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. Cleveland Clinic researchers are unlocking quantum computing's full potential through the creation of a new computing paradigm inspired by the human brain. Fabio Cumbo, Ph.D., research associate in the lab of Daniel Blankenberg, Ph.D., associate staff, Computational Life Sciences, is developing the model, called quantum hyperdimensional computing (QHDC). https://phys.org/news/2026-06-quantum-hyperdimensional-faster-methods.html Quantum Physics Tue, 16 Jun 2026 19:00:03 EDT news700834148 A method to interpret artificial intelligence (AI) models used in materials discovery by analyzing their learned features has been developed by researchers from Japan. The method extracts key features from an AI model trained on atomic structural data and optical absorption spectra, and then groups materials with similar structural and spectral characteristics. This approach can be extended to reveal how atomic arrangements influence other material properties, paving the way for more efficient materials design. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-ai-materials-discovery-uncovering.html Analytical Chemistry Sun, 14 Jun 2026 21:30:01 EDT news700482481 Researchers at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering and CNSI (California NanoSystems Institute), led by Professor Aydogan Ozcan, introduced a snapshot 3D image projection system that integrates a digital encoder with a passive diffractive optical decoder, jointly optimized end-to-end through deep learning. The hybrid architecture projects multiple distinct images onto closely spaced axial planes in a single shot, marking a significant step toward compact, high-fidelity volumetric display technologies. The research is published in the journal Light: Science & Applications. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-layer-3d-images-shot.html Optics & Photonics Sun, 14 Jun 2026 08:20:01 EDT news700642019 This week's notable citations: Astronomers believe collapsing stars could spawn mini universes. Chimpanzees do not like unfairness. And a single dose of psilocybin temporarily restored function in an 80-year-old with Alzheimer's disease. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-saturday-citations-jaxa-collaboration-toy.html Other Sat, 13 Jun 2026 08:20:01 EDT news700486404 Researchers at Princeton University have harnessed AI to understand how drugs affect the dynamics of vital structures within the cell, introducing a tool that can map the shape of these structures to functional outcomes and shed light on important markers of health. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-ai-cell-droplets-uncovering-drug.html Molecular & Computational biology Sat, 13 Jun 2026 06:20:01 EDT news700547546 Despite lacking brains or nervous systems, slime molds are capable of making surprisingly sophisticated decisions: navigating mazes, finding food and even remembering where they found it last time. How they manage to do all this without any neural architecture has long puzzled researchers. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-slime-molds-decisions-internal-fluid.html Molecular & Computational biology Fri, 12 Jun 2026 09:20:03 EDT news700412642 Global migration has risen sharply from approximately 13 million people per year in 2000 to around 35 million people per year in 2023. This is according to a new dataset on human migration published in Nature by researchers from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), IIASA and the University of Hong Kong. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-annual-global-migration-tripled-reshaping.html Social Sciences Wed, 10 Jun 2026 19:40:04 EDT news700323661 A study in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics explores how a machine-learning strategy known as transfer learning could dramatically reduce the computational cost of searching for new physics beyond the standard cosmological model—while also revealing an unexpected risk: Sometimes AI systems can become too reliant on what they already know. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-physics-ai-unlearn.html General Physics Wed, 10 Jun 2026 00:00:01 EDT news700213321 Recent years have witnessed great advances in applying deep learning to improve fluorescence microscopy imaging. However, enhancing the fidelity of image restoration networks and improving their robustness under fluorescence noise remain significant challenges. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-tunnel-vision-imaging-ai-fluorescence.html Cell & Microbiology Tue, 09 Jun 2026 17:40:03 EDT news700239961 When English speakers say "rose" and Chinese speakers say "玫瑰," do they mean the same thing? A Peking University team led by Professor Bi Yanchao explored this question using word embeddings from 53 languages, behavioral ratings from speakers of eight languages and exploratory multilingual brain imaging data. Published in Nature Communications, the study shows that word meanings are organized along shared neurocognitive dimensions, while differences across languages are associated with climate. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-climate-words-languages.html Social Sciences Tue, 09 Jun 2026 13:20:03 EDT news700223522 The way that Earth's first animals reproduced held back life's diversity for millions of years, until stress and competition led to the development of sexual reproduction, which in turn accelerated the pace of evolution. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-lack-sex-held-life-diversity.html Evolution Tue, 09 Jun 2026 05:00:15 EDT news700126261 A team led by Raju Tomer, professor of biological sciences at Columbia University, has created a new design for microscopes and microscope lenses that could push 3D tissue imaging beyond state-of-the-art systems while drastically cutting costs and complexity. Details of the design were published in the journal Nature Biotechnology. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-3d-microscope-technology-captures-high.html Cell & Microbiology Tue, 09 Jun 2026 05:00:08 EDT news700151821 Using a novel simulation model based on machine learning, an international research team at GSI/FAIR has succeeded in gaining a deeper understanding of element formation in stellar events such as neutron star mergers. For the first time, the scientists used deep learning with a neural network to model the energy release during r-process nucleosynthesis in hydrodynamic simulations. The results are published in the journal Physical Review D. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-neutron-star-merger-simulations-gain.html Astronomy Mon, 08 Jun 2026 15:00:07 EDT news700140362 Designing surfaces that precisely control how light behaves at the nanoscale is tricky. Optical Fourier surfaces, which are nanostructured gratings that redistribute light into specific directions and wavelengths, hold enormous potential for compact spectrometers, augmented-reality displays, and advanced sensors. However, their standard design process relies on computer simulations that assume idealized conditions such as single-angle illumination and the absence of fabrication imperfections—a far cry from reality. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-ai-optical-surfaces-real-world.html Nanophysics Thu, 04 Jun 2026 15:20:05 EDT news699794762 Blurry light from lens imperfections is a problem everywhere, from microscopes to telescopes to smartphone cameras. Using a tiny yet carefully engineered optical element and artificial intelligence, University of California San Diego engineers have built a way to spot and correct those distortions from a single image—a step that could make advanced optical systems faster, smaller and easier to use. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-ai-paired-tiny-optical-device.html Nanophysics Thu, 04 Jun 2026 15:00:06 EDT news699794641 Recent technological advances and the introduction of new digital media platforms have dramatically changed how people learn and source information about topics that interest them. Some recent studies have found that while browsing online or scrolling down social media platforms, users tend to spend under one minute on average on individual videos. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-short-videos-hinder-fragmenting-attention.html Education Thu, 04 Jun 2026 08:40:04 EDT news699715452 Interactions between hard-shelled marine mollusks such as clams and snails and their predators play a critical but largely unseen role in shaping coastal ecosystems. These organisms help stabilize shorelines, filter water and support biodiversity, making them foundational to coastal health. Yet they are increasingly threatened by ocean acidification and expanding populations of mobile shell-crushing predators. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-armed-ai-prey-predator-crunching.html Ecology Wed, 03 Jun 2026 14:20:05 EDT news699709381 Black holes, regions in space where gravity is so strong that nothing can escape, have been widely studied over the past decades, due to their unique and intriguing properties. Einstein's theory of general relativity predicts that black holes obey a set of rules, known as the laws of black hole mechanics. These rules somewhat resemble the laws of thermodynamics, which delineate how energy, heat, and entropy behave in our universe. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-violating-3rd-law-black-hole.html General Physics Wed, 03 Jun 2026 07:00:04 EDT news699524996 Discovering new catalysts is one of the central challenges in developing clean-energy technologies such as green hydrogen production. Yet catalyst discovery has traditionally remained confined within individual material families, limiting researchers' ability to transfer knowledge across chemically distinct systems. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-ai-catalyst-boundaries-uncover-route.html Analytical Chemistry Sun, 31 May 2026 13:00:01 EDT news699204084 Australian researchers have trained lab-grown brain cells on a silicon computer chip to play the nineties shooter game "Doom" and say they are just scratching the surface of what the neurons could be capable of doing. