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. Generating hydrogen without releasing carbon dioxide sounds simple: pass electricity through water, split water molecules and generate green hydrogen. The hard part is the electrocatalyst. The best ones rely on platinum, ruthenium and iridium, which are scarce and expensive. We wanted to know whether a small amount of iron and nickel oxides, anchored on carbon nanofibers grown by chemical vapor deposition the right way on the right scaffold, could do the job instead. Our results are published in ACS Applied Nano Materials. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-fuel-nanomaterial-green-hydrogen.html Nanomaterials Mon, 26 Oct 2026 19:00:03 EDT news712234922 DNA-nano/microparticle motors are among the fastest artificial molecular motors reported to date, moving at approximately 30 nm per second. However, they are still slower than natural motor proteins (approximately 100–1,000 nm per second), and further improvements in design and performance are required. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-simulations-reveal-high-dna-particle.html Bio & Medicine Mon, 26 Oct 2026 16:20:01 EDT news712249621 A new study led by an international research team including scientists at the University of South Carolina challenges the idea that the ancient Laacher See volcanic eruption in western Europe triggered a significant climate-cooling period affecting central Europe and the Arctic nearly 13,000 years ago. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-sediment-core-reveals-volcanic-eruption.html Earth Sciences Mon, 26 Oct 2026 11:20:05 EDT news712226705 Stainless steel is widely used for its corrosion resistance, but it is not invincible. In environments containing chloride ions, such as seawater, pitting corrosion can occur. These pits often start at tiny particles called inclusions embedded in the steel. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-reveal-titanium-additions-fully-pitting.html Analytical Chemistry Sat, 24 Oct 2026 17:00:01 EDT news711967888 The positron is the antimatter counterpart of the electron, identical in mass but carrying an equal and opposite electric charge. Like the electron, it also behaves like a tiny bar magnet, and according to a key prediction of the Standard Model of particle physics, its magnetic moment should be exactly equal and opposite to the electron's. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-positron-cyclotron-key-standard.html General Physics Sat, 24 Oct 2026 13:20:02 EDT news711890804 In 1953, two physicists showed that an electron beam skimming past a grating emits light whose color depends only on the electron's speed and the grating's spacing. Known as Smith-Purcell radiation, this phenomenon has become a useful tool for building compact, tunable light sources and tracking particle beams without touching them. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-plain-silicon-reveals-hidden-electron.html Optics & Photonics Fri, 23 Oct 2026 16:20:08 EDT news711980881 Establishing a long-term presence on the moon will require solving challenges that are easy to overlook on Earth. Lunar temperatures, for instance, can vary from hundreds of degrees below zero to boiling, making effective insulation essential for lunar habitats. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-everyday-mylar-insulator-lunar-habitats.html Space Exploration Fri, 23 Oct 2026 15:20:01 EDT news711979621 Do cosmic radiation doses near the moon differ significantly from those received by astronauts in low Earth orbit? Experimental lithium fluoride detectors, installed aboard the Orion spacecraft during the Artemis I mission, have now made it possible to obtain preliminary estimates. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-artemis-crystals-experimental-detectors-doses.html Space Exploration Fri, 23 Oct 2026 11:40:01 EDT news711967966 In a review article recently published in the journal Earth-Science Reviews, researchers from the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW), in collaboration with colleagues from the University of Leicester (United Kingdom), report on how human activity has altered Earth's sediments over the decades. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-microplastics-sediment-decades-human-worldwide.html Earth Sciences Thu, 22 Oct 2026 16:20:19 EDT news711901381 As the climate gets warmer, the number of particles that make up clouds in the Arctic may increase or decrease, depending on the specific area. A new study indicates that the Arctic should be divided into three parts rather than considered as a whole. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-years-size-view-arctic-cloud.html Earth Sciences Thu, 22 Oct 2026 15:20:18 EDT news711900301 Ever since quantum mechanics first described particles, like electrons, as rippling waves, researchers have wondered if those waves could be trapped in place. Writing today in Science a century later, a team of Columbia University researchers reports waves of electrons becoming trapped for the first time in a metal called Pd₅AlI₂. