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 combining two methods to reconstruct the rupture evolution of the July 2025 magnitude 8.8 Kamchatka earthquake found the rupture from the megathrust event extended about 500 kilometers (311 miles) from its epicenter. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-massive-kamchatka-earthquake-rupture-overlaps.html Earth Sciences Thu, 11 Jun 2026 11:20:09 EDT news700392001 Nuclear physicists used a little magic in their latest experiment conducted at the U.S. Department of Energy's Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, and the result has revealed surprising new information about the behavior of protons and neutrons inside the atom's nucleus. Specifically, the research revealed another requirement that determines how protons and neutrons pair up. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-quantum-shell-reveals-proton-neutron.html General Physics Thu, 04 Jun 2026 10:20:09 EDT news699781262 Shielding materials are essential in key modern industrial settings—such as spacecraft, nuclear power plants, semiconductor equipment, and advanced medical devices—to protect both equipment and personnel from electromagnetic waves and radiation. In particular, as space exploration gains momentum—such as with the successful launch of Artemis 2 on the 2nd—the importance of next-generation shielding technology capable of withstanding extreme environments is growing. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-thinner-hair-stretchable-rubber-shield.html Space Exploration Tue, 28 Apr 2026 18:00:05 EDT news696613921 Scientists at the X-ray free-electron laser SwissFEL have realized a long-pursued experimental goal in physics: to show how electrons dance together. The technique, known as X-ray four-wave mixing, opens a new way to see how energy and information flow within atoms and molecules. In the future, it could illuminate how quantum information is stored and lost, eventually aiding the design of more error-tolerant quantum devices. The findings are reported in Nature. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-ray-captures-elusive-electron-interactions.html Optics & Photonics Fri, 16 Jan 2026 05:20:01 EST news687758640 A research team at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) is the first ever to observe a beta-delayed neutron emission from fluorine-25, a rare, unstable nuclide. Using the FRIB Decay Station Initiator (FDSi), the team found contradictions in prior experimental findings. The results led to a new line of inquiry into how particles in exotic, unstable isotopes remain bound under extreme conditions. Led by Robert Grzywacz, professor of physics at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK), the team included Jack Peltier, undergraduate student at UTK, Zhengyu Xu, postdoctoral researcher at UTK, Sean Liddick, professor of chemistry at FRIB and interim chairperson of MSU's Department of Chemistry, and Rebeka Lubna, scientist at FRIB. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-beta-delayed-neutron-emission-rare.html General Physics Sat, 20 Dec 2025 08:14:08 EST news685440824 Glacial earthquakes are a special type of earthquake generated in cold, icy regions. First discovered in the Northern Hemisphere more than 20 years ago, these quakes occur when huge chunks of ice fall from glaciers into the sea. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-hundreds-iceberg-earthquakes-crumbling-antarctica.html Earth Sciences Sun, 14 Dec 2025 12:00:03 EST news684763177 High-energy cosmic radiation damages cells and DNA, causing cancer, and secondary neutrons—generated especially from the planetary surfaces—can be up to 20 times more harmful than other radiations. Aluminum, the most widely used shielding material, has the drawback of generating additional secondary neutrons when below a certain thickness. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-space-shield-flexible-boron-nitride.html Nanomaterials Wed, 19 Nov 2025 17:40:04 EST news682790662 In a Physical Review Letters study, the HOLMES collaboration has achieved the most stringent upper bound on the effective electron neutrino mass ever obtained using a calorimetric approach, setting a limit of less than 27 eV/c² at 90% credibility. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-calorimetric-tightest-bound-electron-neutrino.html General Physics Fri, 31 Oct 2025 10:01:52 EDT news681123702 At any given moment, trillions of particles called neutrinos are streaming through our bodies and every material in our surroundings, without noticeable effect. Smaller than electrons and lighter than protons, these ghostly entities are the most abundant particles with mass in the universe. