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 January 2024, physicists at TU Dortmund University demonstrated a continuous time crystal in a semiconductor whose oscillations remained stable for hours. In a new study published in Nature Communications, Professor Alex Greilich and his team show that many such time crystals can form in the same material and synchronize their electron-nuclear spin oscillations. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-distant-crystals-oscillate-unison-paving.html Condensed Matter Mon, 10 Aug 2026 16:20:09 EDT news705593161 The spacecraft aced its encounter with Mars. Now, mission scientists are studying a trove of data from the flyby in preparation for its arrival at asteroid Psyche in 2029. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-nasa-psyche-mission-mars-flyby.html Planetary Sciences Sat, 18 Jul 2026 14:51:26 EDT news703605061 Saturn's moon Enceladus has become a prime solar system target for astrobiologists. This is because the small moon, which is just over 10% the diameter of Earth's moon, harbors a vast subsurface ocean beneath its icy crust. This subsurface ocean, combined with the geysers at Enceladus' south pole that discharge bits of this ocean into the void, provides scientists with a treasure trove of opportunities for scientific research into whether Enceladus could harbor ingredients for life as we know it, or even direct evidence of life. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-esa-outlines-high-tech-lander.html Space Exploration Wed, 01 Jul 2026 11:20:03 EDT news702116986 Researchers are constantly sifting through new spectral data gathered by powerful telescopes, like the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Most of the time, when they identify spectral features—specific absorption or emission lines from different types of light gathered from a planet, moon or star—these features are known to be caused by certain atoms or molecules. For example, the emission line at 426.7 nanometers is known to come from singly ionized carbon, representing a specific atomic transition between energy states of a carbon ion. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-titan-pluto-mysterious-spectral-feature.html Planetary Sciences Mon, 22 Jun 2026 12:00:04 EDT news701346373 Captured by the multispectral imager instrument on NASA's Psyche mission, this is an enhanced-color view of the large double-ring crater Huygens (upper right; about 290 miles, or 470 kilometers, in diameter) and the surrounding heavily cratered southern highlands near 15 degrees south latitude. The various colors in this dramatic scene are likely due to differences in the compositional properties of dust, sand, and bedrock in this ancient terrain. The image scale is around 2,200 feet (670 meters) per pixel. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-image-nasa-psyche-mission-captures.html Space Exploration Wed, 20 May 2026 09:00:05 EDT news698482682 Scientists digging through data collected by the Cassini spacecraft have found new complex organic molecules spewing from Saturn's moon Enceladus. This is a clear sign that complex chemical reactions are taking place within its underground ocean. Some of these reactions could be part of chains that lead to even more complex, potentially biologically relevant molecules. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-cassini-complex-chemistry-enceladus-ocean.html Astrobiology Wed, 01 Oct 2025 05:00:02 EDT news678441061 In the 17th century, astronomers Christiaan Huygens and Giovanni Cassini trained their telescopes on Saturn and uncovered a startling truth: the planet's luminous bands were not solid appendages, but vast, separate rings composed of countless nested arcs. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-simulations-saturn-moon-enceladus-ice.html Planetary Sciences Tue, 30 Sep 2025 15:52:04 EDT news678466322 A new approach to manufacturing multicolor lenses could inspire a new generation of tiny, cheap, and powerful optics for portable devices such as phones and drones. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-tiny-metamaterial-lenses-imaging-smartphones.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 09 Sep 2025 11:20:07 EDT news676635601 The most complex parachute system to ever deploy on Mars has successfully slowed down an ExoMars mock-up landing platform for a safe touchdown on Earth. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-exomars-parachutes-ready-martian-deployment.html Space Exploration Mon, 21 Jul 2025 12:20:04 EDT news672316825 The NASA/ESA Cassini-Huygens mission explored Saturn and its moons from 2004 to 2017, providing the most detailed images and data on the system ever taken. This included Saturn's largest moon, Titan, which the probe examined closely during its many flybys, and with the deployment of the Huygens lander to its surface. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-titan-benchmark-exoplanet-atmospheres.html Planetary Sciences Wed, 02 Jul 2025 12:39:32 EDT news670678766 Every single organism on Earth, no matter the biome, the kingdom, the domain, whether it's an extremophile in a hot spring or some lithotroph buried in the crust, depends on water. