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. When living cells grow, divide or respond to drugs, they give off tiny amounts of heat that offer information about what the cells are doing. But because these heat signals are so vanishingly small, they have traditionally been impossible to measure directly. Researchers in the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have developed a calorimeter—a device that measures the heat transfer between a living system and its environment—that can detect metabolic heat signals on the order of 100 picowatts, or trillionths of a watt, in living cells. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-sensor-cells-views-cell-metabolism.html Cell & Microbiology Tue, 16 Jun 2026 16:40:05 EDT news700830721 Ultrafast lasers emit pulses lasting only a few hundred femtoseconds (quadrillionths of a second). These flashes of light power applications from precision micromachining to eye surgery to optical frequency combs, the Nobel Prize-winning technology behind today's most precise optical atomic clocks. Yet despite more than two decades of effort, ultrafast lasers have largely remained bulky, expensive systems confined to optical tables. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-ultrafast-laser-chip-scale-potentially.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 03 Jun 2026 11:00:26 EDT news699637261 Most laser sources produce Gaussian beams that diverge as they propagate. This natural spreading limits their effectiveness in applications that require light to remain concentrated over long distances. To overcome this challenge, structured light beams have been developed, whose amplitude, phase, and polarization can be carefully controlled. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-compact-flat-lens-generate-nondiffracting.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 02 Apr 2026 15:00:02 EDT news694351201 As quantum computers continue to advance, many of today's encryption systems face the risk of becoming obsolete. A powerful alternative—quantum cryptography—offers security based on the laws of physics instead of computational difficulty. But to turn quantum communication into a practical technology, researchers need compact and reliable devices that can decode fragile quantum states carried by light. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-laserwritten-glass-chip-quantum-communication.html Optics & Photonics Mon, 09 Feb 2026 16:53:38 EST news689878381 Cilia are micrometer-sized biological structures that occur frequently in nature. Their characteristic high-frequency, three-dimensional beating motions (5–40 Hz) play indispensable roles inside the body. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-hydrogel-cilia-standard-microrobotics.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 14 Jan 2026 10:00:05 EST news687602761 Within tissues, cells are embedded in complex, three-dimensional structures known as the extracellular matrix. Their biomechanical interactions play a crucial role in numerous biological processes. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light (MPL) have now developed a novel lab-on-a-chip system based on intelligent hydrogel structures, which enables precise pressure forces to be applied to cellular microenvironments. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-smart-hydrogels-micromachines-cells.html Cell & Microbiology Tue, 02 Dec 2025 17:02:40 EST news683917322 Inspired by the ancient East Asian method of constructing wooden structures using a "tongue and groove" technique, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) scientists have developed a new approach to fabricating advanced ceramic microparticles, just slightly bigger than the width of a human hair. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-scientists-ancient-methods-fabricate-modern.html Materials Science Tue, 15 Oct 2024 11:17:07 EDT news648209822 Just a few years ago, researchers discovered that changing the angle between two layers of graphene, an atom-thick sheet of carbon, also changed the material's electronic and optical properties. They then learned that a "twist" of 1.1 degrees—dubbed the "magic" angle—could transform this metallic material into an insulator or a superconductor, a finding that ignited excitement about a possible pathway to new quantum technologies. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-world-micromachine-2d-materials.html Nanophysics Thu, 22 Aug 2024 10:00:03 EDT news643539601 Researchers have created tiny, vehiclelike structures that can be maneuvered by microscopic algae. The algae are caught in baskets attached to the micromachines, which have been carefully designed to allow them enough room to continue swimming. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-microscopic-vehicles-propelled-green-algae.html Cell & Microbiology Mon, 08 Jul 2024 11:05:03 EDT news639655501 At first glance, Rabih O. Al-Kaysi's molecular motors look like the microscopic worms you'd see in a drop of pond water. But these wriggling ribbons are not alive; they're devices made from crystallized molecules that perform coordinated movements when exposed to light. With continued development, Al-Kaysi and colleagues say, their tiny machines could be used by physicians as drug-delivery robots or engineered into arrays that direct the flow of water around submarines. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-molecular-crystal-motors-microbes-exposed.html Analytical Chemistry Tue, 19 Mar 2024 05:00:01 EDT news629996207 The integration of mechanical memory in the form of springs has for hundreds of years proven to be a key enabling technology for mechanical devices (such as clocks), achieving advanced functionality through complex autonomous movements. Currently, the integration of springs in silicon-based microtechnology has opened the world of planar mass-producible mechatronic devices from which we all benefit, via air-bag sensors for example. https://phys.org/news/2024-01-soft-microrobots-super-compliant-picoforce.html Bio & Medicine Thu, 04 Jan 2024 09:07:03 EST news623581621 Quantum memory that depends on quantum-band integration is a key building block used to develop quantum networks that are compatible with fiber communication infrastructures. Quantum engineers and IT specialists have yet to create such a network with large capacity to form an integrated multimode photonic quantum memory at telecom band. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-telecom-band-integrated-multimode-photonic-quantum-memory.html Optics & Photonics Mon, 31 Jul 2023 13:10:54 EDT news610027848 Researchers have developed a quantum key distribution (QKD) system based on integrated photonics that can transmit secure keys at unprecedented speeds. The proof-of-principle experiments represent an important step toward real-world application of this highly secure communication method. https://phys.org/news/2023-05-chip-based-quantum-key-higher-transmission.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 25 May 2023 16:09:55 EDT news604249793 Prof. Peng Chenhui's team from the School of Physics, University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), realized the collective transfer and reconfigurable self-assembly of colloidal particles by combining the light-driven molecular motors with liquid crystal (LC) molecules in the nematic phase whose orientations are programmed with topological patterns and disclination networks. https://phys.org/news/2023-04-scientists-light-driven-programmable-colloidal-self-assembly.html Nanophysics Fri, 21 Apr 2023 10:31:58 EDT news601291914 In his famous letter to the Royal Society dated Oct. 9, 1676, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek described a single-celled eukaryote (Vorticella) and its fascinating ultrafast cell contraction. This kind of ultrafast cell contraction triggered by a Ca2+-dependent mechanism is distinct from the adenosine triphosphate (ATP)-dependent mechanisms found in actin-myosin and dynein/kinesin-tubulin systems. https://phys.org/news/2023-02-giant-proteins-cell-molecular-basis.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 22 Feb 2023 14:00:03 EST news596278782 Researchers have developed a new way to use femtosecond laser pulses to fabricate the high-precision ultrathin mirrors required for high-performance X-ray telescopes. The technique could help improve the space-based X-ray telescopes used to capture high-energy cosmic events involved in forming new stars and supermassive black holes. https://phys.org/news/2022-10-telescope-mirrors-sharpen-view-universe.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 20 Oct 2022 14:02:03 EDT news585493321 One big stumbling block in the field of photonics is that of color control. Until now, to control color, i.e. the wavelength of light emission, researchers would have to alter the chemical structure of the emitter or the concentration of the solvent—all of which require direct contact, greatly limiting their application. https://phys.org/news/2022-02-optical-tweezers-luminescent-pressure.html Optics & Photonics Mon, 28 Feb 2022 10:20:02 EST news565264647 Is it possible to drive nanoparticles to orbit below the light diffraction limit using a Gaussian beam? A recent joint research project reported in Nature Communications says yes. https://phys.org/news/2021-06-scientists-ultra-fast-optical-orbiting-nanoparticles.html Quantum Physics Thu, 17 Jun 2021 12:28:33 EDT news543151711 Researchers from CAS Key Laboratory of Quantum Information of the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have demonstrated on-demand storage of photonic qubits in an integrated solid-state quantum memory for the first time. This work was published in Physics Review Letters. https://phys.org/news/2021-01-on-demand-storage-solid-state-quantum-memory.html General Physics Fri, 08 Jan 2021 07:18:59 EST news529312735 Using the Advanced Laser Light Source (ALLS) facility, the research team of Professor François Légaré of the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS) has pushed back the boundaries of high-energy pulse propagation in a nonlinear medium through the observation of high-energy multidimensional solitary states. This breakthrough allows the direct generation of extremely short and intense, laser pulses that are highly-stable in time and space. The results of this work were published in Nature Photonics. https://phys.org/news/2020-11-team-boundaries-high-energy-laser-pulses.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 19 Nov 2020 07:01:06 EST news524991660 Researchers have developed a tiny fiber optic force sensor that can measure extremely slight forces exerted by small objects. The new light-based sensor overcomes the limitations of force sensors based on micro-electro-mechanical sensors (MEMS) and could be useful for applications from medical systems to manufacturing. https://phys.org/news/2020-09-tiny-complex-fiber-optic-sensor.