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. For more than 25 years, lab-on-a-chip technology has allowed researchers to model human organs and blood vessels using real human cells in artificial microscopic environments. These microphysiological systems (MPS) may replicate human cells and mimic organs or even full organ systems under numerous conditions. They have become key to studying everything from heart disease to the effectiveness of new drugs. However, they have been held back by one major limitation: an inability to accurately re-create the blood flow waveforms generated by the human heart. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-recreates-human-heartbeat-blood-lab.html Biotechnology Thu, 16 Jul 2026 13:00:03 EDT news703410569 Driving an electric current through a molecule can create a magnetic field. Yet in practice, such fields are often too weak to be detected experimentally. Through theoretical modeling, researchers at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) show how quantum effects can turn single molecules into effective magnets—including one shaped like a microscopic soccer ball, just in time for the FIFA World Cup final. The findings are published in Nature Communications. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-quantum-currents-nano-soccer-ball.html Nanophysics Wed, 15 Jul 2026 11:20:10 EDT news703326458 Tissue engineers are finding ways to grow living organs and tissues from cells, with the aim of replacing diseased and damaged counterparts in the body. Scientists have successfully grown artificial muscles, livers, kidneys, skin and other tissues. But there's been no reliable way to engineer precisely patterned networks of blood vessels, some of which can be finer than a human hair. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-precise-artificial-blood-vessels.html Cell & Microbiology Tue, 14 Jul 2026 10:30:02 EDT news703241819 Quantum computers still face limits when it comes to storing information. Researchers at ETH Zurich are now turning to mechanical vibrations rather than electromagnetic memory. Their new vibrating memory can store significantly more information in a smaller volume. Combined with a suitable computer architecture, it also enables the efficient solution of complex computational problems. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-mechanical-vibrations-magnetic-memory-quantum.html General Physics Thu, 09 Jul 2026 10:40:17 EDT news702807933 Researchers have found an ingenious way to make soft robots and wearable technology more than three times more powerful by harnessing the surface tension of a tiny liquid metal droplet smaller than a raindrop. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-scientists-smart-supercharge-soft-robotics.html Materials Science Mon, 06 Jul 2026 10:40:05 EDT news702550645 Silicon chips have powered computing for half a century. Increasingly, they are also becoming platforms to read and manipulate biology at scale—recording from many neurons, reading many DNA sequences and now synthesizing DNA. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-semiconductor-chip-dna-sequences-enzymatic.html Biotechnology Wed, 17 Jun 2026 11:47:12 EDT news700915316 A research team from Tohoku University and Kyocera Corp. has developed a new magneto-optical material—a nanocomposite magnetic garnet film—that can be deposited directly onto silicon substrates while delivering a magneto-optical figure of merit four times higher than conventional polycrystalline films. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-silicon-compatible-nanocomposite-garnet-enables.html Nanophysics Tue, 16 Jun 2026 15:00:01 EDT news700829521 Most people have seen nylon listed as a material on their clothing tags, but nylon is used in an array of other products, too, including automotive parts, wire insulation and medical supplies. Unfortunately, one of the building blocks of nylon, adipic acid, is produced from petroleum-derived benzene through energy-intensive processes and has a rather high carbon footprint. However, there may be a better way to produce this ubiquitous polymer. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-years-overlooked-material-poised-reshape.html Biochemistry Sun, 14 Jun 2026 12:40:01 EDT news700402907 Researchers from the University of Cambridge and GlitterinTech, a startup founded by the same research group, have unveiled a fundamentally new type of optical spectrometer that delivers laboratory-grade precision in a device small enough to be embedded in portable and wearable technologies. By rethinking how spectra are measured and processed, the team has demonstrated a spectrometer costing only around $10, operating at a centimeter scale, and capable of applications ranging from industrial quality control to real-time health care monitoring. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-spectrometer-chip-real-chemical-wearables.html Optics & Photonics Mon, 08 Jun 2026 17:40:04 EDT news700146465 A new chip-making technique exploits a material's crystal structure to create nanoscale patterns at room temperature directly onto hard materials used in devices, including silica. The method could make it easier to pattern chips relaying both electronic- and light-based signals, helping advance next-generation photonic and optoelectronic devices. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-stressed-crystal-nanoscale-patterns-chip.html Nanophysics Fri, 22 May 2026 11:00:07 EDT news698662022 A two-dimensional lamellar crystal composed of atomically thin layers of lead iodide (PbI2) could be used to manufacture a new generation of circuits that use light and mechanical vibrations (rather than electrons) to transmit information in the terahertz frequency range. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-inexpensive-material-compresses-paving-photonic.html Condensed Matter Tue, 05 May 2026 15:50:01 EDT news697212182 Scientists have created the first microlasers capable of detecting individual molecules and even single atomic ions, a breakthrough that could significantly advance early disease diagnosis and molecular-scale medical testing. Researchers at the University of Exeter's Living Systems Institute have published their work in Nature Photonics. The paper opens up new possibilities for microlaser biosensing technology, including "lab-on-a-chip" technology capable of instant medical testing and diagnosis. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-microlasers-capable-individual-molecules-ions.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 25 Mar 2026 06:00:05 EDT news693565580 The COVID-19 pandemic brought messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines to the forefront of global health care. After their clinical trial stages, the first COVID-19 mRNA vaccine was administered on 8 December 2020 and mathematical models suggest that mRNA vaccines prevented at least 14.4 million deaths from COVID-19 in the first year alone. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-dna-origami-vaccine-rivals-mrna.html Bio & Medicine Wed, 11 Mar 2026 19:40:01 EDT news692459881 Researchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have created a chip-scale device that can dynamically control the "handedness" of light as it passes through—also known as its optical chirality—with a simple twist of two specially designed photonic crystals. The study is published in the journal Optica. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-bilayer-photonic-crystals-dynamically-tune.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 11 Mar 2026 15:30:06 EDT news692460662 Imagine a "smart fluid" whose internal structure can be rearranged just by changing temperature. In a new study published in Matter, researchers report a way to overcome a long-standing limitation in a class of "smart fluids" called nematic liquid crystal microcolloids, allowing for reconfigurable self-assembly of micrometer-sized particles dispersed in a nematic liquid crystal host. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-smart-fluid-reconfigured-temperature.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 17 Feb 2026 12:20:23 EST news690553201 Researchers led by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Savaş Taşoğlu from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Koç University have developed a new, open-access and machine learning-assisted design tool aimed at automating microfluidic chip design. The research is published in Science Advances. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-automating-microfluidic-chip-hybrid-approach.html Biotechnology Mon, 02 Feb 2026 17:17:43 EST news689275021 Researchers at the University of Basel and the ETH in Zurich have succeeded in changing the polarity of a special ferromagnet using a laser beam. In the future, this method could be used to create adaptable electronic circuits with light. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-laser-flips-ferromagnet-polarity-material.html Condensed Matter Wed, 28 Jan 2026 11:00:26 EST news688731602 Tiny tubes of carbon that emit single photons from just one point along their length have been made in a deterministic manner by RIKEN researchers. Such carbon nanotubes could form the basis of future quantum technologies based on light. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-fabricating-photon-sources-carbon-nanotubes.html Nanophysics Thu, 25 Dec 2025 12:20:04 EST news685793946 Miniaturization ranks as the driving force behind the semiconductor industry. The tremendous gains in computer performance since the 1950s are largely due to the fact that ever smaller structures can be manufactured on silicon chips. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-world-tiniest-emitting-diodes.html Nanophysics Mon, 24 Nov 2025 11:01:05 EST news683204462 Photonic quantum processors, devices that can process information leveraging quantum mechanical effects and particles of light (photons), have shown promise for numerous applications, ranging from computations and communications to the simulation of complex quantum systems. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-quantum-photonic-chip-emitting-molecules.html Optics & Photonics Mon, 24 Nov 2025 06:30:02 EST news682865851 Cardiovascular disease continues to be the leading cause of death worldwide. But advances in heart-failure therapeutics have stalled, largely due to the difficulty of delivering treatments at the cellular level. Now, a UC Berkeley-led team of researchers may have solved this delivery bottleneck, potentially opening the door to novel, lifesaving treatments. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-lipid-nanoparticles-mrna-heart-muscle.html Bio & Medicine Wed, 05 Nov 2025 12:31:03 EST news681568261 Fungal networks may be a promising alternative to tiny metal devices used in processing and storing digital memories and other computer data, according to a new study. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-mushrooms-memory-chips-future.html Biotechnology Sat, 25 Oct 2025 09:20:43 EDT news680602824 Recently, the iGaN Laboratory led by Professor Haiding Sun at the School of Microelectronics, University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), together with the team of academician Sheng Liu from Wuhan University, has successfully developed the world's first miniaturized ultraviolet (UV) spectrometer chip and realized on-chip spectral imaging. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-miniaturized-ultraviolet-spectrometer-chip.html Optics & Photonics Mon, 06 Oct 2025 09:54:52 EDT news678963281 One often-repeated example illustrates the mind-boggling potential of quantum computing: A machine with 300 quantum bits could simultaneously store more information than the number of particles in the known universe. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-physicists-quantum-bit-capable.html Quantum Physics Sun, 28 Sep 2025 08:50:01 EDT news678095146 In wound healing, immune response, and cancer metastasis, cells migrate through the body—often squeezing through narrow, confined spaces. Together with experimental collaborators, Professor David Bruckner at the University of Basel, Switzerland, has discovered that cells possess a kind of memory: they can "remember" how they previously navigated such constrictions. This allows them to move more quickly and efficiently through complex tissues. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-mechanical-memory-clever-strategy-cells.html Cell & Microbiology Tue, 26 Aug 2025 14:40:03 EDT news675437810 For months, Sabrina Staples stared at a silicone chip no bigger than a postage stamp, trying to coax cells into doing something remarkable. But every time she loaded her delicate microfluidic device with cells, a single rogue bubble would sneak in, destroying the cells and the experiment. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-microfluidic-device-captures-blood-vessel.html Cell & Microbiology Tue, 12 Aug 2025 10:29:04 EDT news674213342 A University of Colorado Denver engineer is on the cusp of giving scientists a new tool that can help them turn sci-fi into reality. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-quantum-tool-gamma-ray-lasers.html Quantum Physics Wed, 23 Jul 2025 09:10:05 EDT news672480271 When the Empire State Building was constructed, its 102 stories rose above midtown one piece at a time, with each individual element combining to become, for 40 years, the world's tallest building. Uptown at Columbia, Oleg Gang and his chemical engineering lab aren't building Art Deco architecture; their landmarks are incredibly small devices built from nanoscopic building blocks that arrange themselves. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-3d-material-dna.html Bio & Medicine Wed, 09 Jul 2025 06:48:05 EDT news671262482 Blood vessels are like big-city highways; full of curves, branches, merges, and congestion. Yet for years, lab models replicated vessels like straight, simple roads. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-customizable-chips-mimic-real-life.html Cell & Microbiology Tue, 27 May 2025 16:20:03 EDT news667581601 When two organisms live together so closely that they merge into a functional unit, this is known as symbiosis. In the "1+1=1" project, an international, interdisciplinary research team is investigating how synthetic symbiosis between microorganisms can be created in a targeted manner—and what this reveals about the formation of complex cell structures. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-paramecium-cyanobacterium.html Cell & Microbiology Mon, 12 May 2025 10:45:09 EDT news666265504