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-quantum-electron-metal.html Condensed Matter Thu, 22 Oct 2026 14:00:18 EDT news711812644 Technion researchers have presented evidence for the existence of solar-storm-like outbursts near supermassive black holes, which can be a million times larger than the sun or more. The phenomenon was discovered in the vicinity of the black hole in the galaxy NGC 3783, and the researchers' findings were published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-black-hole-uncover-evidence-solar.html Astronomy Thu, 22 Oct 2026 11:03:31 EDT news711885705 Unlike classical physics, quantum mechanics generally cannot tell us exactly what will happen in an individual event. Instead, it predicts the probabilities of different outcomes. As one of the theory's early pioneers, Erwin Schrödinger played a key role in debates about what this randomness really means. However, part of his contribution has stayed hidden for more than 80 years. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-lost-schrdinger-manuscript-reveals-true.html Quantum Physics Thu, 22 Oct 2026 09:00:01 EDT news711806228 Researchers at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) have reconstructed approximately 16,000 years of summer temperature changes from sediments collected at Lake Prokoško in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The findings show how the Western Balkans responded to rapid climate changes at the end of the last glacial period, how warmer and cooler phases unfolded during the Holocene, and how the impact of human land use became increasingly pronounced. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-reconstructing-years-summer-temperature-western.html Earth Sciences Wed, 21 Oct 2026 16:30:02 EDT news711818342 Researchers at the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) at the U.S. Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have measured the shortest high-energy X-ray pulses ever recorded at an X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL). The pulses had photon energies of about 9 kiloelectronvolts (keV) and clocked in at durations of 100 to 400 attoseconds—mere billionths of a billionth of a second. The results are published in Nature Photonics. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-ray-free-electron-laser-shortest.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 21 Oct 2026 14:40:10 EDT news711803582 Scientists from RMIT University and Riga Technical University in Latvia have shown that static charge left on surfaces can be controlled, which may have big benefits for companies needing to avoid the little zap in production of common household goods. The discovery could even one day help stop powders such as protein, chocolate malt powders and coffee from clumping. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-invisible-tweak-protein-clumpy.html General Physics Wed, 21 Oct 2026 11:40:16 EDT news711796202 Earlier this year, an outbreak of Andes hantavirus on a cruise ship, which killed three passengers and sickened 13, highlighted the lack of approved vaccines or treatments for the virus. In a study published in Nature, scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and collaborators from Institut Pasteur and LSU Health Shreveport show how the virus recognizes its target on a human cell, a finding that could lead to effective therapies against Andes virus and other hantaviruses. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-scientists-reveal-deadly-andes-hantavirus.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 21 Oct 2026 11:00:15 EDT news711712681 For the first time, Northwestern University physicists have coaxed a single positron—the antimatter counterpart of an electron—into an exquisitely controlled quantum state. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-physicists-particle-antimatter-months.html General Physics Wed, 21 Oct 2026 11:00:10 EDT news711713041 The oxygen in about every other breath we take comes from microscopic cells—phytoplankton—drifting in the surface of the ocean. Among them is Prochlorococcus, the smallest and most abundant photosynthetic organism in the seas. It single-handedly accounts for roughly 10% of all the carbon that the land and the oceans pull from the atmosphere each year. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-ocean-abundant-loner-microbe-sticky.html Ecology Wed, 21 Oct 2026 09:00:06 EDT news711791161 Quantum networks, systems that connect devices and allow them to exchange information encoded in the quantum states of particles, could enable more secure communications. To build these networks, physicists need to devise strategies that allow distant particles to share quantum states, preserving them long enough to perform calculations or enable communication between devices. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-atomic-memory-distant-ions-entangled.