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 08 Sep 2020 16:13:16 EDT news518800386 In a recent report, Xiaolei Peng and a team of scientists in materials science and engineering at the University of Texas, U.S., and the Tsinghua University, China, developed opto-thermoelectric microswimmers bioinspired by the motion behaviors of Escherichia coli (E. coli). They engineered the microswimmers using dielectric gold Janus particles driven by a self-sustained electric field arising from the optothermal response of the particles. When they illuminated the constructs with a laser beam, the Janus particles showed an optically generated temperature gradient along the particle surfaces, forming an opto-thermoelectrical field to propel themselves along. https://phys.org/news/2020-09-opto-thermoelectric-microswimmers.html General Physics Fri, 04 Sep 2020 13:10:01 EDT news518442238 A device that monitors health conditions in the body using a person's sweat has been developed by Penn State and Xiangtan University researchers, according to Huanyu "Larry" Cheng, assistant professor of engineering science and mechanics, Penn State. https://phys.org/news/2020-06-simple-device-health.html Analytical Chemistry Tue, 23 Jun 2020 16:34:51 EDT news512148887 If you heat a solid material enough, the thermal energy (latent heat) causes the material's molecules begin to break apart, forming a liquid. One of the most familiar examples of this phase transition from a well-ordered solid to less-ordered liquid state is ice turning into water. https://phys.org/news/2020-03-gold-limbo-solid-states.html Condensed Matter Mon, 02 Mar 2020 13:04:56 EST news502376632 There's an interesting fluid dynamics phenomenon that happens every morning in millions of cereal bowls. When there are just a few bits of cereal left floating on top of the milk, they tend to cluster together in the middle or around the edges of the bowl, rather than dispersing across the surface. https://phys.org/news/2019-12-cheerios-effect.html General Physics Thu, 19 Dec 2019 14:02:02 EST news495986518 The dream of tissue engineering is a computer-controlled manufacturing of complex and functional human tissue for potential organ regeneration or replacement. https://phys.org/news/2019-12-bioprinter-potential-tissue.html Biotechnology Fri, 06 Dec 2019 09:08:53 EST news494845726 Bendable light beams have significant applications in optical manipulation, optical imaging, routing, micromachining and nonlinear optics. Researchers have long explored curved light beams in place of traditional Gaussian beams for line-of-sight light communications. In a recent study now published on Scientific Reports, Long Zhu and a team of researchers in Optical and Electronic information, in China, proposed and developed free-space, data-carrying bendable light communication systems between arbitrary targets for potential multifunctionality. The researchers employed a 32-ary quadrature amplitude modulation (32-QAM) based discrete multitone (DMT) signal to demonstrate free-space bendable light intensity modulated direct detection (IM-DD) communication in the presence of three curved light paths. They characterized (tested) multiple functions of free-space bendable light communication to reveal that they allowed optical communications to be more flexible, robust and multifunctional. The work will open a new direction to explore special light beams enabled, advanced free-space light communications. https://phys.org/news/2019-10-free-space-data-carrying-bendable.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 23 Oct 2019 07:49:17 EDT news491035733 Field-directed and self-propelled colloidal assembly can be used to build micromachines to perform complex motions and functions, although their integration as heterogenous components with specified structures, dynamics and functions within micromachines is challenging. In a recent study on Nature Materials, Yunus Alapan and co-workers at the departments of physical intelligence and complex materials in Germany and Switzerland described the dynamic self-assembly of mobile micromachines with desired configurations using preprogrammed physical interactions between structural and motor units. https://phys.org/news/2019-07-shape-encoded-dynamic-mobile-micromachines.html Bio & Medicine Mon, 15 Jul 2019 08:30:01 EDT news482394491 Nanoparticles (NPs) are a promising platform for drug delivery to treat a variety of diseases including cancer, cardiovascular disease and inflammation. Yet the efficiency of NP transfer to the diseased tissue of interest is limited due to an assortment of physiological barriers. One significant hurdle is the transport of NPs to precisely reach the target tissue of interest. In a recent study, S. Schuerle and a team of interdisciplinary researchers at the departments of Translational Medicine, Biophysics, Engineering Robotics, Nanomedicine and Electronics, in Switzerland, the U.K. and the U.S. developed two distinct microrobot-based micro-propellers to address the challenge. https://phys.org/news/2019-05-synthetic-micropropellers-convection-enhanced-nanoparticle.html Bio & Medicine Tue, 07 May 2019 08:28:32 EDT news476436485 Your chances of getting a nasty migraine increase following a spinal cord injury, thanks to a chemical messenger in the brain that spikes to toxic levels, past studies have suggested. https://phys.org/news/2019-03-implant-track-brain-chemical-rogue.html Bio & Medicine Wed, 27 Mar 2019 13:04:03 EDT news472910631