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. Signals ride on waves of one kind or another: light, sound, radio. But new carriers are needed to relay information in next-generation devices. Disturbances or waves in magnetic materials called magnons could be an efficient option—if scientists can tame them. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-spontaneous-magnons-synchronize-external-room.html Condensed Matter Wed, 12 Aug 2026 12:00:05 EDT news705746821 Resolving a long-standing problem in semiconductor physics and optoelectronics, a team of researchers from Skoltech—a VEB.RF group institution—and their colleagues from ITMO University and HSE University have for the first time demonstrated direct electrical pumping of a polariton laser based on a solution-processed halide perovskite microcrystal. Published in Nature, this solution to a decades-long technological challenge ushers in inexpensive nonepitaxial laser diodes operating under continuous electric current. These could be used in optical sensing and spectroscopy, high-speed computing and energy-efficient neuromorphic computing. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-electrically-perovskite-polariton-laser-diode.html Condensed Matter Wed, 29 Jul 2026 15:20:06 EDT news704544242 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 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 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 Researchers from the University of Jyväskylä and Aalto University have developed a new method based on laser modification, which allows metal-organic materials to be grown locally one molecule-thick layer at a time. The method enables the precise construction of films of different shapes and offers new ways to modify the properties of materials for various applications. The study was published in the journal ACS Nano. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-laser-graphene-enables-molecule-thick.html Nanomaterials Wed, 25 Mar 2026 17:50:01 EDT news693676921 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 Accurately measuring small shifts in biological markers, like proteins and neurotransmitters, or harmful chemicals in the water supply, can identify critical problems before they have a chance to impact patients or the environment. While some existing sensors can monitor the microscopic matter behind these issues, they often have limitations. A primary example is a device known as a field-effect transistor—a tiny component that controls the flow of electrical current in a system—that struggles to remain stable when exposed to liquid. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-graphene-sensors-stay-stable-liquids.html Nanomaterials Tue, 17 Mar 2026 17:10:01 EDT news692981281 At a potluck, you ate the best chocolate chip cookie—golden-brown, thick and chewy. Unfortunately, you don't know who made the cookie to get the recipe from, so you decide to recreate it. Using forward design principles, you might randomly choose a recipe from dozens of options, bake and observe the resulting cookies. If they are too thin, you might start over with a new recipe, add more flour or chill the dough longer and make a new batch. An alternative method is to start from the cookie characteristics you want and ask: What recipe and baking settings will produce that type of cookie? This method is called inverse design. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-inverse-pathway-custom-functional-polymers.html Polymers Tue, 17 Mar 2026 09:00:07 EDT news692956417 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 Physicists at the University of Colorado Boulder have demonstrated a new kind of vacuum ultraviolet laser that is 100 to 1,000 times more efficient than existing technologies of its kind. The researchers say the device could one day allow scientists to observe phenomena currently out of reach for even the most powerful microscopes—such as following fuel molecules in real time as they undergo combustion, spotting incredibly small defects in nanoelectronics and more. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-compact-vacuum-ultraviolet-laser-nanotechnology.html Nanophysics Wed, 11 Mar 2026 16:00:03 EDT news692462339 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 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 A research team from the Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology (QIBEBT) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has developed a fully automated "Digital Colony Picker" (DCP). This device identifies and retrieves high-performance microbial clones by simultaneously monitoring their growth and metabolite production—eliminating the need for culture plates, sampling needles, or manual picking. The study was published in Nature Communications on Oct. 10. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-ai-powered-digital-colony-picker.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 15 Oct 2025 09:25:03 EDT news679739101 Light is fast, but travels in long wavelengths and interacts weakly with itself. The particles that make up matter are tiny and interact strongly with each other, but move slowly. Together, the two can combine into a hybrid quasiparticle called a polariton that is part light, part matter. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-playbook-polaritons-quasiparticles-power-optical.html Optics & Photonics Fri, 10 Oct 2025 11:00:12 EDT news679161482 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 A team of scientists from the University of Chicago, the University of California Berkeley, Argonne National Laboratory, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has developed molecular qubits that bridge the gap between light and magnetism—and operate at the same frequencies as telecommunications technology. The advance, published today in Science, establishes a promising new building block for scalable quantum technologies that can integrate seamlessly with existing fiber-optic networks. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-molecular-qubits-communicate-telecom-frequencies.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 02 Oct 2025 17:02:04 EDT news678643321 In a recent Nature study, scientists have demonstrated an electrically driven perovskite laser using a dual-cavity design, addressing a challenge that has persisted in the field for over a decade. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-scientists-electrically-driven-perovskite-laser.html Optics & Photonics Sun, 28 Sep 2025 10:00:01 EDT news678107757 Johns Hopkins researchers have discovered new materials and a new process that could advance the ever-escalating quest to make smaller, faster and affordable microchips used across modern electronics—in everything from cellphones to cars, appliances to airplanes. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-circuits-invisible-naked-eye-technique.html Nanomaterials Thu, 11 Sep 2025 05:00:01 EDT news676783109 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 A new method for combining magnetic elements with semiconductors—which are vital materials for computers and other electronic devices—was unveiled by a research team led by the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-boost-semiconductors-magnetic-atoms-materials.html Nanophysics Tue, 22 Jul 2025 07:57:35 EDT news672389849 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 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 Today, most of us carry a fairly powerful computer in our hand—a smartphone. But computers weren't always so portable. Since the 1980s, they have become smaller, lighter, and better equipped to store and process vast troves of data. Yet the silicon chips that power computers can only get so small. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-unique-molecule-smaller-efficient.html Nanophysics Thu, 01 May 2025 17:04:04 EDT news665337841 Rapidly increasing data traffic is placing ever greater demands on the capacity of communication systems. In an article titled "Ultra-broadband optical amplification using nonlinear integrated waveguides" published in Nature, a research team from Chalmers University of Technology, in Sweden, introduce a new amplifier that enables the transmission of 10 times more data per second than those of current fiber-optic systems. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-amplifier-bandwidth-super-lasers.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 09 Apr 2025 11:00:28 EDT news663406261 It has long been thought that only nerve and heart cells use electric impulses to communicate, while epithelial cells—which compose the linings of our skin, organs and body cavities—are mute, serving mostly as protective barriers that can absorb and secrete various substances. https://phys.org/news/2025-03-silent-epithelial-cells.html Cell & Microbiology Mon, 17 Mar 2025 15:00:07 EDT news661419001