorient.html Plants & Animals Sat, 08 Aug 2026 12:40:01 EDT news705314676 For the first time, researchers have determined the shape of the actinide nucleus of fermium-255 and measured its structure with high precision and resolution. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-laser-spectroscopy-reveal-hidden-nuclear.html General Physics Fri, 07 Aug 2026 17:20:01 EDT news705325561 Dark matter's existence is all but certain—astronomers believe it makes up about a quarter of the universe's total energy content—yet its true identity has eluded us for decades. Two of the leading candidates for dark matter are the hypothetical particles ultralight axions and dark photons, which in the range studied here would be some 19 to 21 orders of magnitude lighter than the electron. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-earth-magnetic-field-axions-dark.html General Physics Wed, 05 Aug 2026 15:40:05 EDT news705153841 Researchers at the 4th Physics Institute of the University of Stuttgart and the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT) in Milan have demonstrated a new mechanism for directing light in a naturally hyperbolic van der Waals material without conventional nanofabricated waveguides. The discovery opens new possibilities for integrated photonics, on-chip optical communication and future quantum technologies. The paper is published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-nano-optics-mechanism-channeling-natural.html Nanophysics Tue, 04 Aug 2026 14:40:03 EDT news705065941 Data released by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) marks a landmark expansion in the study of accreting supermassive black holes (SMBHs). As part of the fifth generation of the survey (SDSS-V), the Black Hole Mapper (BHM) program is providing unprecedented insights into the masses, growth and physics of quasars and active galactic nuclei (AGN) across cosmic time. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-monsters-unveils-sky-views-supermassive.html Astronomy Tue, 04 Aug 2026 13:00:05 EDT news705061622 For most theories in physics, the order of operations has little impact on the result. When setting a dial to a certain position, for example, it doesn't matter whether it's turned clockwise or counterclockwise—the result will always be the same. Yet for non-Abelian gauge theories, order does matter. These theories underpin the Standard Model, but to test their more subtle predictions, researchers have so far relied on enormous particle accelerators. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-complex-field-physics-tabletop-photonic.html General Physics Wed, 29 Jul 2026 11:20:04 EDT news704539586 By analyzing the data from NASA's Fermi gamma-ray space telescope, Chinese astronomers have investigated a recently identified millisecond pulsar known as PSR J0435+3233. As a result, they found that the pulsar exhibits gamma-ray pulsations. The discovery was detailed in a paper published July 17 on the pre-print server arXiv. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-gamma-ray-pulsations-reveal-extreme.html Astronomy Sun, 26 Jul 2026 14:00:01 EDT news704105534 Researchers from the University of Amsterdam and the University of New South Wales have answered a question that has been around for decades: whether ions of the metal ytterbium can enter certain long-lived, nearly stable states and, if so, for how long. The measured long-lived states may find applications in quantum computers and atomic clocks. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-ytterbium-states-sharpen-quantum-atomic.html General Physics Fri, 24 Jul 2026 17:20:02 EDT news704113673 Sending quantum information through a chain of qubits, like energy through a Newton's cradle, could be the key to faster operations and take quantum computing to the next level. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-quantum-newton-cradle.html Quantum Physics Thu, 23 Jul 2026 14:20:03 EDT news704030016 Heavy polar molecules are some of the most sensitive tools physicists have for probing what lies beyond the Standard Model, the theory that describes the particles and forces we know about. But turning that sensitivity into precise, trustworthy measurements has long been held back by one stubborn problem: Stray electric and magnetic fields drown out the tiny signals researchers are actually looking for. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-molecular-clock-transitions-tune-noise.html General Physics Thu, 23 Jul 2026 10:00:07 EDT news703934328