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. Researchers from Regensburg and Birmingham have overcome a fundamental limitation of optical microscopy. With the help of quantum mechanical effects, they succeeded for the first time in performing optical measurements with atomic resolution. Their work is published in the journal Nano Letters. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-quantum-mechanical-effects-fundamental-limitation.html Optics & Photonics Fri, 30 Jan 2026 13:21:45 EST news689001661 For the first time, researchers have directly visualized how newly formed cellular organelles leave the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and transition onto microtubule tracks inside living cells. This new finding reveals that the ER plays an active and dynamic role in steering intracellular traffic rather than serving as a passive factory. The study is published in the journal ACS Nano. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-capturing-moment-organelle-handoff-cells.html Bio & Medicine Wed, 28 Jan 2026 13:23:17 EST news688828982 Sum-frequency generation (SFG) is a powerful vibrational spectroscopy that can selectively probe molecular structures at surfaces and interfaces, but its spatial resolution has been limited to the micrometer scale by the diffraction limit of light. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-vibrational-spectroscopy-technique-enables-nanoscale.html Nanomaterials Mon, 19 Jan 2026 16:24:22 EST news688062242 Researchers at Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT-Italian Institute of Technology) have developed an innovative microscopy technique capable of improving the observation of living cells. The study, published in Optics Letters, paves the way for a more in-depth analysis of numerous biological processes without the need for contrast agents. The next step will be to enhance this technique using artificial intelligence, opening the door to a new generation of optical microscopy methods capable of combining direct imaging with innovative molecular information. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-microscopy-technique-cell-natural-conditions.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 15 Jan 2026 16:26:38 EST news687716761 Researchers at the Regensburg Center for Biochemistry (RCB) and the Regensburg Center for Ultrafast Nanoscopy (RUN) at the University of Regensburg are obtaining unique insights into the structure, dynamics and function of dynamic components of the exosome, an RNA-degrading molecular machine in the cell. The results not only provide biological information on RNA degradation but are also a methodological milestone in structural elucidation of biomolecules. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-biophysical-techniques-reveal-dynamic-movements.html Biotechnology Wed, 27 Aug 2025 14:23:05 EDT news675523380 Nature has developed a unique structure as a scaffold for almost all nerve cells: the membrane-associated periodic skeleton (MPS). This specialized cytoskeletal structure is located below the cell membrane and consists of numerous proteins in a periodic arrangement. The MPS is involved in various cellular processes, such as inter- and intracellular signaling. To date, many proteins have been identified that interact with the MPS, but the mechanisms underlying its organization are not yet fully understood. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-regulatory-protein-neuronal-cytoskeleton.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 23 Apr 2025 11:52:03 EDT news664627921 Bio-based thermoplastics are produced from renewable organic materials and can be recycled after use. Their resilience can be improved by blending bio-based thermoplastics with other thermoplastics. However, the interface between the materials in these blends sometimes requires enhancement to achieve optimal properties. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-thermoplastic-blends-polylactic-acid.html Polymers Mon, 04 Nov 2024 13:01:03 EST news649947661 A team led by physicists Steffen Sahl and Stefan Hell at the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Multidisciplinary Sciences in Göttingen and the MPI for Medical Research in Heidelberg has succeeded in measuring distances within biomolecules using a light microscope, down to 1 nanometer and with Ångström precision. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-intra-molecular-distances-biomolecules-optically.html Molecular & Computational biology Fri, 11 Oct 2024 10:03:15 EDT news647859789 In the search for more efficient and sustainable energy generation methods, a class of materials called metal halide perovskites have shown great promise. In the few years since their discovery, novel solar cells based on these materials have already achieved efficiencies comparable to commercial silicon solar cells. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-small-electrons-big-future-ultrafast.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 17 Jul 2024 11:06:04 EDT news640433161 One of the challenges of cramming smarter and more powerful electronics into ever-shrinking devices is developing the tools and techniques to analyze the materials that make them up with increasingly intimate precision. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-physicists-method-atom-defects-semiconductors.html Condensed Matter Thu, 04 Jul 2024 05:00:01 EDT news639232201 When trying to measure molecular structures with nanometer precision, every bit of noise shows up in the data: someone walking past the microscope, tiny vibrations in the building and even the traffic outside. A new processing technique removes noise from optical microscope data in real time, allowing scientists to track individual molecules over 10 times more precisely than was possible before. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-aim-algorithm-super-resolution-microscope.html Molecular & Computational biology Wed, 29 May 2024 17:22:04 EDT news636222121 In the 1880s Heinrich Hertz discovered that a spark jumping between two pieces of metal emits a flash of light—rapidly oscillating electromagnetic waves—which can be picked up by an antenna. To honor his groundbreaking work, the unit of frequency was named "Hertz" in 1930. Hertz's findings were later used by Guglielmo Marconi (Nobel Prize in Physics, 1909) to transmit information over long distances creating radio communication and revolutionizing wireless telegraphy—shaping the modern world until today. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-physicists-atomic-scale-telegraphy.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 08 May 2024 11:00:01 EDT news634290649 A team at the University of Tokyo have constructed an improved mid-infrared microscope, enabling them to see the structures inside living bacteria at the nanometer scale. Mid-infrared microscopy is typically limited by its low resolution, especially when compared to other microscopy techniques. Their work has been published in Nature Photonics. https://phys.org/news/2024-04-mid-infrared-nanoscopy-enables-clearer.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 17 Apr 2024 11:03:03 EDT news632570578 Imagine having a microscope that magnifies and enhances the tiniest details, revealing a world beyond the limits of conventional resolution. That's precisely what enhanced super-resolution radial fluctuations (eSRRF) brings to the scientific forefront—an upgraded super-resolution magic wand for microscopes. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-power-invisible-visible-revolution-microscopy.html Cell & Microbiology Tue, 14 Nov 2023 10:59:02 EST news619181941 Imagine shrinking light down to the size of a tiny water molecule, unlocking a world of quantum possibilities. This has been a long-held dream in the realms of light science and technology. Recent advancements have brought us closer to achieving this incredible feat, as researchers from Zhejiang University have made groundbreaking progress in confining light to subnanometer scales. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-waveguiding-scheme-enables-highly-confined.html Optics & Photonics Mon, 17 Jul 2023 15:11:07 EDT news608825463 Scientists led by Nobel Laureate Stefan Hell at the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg have developed a super-resolution microscope with a spatio-temporal precision of one nanometer per millisecond. An improved version of their recently introduced MINFLUX super-resolution microscopy allowed tiny movements of single proteins to be observed at an unprecedented level of detail: the stepping motion of the motor protein kinesin-1 as it walks along microtubules while consuming ATP. The work, published in Science, highlights the power of MINFLUX as a revolutionary new tool for observing nanometer-sized conformational changes in proteins. https://phys.org/news/2023-03-major-advance-super-resolution-fluorescence-microscopy.html Biotechnology Fri, 10 Mar 2023 10:01:57 EST news597664914 At the heart of every mobile phone, laptop and autonomous vehicle is a tiny semiconductor whose properties and, ultimately, performance are determined by free electrons. Now, UC Berkeley researchers have developed a new way to measure these electrons that could lead to more energy-efficient semiconductor materials and electronics. https://phys.org/news/2023-02-tool-electron-dynamics-semiconductors.html Nanophysics Mon, 20 Feb 2023 10:58:26 EST news596113101 Chemists' long-held dream of observing the structural dynamics of a single molecule have been now been made possible. Single molecules sized about 1 nanometer exist in a volatile state under ambient conditions. Considering that the coronavirus, which is about 100 nm in size, spreads rapidly in the air shows how difficult it is to observe a single molecule. Recently, a Korean research team has discovered a reliable way to observe single molecules at room temperature by capping them with a thin insulating layer, like a blanket. https://phys.org/news/2022-09-difference-dynamics-nm-single-molecules-room.html Biochemistry Thu, 15 Sep 2022 10:11:01 EDT news582455458 Inside a living cell, proteins and other molecules are often tightly packed together. These dense clusters can be difficult to image because the fluorescent labels used to make them visible can't wedge themselves in between the molecules. https://phys.org/news/2022-08-microscopy-technique-reveals-hidden-nanostructures.html Bio & Medicine Mon, 29 Aug 2022 11:00:04 EDT news580986524 Controlling strong electromagnetic fields on nanoparticles is the key to triggering targeted molecular reactions on their surfaces. Such control over strong fields is achieved via laser light. Although laser-induced formation and breaking of molecular bonds on nanoparticle surfaces have been observed in the past, nanoscopic optical control of surface reactions has not yet been achieved. An international team led by Dr. Boris Bergues and Prof. Matthias Kling at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) and the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics (MPQ) in collaboration with Stanford University has now closed this gap. The physicists determined for the first time the location of light-induced molecular reactions on the surface of isolated silicon dioxide nanoparticles using ultrashort laser pulses. https://phys.org/news/2022-05-light-controlled-reactions-nanoscale.