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-brain-cells-play-doom.html Biotechnology Sun, 31 May 2026 07:19:01 EDT news699430701 For more than half a century, materials scientists have struggled with how to simulate the complexity of polymer materials. An individual chain can comprise tens of thousands of atoms, a melt or composite contains billions, and the properties engineers actually care about, such as how an adhesive grips a surface, how a self-assembling block copolymer locks into a nanostructure, or how a biopolymer film stretches without tearing, emerge only over length and time scales that forcible atomistic simulation cannot reach. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-thermodynamic-laws-ai-polymer.html Polymers Tue, 26 May 2026 19:20:07 EDT news699029450 Whether the dust borne on the violent winds of a tornado or the sugar grains in a swirled cup of coffee, the behavior of particles carried along in turbulence is subject to some similarities—all of them difficult to predict at scale. As described in a recent publication in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a research team led by Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists has developed a first-of-its-kind machine learning framework that models chaotic particle motions in a turbulent flow. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-driven-captures-dynamics-turbulence-scale.html General Physics Tue, 26 May 2026 17:20:03 EDT news699021918 As meltwater drains through and beneath a glacier, it can alter how the ice flows and whether it breaks apart. Meltwater can also cause feedback that leads to more ice loss. Understanding when and how glacial meltwater drains is therefore critical to predicting how fast glaciers will lose ice and how that loss will affect sea level. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-glacial-meltwater.html Earth Sciences Tue, 26 May 2026 14:00:05 EDT news699016441 The element sodium plays a key role in nervous system function. An international research team headed by the Institute of Neurobiology at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) has now conducted a closer examination of the sodium concentration in astrocytes—special cells in the brain. To achieve this, the researchers developed a method via which they can make the sodium content of individual cells in tissue directly visible, as they now describe in the journal Nature Communications. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-cell-sodium-reveals-astrocytes-uniform.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 21 May 2026 16:20:04 EDT news698593262 How come our universe is full of disorder, when all elementary particles appear to follow strictly ordered laws of physics? And are there organizing principles behind disorder and apparent chaos? https://phys.org/news/2026-05-evolution-glass-chaos.html Condensed Matter Wed, 20 May 2026 15:46:10 EDT news698510725 Early in development, a group of migrating cells called cranial neural crest cells go on to form many different parts of the face, including the nose, jaw, ears, and throat. To build these structures correctly, genes must switch on in the right cells at the right time. But many of the DNA switches that control those genes sit far away on the genome, and scientists still know little about how genes find and communicate with these distant switches during development. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-genes-ready-early-genome-prime.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 20 May 2026 07:40:10 EDT news698479924 The "prisoner's dilemma" is one of the most famous ideas in game theory. For decades, this game has been used to explain why selfishness often beats cooperation. In the prisoner's dilemma, two players can either cooperate or cheat. Cheating always seems to pay off more, so both players end up cheating and losing out even though working together would have given them the biggest reward. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-physicist-fresh-prisoner-dilemma-reveals.html Mathematics Mon, 18 May 2026 18:00:02 EDT news698339221 Neurons, the uber-connected nerve cells that act as a main switchboard for the brain, are central to some incredibly complicated processes. They make it possible to think, walk, speak, and breathe. They even have built-in backup batteries to use in emergencies. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-neuron-complicated-cell-simple-mission.html General Physics Mon, 18 May 2026 09:26:12 EDT news698315086 Many male hoverflies have bigger eyes than females, giving them the advantage of better optics and faster photoreceptors in high-speed pursuits to find a preferred partner to breed. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-sex-differences-hoverfly-eyes-insight.html Plants & Animals Thu, 14 May 2026 12:16:50 EDT news697979761 Have you ever wondered how a fly manages to dodge you in a split second? Scientists have long been fascinated by the lightning-fast reflexes that help flies escape danger almost instantly. But despite decades of research, they still don't fully understand exactly how the brain coordinates these rapid reactions at the level of individual neural connections. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-flies-dodge-fast-brain-reveals.html Plants & Animals Wed, 13 May 2026 16:00:04 EDT news697905726