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. In a new Nature Communications study, researchers developed a universal scaling framework for the strength of granular asteroids, showing that their tensile strength can be predicted from the size and shape of their constituent particles. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-particle-size-asteroid-strength-revealing.html Planetary Sciences Fri, 04 Sep 2026 14:20:06 EDT news707737328 In a new Nature Physics study, researchers accelerated electrons to more than twice the energy predicted by the traditional dephasing limit for laser-plasma accelerators operating over the same distance. This was made possible by a specially engineered laser pulse called a flying focus, which counteracts a longstanding limitation known as "dephasing." https://phys.org/news/2026-08-flying-focus-laser-key-limitation.html Optics & Photonics Sat, 08 Aug 2026 15:40:03 EDT news705318688 A new study in Nature Communications has established a link between the Riemann Hypothesis and dynamical phase transitions in engineered quantum systems, demonstrating the effect on a quantum processor. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-physicists-link-riemann-hypothesis-phase.html General Physics Thu, 30 Jul 2026 12:20:05 EDT news704628909 A new study published in Nature Physics reports the first direct experimental evidence of a Floquet topological state, a novel light-induced phase of matter that, until now, has existed only on paper and in simulations. Topological insulators can conduct electricity along their surface while remaining insulating throughout their bulk. Physicists have spent years developing Floquet engineering, a technique that uses intense, rapidly oscillating light fields to temporarily reshape a material's electronic structure. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-physicists-capture-evidence-floquet-topological.html Condensed Matter Mon, 27 Jul 2026 08:00:01 EDT news704113591 In a new study published in Nature Physics, researchers have demonstrated the Hong–Ou–Mandel (HOM) effect with up to 12 indistinguishable neutral atoms—an effect that has been predominantly observed in photonic systems. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-physicists-hongoumandel-atoms.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 30 Jun 2026 12:00:01 EDT news702035661 A study published in Nature Physics provides new molecular-level evidence from simulations that liquid water is not a single uniform substance, but a constantly shifting mixture of two distinct microscopic structures. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-scientists-molecular-evidence-liquid.html General Physics Thu, 25 Jun 2026 14:20:03 EDT news701609342 A new study in Nature Communications finds a critical climate tipping point in Tibetan permafrost ecosystems. Warming of 2–4 degrees Celsius triggers a self-reinforcing cycle of carbon release that could significantly accelerate climate change, according to the work. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-ancient-carbon-tibetan-permafrost-triggering.html Earth Sciences Wed, 03 Jun 2026 15:20:04 EDT news699718093 A new study published in Physical Review Letters by the IceCube Collaboration reports evidence that the energy spectrum of astrophysical neutrinos is not a simple straight line. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-icecube-cosmic-neutrino-spectrum-simple.html General Physics Fri, 29 May 2026 13:20:06 EDT news699105986 A new Physical Review Letters study places constraints on the ER = EPR conjecture, showing that under the authors' assumptions, the conjecture would imply possible alterations to the hyperfine structure and effective charge of the hydrogen atom—effects that have never been observed. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-hydrogen-quantum-wormhole-conjecture.html General Physics Mon, 25 May 2026 16:00:01 EDT news698933854 A new study published in Nature Communications has shown that in the asymptotic limit, extracting the maximum possible work from many copies of a quantum system does not require knowing exactly what state that system is in. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-universal-quantum-protocol-maximum-state.html Quantum Physics Sat, 18 Apr 2026 10:00:08 EDT news695563531 A recent study published in Physical Review Letters reveals that many widely used signatures of criticality in brain data may be statistical artifacts. They propose a more robust framework that, when applied to whole-brain fMRI data, confirms the brain operates near, but not exactly at, a critical point. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-human-brain-critical.html General Physics Sat, 28 Mar 2026 14:50:02 EDT news693652558 A new study published in Nature Astronomy indicates that the dense, star- and dark-matter–rich environments around supermassive black hole binaries pack on the order of a million solar masses into each cubic parsec. The team used gravitational-wave data from pulsar timing arrays to probe galactic centers that are otherwise impossible to observe directly. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-gravitational-reveal-hidden-galactic-centers.html Astronomy Fri, 06 Mar 2026 11:40:01 EST news692010701 In a new study published in Physical Review Letters, researchers used machine learning to discover multiple new classes of two-dimensional memories, systems that can reliably store information despite constant environmental noise. The findings indicate that robust information storage is considerably richer than previously understood. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-machine-reveals-hidden-landscape-robust.html General Physics Tue, 10 Feb 2026 10:00:05 EST news689936595 In a new study published in Physical Review Letters, scientists have performed the first global simulations of monster shocks—some of the strongest shocks in the universe—revealing how these extreme events in magnetar magnetospheres could be responsible for producing fast radio bursts (FRBs). https://phys.org/news/2026-02-extreme-plasma-monster-explanation-fast.html Plasma Physics Fri, 06 Feb 2026 13:00:01 EST news689596681 In a recent study, researchers from China have developed a chip-scale LiDAR system that mimics the human eye's foveation by dynamically concentrating high-resolution sensing on regions of interest (ROIs) while maintaining broad awareness across the full field of view. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-bionic-lidar-retinal-resolution-focusing.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 21 Jan 2026 07:30:03 EST news688146130 In a new study published in Nature Physics, researchers have achieved the first experimental observation of a fragile-to-strong transition in deeply supercooled water, resolving a scientific puzzle that has persisted for nearly three decades. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-dynamic-transition-deeply-supercooled.html Condensed Matter Sun, 14 Dec 2025 10:00:01 EST news684763149 In a study published in Physical Review Letters, physicists have demonstrated that black holes satisfy the third law of thermodynamics, which states that entropy remains positive and vanishes at extremely low temperatures, just like ordinary quantum systems. The finding provides strong evidence that black holes possess isolated ground states, a hallmark of quantum mechanical behavior. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-probing-quantum-nature-black-holes.html General Physics Sat, 29 Nov 2025 08:20:03 EST news683543760 In a new study published in Nature Physics, researchers have demonstrated that quantum light, particularly bright squeezed vacuum (BSV), can drive strong-field photoemission at metal needle tips. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-bright-vacuum-reveals-hidden-quantum.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 20 Nov 2025 13:00:04 EST news682865663 Researchers have demonstrated that the theoretically optimal scaling for magic state distillation—a critical bottleneck in fault-tolerant quantum computing—is achievable for qubits, improving on the previous best result by reaching a scaling exponent of exactly zero. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-optimal-scaling-magic-state-distillation.html Quantum Physics Wed, 12 Nov 2025 07:00:01 EST news682099964 In a new study published in Nature Physics, researchers achieved the first experimental observation of a time rondeau crystal—a novel phase of matter where long-range temporal order coexists with short-time disorder. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-rondeau-crystal-scientists-temporal.html Condensed Matter Mon, 10 Nov 2025 07:30:01 EST news681738243 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 According to a new Physical Review Letters study, black holes could help solve the dark matter mystery. The shadowy regions in black hole images captured by the Event Horizon Telescope can act as ultra-sensitive detectors for the invisible material that makes up most of the universe's matter. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-event-horizon-telescope-images-reveal.html Astronomy Fri, 10 Oct 2025 10:20:01 EDT news679309891 A recent Physical Review Letters study presents a new model for quark star merger ejecta that could resolve whether these cosmic collisions generate ordinary matter or something different. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-quark-star-merger-ejecta-reveals.html Astronomy Mon, 29 Sep 2025 12:40:05 EDT news678368253 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 A recent Physical Review Letters publication presents a thorough analysis of MicroBooNE detector data, investigating the anomalous surplus of neutrino-like events detected by the preceding MiniBooNE experiment. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-microboone-detector-excludes-electron-neutrino.html General Physics Thu, 18 Sep 2025 08:20:01 EDT news677340695 In a new Nature study, researchers at the University of Manchester have achieved unprecedented electronic quality in graphene by developing a proximity screening technique that places conducting gates just one nanometer away from the carbon lattice. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-proximity-screening-graphene-electronic-quality.html Nanophysics Tue, 16 Sep 2025 07:30:01 EDT news677151225 A study published in Physical Review Letters (PRL) details a "Gambling Carnot Engine" that researchers report can attain 100% efficiency while also improving power generation. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-surpasses-classical-thermodynamic-limits.html General Physics Wed, 27 Aug 2025 12:40:01 EDT news675516081 In a new study published in Nature Physics, scientists have achieved the first experimental observation of phonon angular momentum in chiral crystals. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-scientists-phonon-angular-momentum-chiral.html Condensed Matter Thu, 14 Aug 2025 11:00:09 EDT news674383921 A new study in Scientific Reports reveals that all Arabica coffee follows the same color development pattern during roasting, potentially transforming quality control and industry standards. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-reveals-universal-arabica-coffee-roasting.html Biochemistry Tue, 29 Jul 2025 09:20:01 EDT news672999368 Using a cutting-edge magnetic wave detection technique, a new study in Nature Communications has identified lithium in Mercury's exosphere for the first time. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-scientists-lithium-mercury-exosphere-magnetic.html Planetary Sciences Fri, 18 Jul 2025 11:18:30 EDT news672056303