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 19 May 2022 09:04:32 EDT news572169869 Sugars interact with the cell surface through sugar-binding proteins called lectins. These interactions play a fundamental role in many of the cell's biological processes. One important function is the modulation of the immune response towards an outside threat. In a recent Nature Chemical Biology paper, ICMS researchers team up with researchers from Leiden University to unravel the interactions of individual sugar molecules with cells using super-resolution microscopy. https://phys.org/news/2021-11-unraveling-interactions-individual-sugar-molecules.html Cell & Microbiology Tue, 23 Nov 2021 11:30:01 EST news556887490 Physicists and engineers have found a way to identify and address imperfections in materials for one of the most promising technologies in commercial quantum computing. https://phys.org/news/2021-09-fabrication-technique-paves-quantum-devices.html Quantum Physics Wed, 01 Sep 2021 10:41:46 EDT news549711704 An MIT physicist has built a new instrument of interest to MIT researchers across a wide range of disciplines because it can quickly and relatively inexpensively determine a variety of important characteristics of a material at the nanoscale. It's capable of not only determining internal properties of a material, such as how that material's electrical or optical conductivity changes over exquisitely short distances, but also visualizing individual molecules, like proteins. https://phys.org/news/2021-07-scattering-type-scanning-nearfield-optical-microscope.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 14 Jul 2021 08:21:22 EDT news545469678 Electrical engineers at the University of California San Diego developed a technology that improves the resolution of an ordinary light microscope so that it can be used to directly observe finer structures and details in living cells. https://phys.org/news/2021-06-light-shrinking-material-ordinary-microscope-super.html General Physics Tue, 01 Jun 2021 03:18:03 EDT news541736270 A team of physicists from Germany, the .S. and the U.K. managed to observe the motion of electrons from one atomically thin layer into an adjacent one with nanoscale spatial resolution. The new contact-free nanoscopy concept, which shows great potential for investigations into conducting, nonconducting and superconducting materials, will be introduced in the new volume of the science journal Nature Photonics. https://phys.org/news/2021-05-contact-free-nanoscopy-concept-potential-materials.html Nanophysics Thu, 13 May 2021 11:00:12 EDT news540024883 Scientists have developed a pioneering new technique that could revolutionize the accuracy, precision and clarity of super-resolution imaging systems. https://phys.org/news/2021-01-technique-revolutionise-super-resolution-imaging.html Biotechnology Thu, 21 Jan 2021 12:46:48 EST news530455600 Using barcodes to label and identify everyday items is as familiar as a trip to the supermarket. Imagine shrinking those barcodes a million times, from millimeter to nanometre scale, so that they could be used inside living cells to label, identify and track the building blocks of life or, blended into inks to prevent counterfeiting. This is the frontier of nanoengineering, requiring fabrication and controlled manipulation of nanostructures at atomic level—new, fundamental research, published in Nature Communications, shows the possibilities and opportunities ahead. https://phys.org/news/2020-11-nanoscopic-barcodes-science-limit.html Bio & Medicine Mon, 30 Nov 2020 09:18:15 EST news525950292 A Northwestern University research team has developed a new method to conduct spectroscopic nanoscopy, an approach that could help researchers understand more complicated biomolecular interactions and characterize cells and diseases at the single-molecule level. https://phys.org/news/2020-05-technique-higher-resolution-molecular-imaging.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 28 May 2020 10:35:38 EDT news509880934 Since Robert Hooke's first description of a cell in Micrographia 350 years ago, microscopy has played an important role in understanding the rules of life. https://phys.org/news/2020-05-imaging-technology-visualization-nanoscale-cells.html Nanophysics Mon, 04 May 2020 15:55:35 EDT news507826531 An international team with researchers from Leiden revealed how a bacterium repurposed an internal system to control its movements. Movement control is very important in host invasion, which can lead to disease. Publication on 27 April in Nature Communications. https://phys.org/news/2020-04-evolution-bacterial-movement-revealed.html Evolution Wed, 29 Apr 2020 09:23:30 EDT news507371008