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-physicists-idea-lasers-neutrinos.html General Physics Mon, 08 Sep 2025 13:22:04 EDT news676556521 A new theory-guided framework could help scientists probe the properties of new semiconductors for next-generation microelectronic devices, or discover materials that boost the performance of quantum computers. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-theory-strategy-scope-quantum-interactions.html Quantum Physics Thu, 24 Jul 2025 08:49:54 EDT news672565788 With the declared aim of measuring matter under extreme pressure, an international research collaboration headed by the University of Rostock and the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) used the high-performance laser DIPOLE 100-X at the European XFEL for the first time in 2023. With spectacular results: In this initial experiment they managed to study liquid carbon—an unprecedented achievement as the researchers report in the journal Nature. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-liquid-carbon.html Plasma Physics Wed, 21 May 2025 14:17:04 EDT news667055822 The next great earthquake isn't the only threat to the Pacific Northwest. A powerful earthquake, combined with rising sea levels, could significantly increase flood risks in the Pacific Northwest, impacting thousands of residents and properties in northern California, Oregon, and Washington, according to new Virginia Tech research. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-earthquake-driven-pacific-northwest.html Earth Sciences Mon, 28 Apr 2025 15:00:06 EDT news665048198 Neutrinos, elusive fundamental particles, can act as a window into the center of a nuclear reactor, the interior of the Earth, or some of the most dynamic objects in the universe. Their tendency to change "flavors" may provide clues into the prominence of matter over antimatter in the universe or explain the existence of dark matter. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-sterile-neutrinos-nuclear-reactors.html General Physics Wed, 23 Apr 2025 14:30:04 EDT news664637402 An extraordinary event consistent with a neutrino with an estimated energy of about 220 PeV (220 x 1015 electron volts or 220 million billion electron volts), was detected on February 13, 2023, by the ARCA detector of the kilometer cubic neutrino telescope (KM3NeT) in the deep sea. https://phys.org/news/2025-02-ultra-high-energy-neutrino-deep.html Astronomy Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:00:09 EST news658489442 International teams of astronomers monitoring a supermassive black hole in the heart of a distant galaxy have detected features never seen before using data from NASA missions and other facilities. The features include the launch of a plasma jet moving at nearly one-third the speed of light and unusual, rapid X-ray fluctuations likely arising from near the very edge of the black hole. https://phys.org/news/2025-01-astronomers-unprecedented-features-brink-black.html Astronomy Mon, 13 Jan 2025 13:50:06 EST news655998406 The results of the newest investigations carried out by scientists from the Institute of Nuclear Physics PAN shed new light on the processes of accumulation of plutonium isotopes on glaciers of the Southern Hemisphere. Analyses of samples of cryoconite, a sediment that accumulates on glaciers, reveal not only differences in concentrations between the hemispheres but also indicate unprecedented isotope anomalies that may be related to accidents such as the fall of the Mars-96 spacecraft. https://phys.org/news/2024-12-plutonium-isotope-anomalies-southern-hemisphere.html Earth Sciences Thu, 12 Dec 2024 16:11:02 EST news653242251 A study in the field of forensic seismology, conducted by Tel Aviv University researchers, has identified the seismic signature of Hamas forces' movement before the October 7 attack. Researchers from the Department of Geophysics at Tel Aviv University's Porter School of the Environment and Earth Sciences and Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences recently analyzed data recorded at three seismic stations in southern Israel. https://phys.org/news/2024-12-analysis-ground-motions-reveals-seismic.html Earth Sciences Mon, 02 Dec 2024 11:40:29 EST news652362024 A team of researchers has successfully demonstrated nonlinear Compton scattering (NCS) between an ultra-relativistic electron beam and an ultrahigh intensity laser pulse using the 4-Petawatt laser at the Center for Relativistic Laser Science (CoReLS) within the Institute for Basic Science at Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), Korea. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-nonlinear-compton-multi-petawatt-laser.html General Physics Mon, 25 Nov 2024 11:33:37 EST news651756805 Extreme conditions prevail inside stars and planets. The pressure reaches millions of bars, and it can be several million degrees hot. Sophisticated methods make it possible to create such states of matter in the laboratory—albeit only for the blink of an eye and in a tiny volume. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-laser-ray-combo-star-conditions.html General Physics Thu, 12 Sep 2024 11:51:08 EDT news645360655 Creating heat from fusion reactions requires carefully manipulating the properties of plasma, the electrically charged fourth state of matter that makes up 99% of the visible universe. https://phys.org/news/2024-04-instrument-scientists-tailor-plasma-fusion.html Plasma Physics Tue, 30 Apr 2024 11:56:00 EDT news633696956 A research group coordinated by the University of Helsinki was able to measure a spike in radiocarbon concentration of trees in Lapland that occurred after the Carrington flare. This discovery helps to prepare for dangerous solar storms. The study is published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. https://phys.org/news/2024-04-largest-solar-storm-modern-tree.html Planetary Sciences Thu, 04 Apr 2024 09:48:05 EDT news631442882 What's causing mysterious bursts of radio waves from deep space? Astronomers may be a step closer to providing one answer to that question. Two NASA X-ray telescopes recently observed one of such events—known as a fast radio burst—mere minutes before and after it occurred. This unprecedented view sets scientists on a path to understand these extreme radio events better. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-nasa-telescopes-clues-mysterious-deep.html Astronomy Wed, 14 Feb 2024 12:43:11 EST news627136984 The Joint European Torus (JET), one of the world's largest and most powerful fusion machines, has demonstrated the ability to reliably generate fusion energy, while simultaneously setting a world record in energy output. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-fusion-facility-tritium-yield-energy.html Plasma Physics Thu, 08 Feb 2024 11:05:33 EST news626612727 As oceans waves rise and fall, they apply forces to the sea floor below and generate seismic waves. These seismic waves are so powerful and widespread that they show up as a steady thrum on seismographs, the same instruments used to monitor and study earthquakes. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-global-earth-seismic-ocean-gaining.html Earth Sciences Tue, 07 Nov 2023 11:46:03 EST news618579961 An international research team has taken a decisive step toward a new generation of atomic clocks. At the European XFEL X-ray laser, the researchers have created a much more precise pulse generator based on the element scandium, which enables an accuracy of one second in 300 billion years—that is about a thousand times more precise than the current standard atomic clock based on cesium. The team presents its success in the journal Nature. https://phys.org/news/2023-09-milestone-atomic-clock-x-ray-laser.html General Physics Wed, 27 Sep 2023 11:46:51 EDT news615034008 Imagine trying to tune a radio to a single station but instead encountering static noise and interfering signals from your own equipment. That is the challenge facing research teams searching for evidence of extremely rare events that could help understand the origin and nature of matter in the universe. It turns out that when you are trying to tune into some of the universe's weakest signals, it helps to make your instruments very quiet. https://phys.org/news/2023-09-quiet-cables-reveal-rare-physics.html General Physics Thu, 21 Sep 2023 16:36:04 EDT news614532961 Timothy Gray of the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory led a study that may have revealed an unexpected change in the shape of an atomic nucleus. The surprise finding could affect our understanding of what holds nuclei together, how protons and neutrons interact and how elements form. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-long-lived-quantum-state-mystery-radioactive.html General Physics Wed, 16 Aug 2023 13:35:04 EDT news611411701 At the center the Earth is a solid metal ball, a kind of "planet within a planet," whose existence makes life on the surface possible, at least as we know it. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-peer-earth-core-solid-metal.html Earth Sciences Wed, 05 Jul 2023 11:00:02 EDT news607766994 Europe should brace for more deadly heatwaves driven by climate change, said a sweeping report on Monday, noting the world's fastest-warming continent was some 2.3 degrees Celsius hotter last year than in pre-industrial times. https://phys.org/news/2023-06-europe-world-fastest-continent-climate.html Environment Mon, 19 Jun 2023 08:20:05 EDT news606381599 There is a clear statistical correlation between global seismic activity and changes in the intensity of cosmic radiation recorded at the surface of our planet, potentially helping to predict earthquakes. Surprisingly, it exhibits a periodicity that escapes unambiguous physical interpretation. https://phys.org/news/2023-06-intriguing-earthquakes-cosmic.html Planetary Sciences Thu, 15 Jun 2023 11:04:18 EDT news606045853