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 21 Oct 2026 07:40:12 EDT news711706392 New results from the STAR experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) provide strong evidence that smashing oxygen nuclei together at nearly the speed of light generates a quark-gluon plasma (QGP), a type of matter that existed just after the birth of the universe. The data, just published in Physical Review Letters, show that energetic jets of particles lose energy as they traverse the hot, dense matter left in the collision's wake. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-oxygen-collisions-evidence-jet-quenching.html General Physics Tue, 20 Oct 2026 17:20:01 EDT news711719881 Scientists have long been interested in cellular nanodiscs, tiny particles made from natural cell membranes that mimic many of the functions of living cells. While previous studies demonstrated the therapeutic potential of nanodiscs for drug delivery, detoxification and vaccines, one fundamental question remained unanswered: How does size influence how well they work? https://phys.org/news/2026-10-supercomputer-reveals-size-future-nanomedicine.html Bio & Medicine Tue, 20 Oct 2026 16:20:05 EDT news711718502 Catalysts spur chemical reactions used across industries, from producing fuels and medicines to manufacturing chemicals and treating pollutants. Improving their performance requires understanding where and how reactions happen on their surfaces. However, conventional measurements average the activity of many catalyst particles, concealing local differences that could hold clues to designing more effective materials. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-fluorescent-reaction-reveal-catalyst-conditions.html Analytical Chemistry Tue, 20 Oct 2026 15:50:06 EDT news711728102 Tiny atoms and molecules are constantly bombarding each other all around us. While we regularly measure the large-scale effects of these interactions, measuring the effect of each individual collision is far more difficult. But now, researchers have managed to measure how tiny gas particles affect a single silica particle in the lab. In their new study, published in Physical Review Letters, the team describes how they detected the momentum transfers of individual collisions of gas particles with a nanoparticle levitated in laser light. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-individual-atomic-collisions-lab-potentially.html General Physics Tue, 20 Oct 2026 13:10:01 EDT news711719258 The interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS brought material from another planetary system within reach of our telescopes, but reading its chemistry poses a problem. Energetic particles encountered during its journey through space may have changed its outer layers, so how much of what astronomers detect still reflects the comet's birthplace? https://phys.org/news/2026-10-sun-meters-interstellar-comet-3iatlas.html Astronomy Tue, 20 Oct 2026 08:10:01 EDT news711696503 Scientists have unveiled a new theory on the birth of the cosmos, suggesting the early universe was shaped by an ancient particle that has been overlooked for decades. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-forgotten-particle-mystery-physicists.html General Physics Mon, 19 Oct 2026 19:10:02 EDT news711618181 The aurora is among nature's most visually striking phenomena. It occurs when charged particles from the sun are funneled by Earth's magnetic field into the upper atmosphere, where they collide with atoms and molecules and produce distinctly colored curtainlike patterns of light. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-auroral-electrons.html Planetary Sciences Mon, 19 Oct 2026 14:40:01 EDT news711628203 Voltage fluctuations, light fluctuations, temperature fluctuations—any fluctuations are troublesome and thus undesirable. They don't just cause discomfort; in engineering and medical applications, they affect the accuracy of measurements or introduce errors in controls. Even at the minute level of quantum phenomena, fluctuations are considered undesirable. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-forbidden-emissions-graphene-expose-quantum.html Optics & Photonics Mon, 19 Oct 2026 13:40:04 EDT news711626341 Today's computer technology, based on silicon chips, is slowly reaching its physical limits. Components cannot be miniaturized indefinitely, and clock speeds cannot be increased indefinitely. At the same time, huge AI data centers are being built in many places, and these consume an immense amount of electricity. This is why scientists around the world are searching for novel materials that can replace or complement silicon technology and consume significantly less electricity. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-rays-reveal-copper-oxide.html Condensed Matter Mon, 19 Oct 2026 11:40:06 EDT news711621013 Whether we are waiting for a car windshield to defrost in winter or a warm drink to cool down, how long it takes for an object to settle into a stable, even temperature within its environment (thermal equilibrium) depends on numerous factors. These can include surface area, the material properties of an object and airflow. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-physicists-quantum-limit-thermalization.html General Physics Sun, 18 Oct 2026 13:20:01 EDT news711375948