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-titan-liveliest-solar.html Astrobiology Thu, 05 Jun 2025 13:25:38 EDT news668348731 When it descends through the thick golden haze on Saturn's moon Titan, NASA's Dragonfly rotorcraft will find eerily familiar terrain. Dunes wrap around Titan's equator. Clouds drift across its skies. Rain drizzles. Rivers flow, forming canyons, lakes and seas. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-nasa-dragonfly-mission-sights-titan.html Space Exploration Thu, 22 May 2025 13:20:06 EDT news667138510 The puzzling behavior of Titan's atmosphere has been revealed by researchers at the University of Bristol for the first time. By analyzing data from the Cassini-Huygens mission, a joint venture between NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Italian Space Agency, the team have shown that the thick, hazy atmosphere of Saturn's largest moon doesn't spin in line with its surface, but instead wobbles like a gyroscope, shifting with the seasons. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-titan-mysterious-atmosphere-gyroscope.html Planetary Sciences Thu, 22 May 2025 10:12:03 EDT news667127521 What new technologies or methods can be developed for more efficient in-situ planetary subsurface analyses? This is what a recent study presented at the 56th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference hopes to address as a team of researchers investigated how a novel instrument called OptiDrill could fill existing technological voids regarding the sampling and collection of regolith (top dust layer) and subsurface samples on a myriad of planetary bodies throughout the solar system. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-situ-analysis-planetary-regolith-optidrill.html Planetary Sciences Wed, 07 May 2025 09:38:05 EDT news665829481 This year's Lunar Planetary Science Conference (2025 LPSC) saw some truly astounding presentations and proposals. These covered a wide range of science and exploration missions that address the priorities of NASA, other space agencies, and affiliated institutes. A major area of interest was future astrobiology missions that will search for evidence of biological processes (biosignatures) on extraterrestrial bodies. This included Mars, where most of our astrobiology efforts are focused, and locations in the outer solar system. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-concept-astrobiology-mission-enceladus.html Astrobiology Mon, 21 Apr 2025 09:28:05 EDT news664446482 How can we explore Saturn's moon, Enceladus, to include its surface and subsurface ocean, with the goal of potentially discovering life as we know it? This is what a recent study presented at the American Geophysical Union (AGU 2024) Fall Meeting hopes to address. A team of students and researchers proposed the Thermal Investigation of Geothermal Regions of Enceladus (TIGRE) mission concept, which is designed to conduct in-depth exploration of Enceladus with an orbiter, lander, and drill, while laying the groundwork for future missions to icy moons throughout the solar system. https://phys.org/news/2025-02-mission-concept-sampling-enceladus-subsurface.html Astrobiology Tue, 25 Feb 2025 04:22:39 EST news659679750 Southwest Research Institute partnered with the Carnegie Institution for Science to perform laboratory experiments to better understand how Saturn's moon Titan can maintain its unique nitrogen-rich atmosphere. Titan is the second largest moon in our solar system and the only one that has a significant atmosphere. https://phys.org/news/2025-01-corroborate-theory-titan-atmosphere.html Planetary Sciences Mon, 27 Jan 2025 12:52:02 EST news657204718 Researchers at TU Delft have discovered that E. coli bacteria can synchronize their movements, creating order in seemingly random biological systems. By trapping individual bacteria in micro-engineered circular cavities and coupling these cavities through narrow channels, the team observed coordinated bacterial motion. Their findings, which have potential applications in engineering controllable biological oscillator networks, were recently published in Small. https://phys.org/news/2024-12-tiny-dancers-scientists-synchronize-bacterial.html Bio & Medicine Tue, 03 Dec 2024 16:41:18 EST news652466465 NASA has given SpaceX the contract to launch the Dragonfly mission to Saturn's moon Titan. A Falcon Heavy will send the rotorcraft and its lander on their way to Titan in 2028, if all goes according to plan, and the mission will arrive at Titan in 2034. Dragonfly is an astrobiology mission designed to measure the presence of different chemicals on the frigid moon. https://phys.org/news/2024-12-dragonfly-titan-falcon-heavy.html Astrobiology Tue, 03 Dec 2024 10:17:04 EST news652443421 Reservoir computing (RC) has a few benefits over other artificial neural networks, including the reservoir that gives this technique its name. The reservoir functions mainly to nonlinearly transform input data more quickly and efficiently. Spin waves, propagating wave-like disturbances arising from magnetic interactions, can traverse through a material. These excitations are driven by the spin of electrons. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-reservoir-chips-edge.html Condensed Matter Tue, 15 Oct 2024 12:42:11 EDT news648214928 Throughout Earth's history, the planet's surface has been regularly impacted by comets, meteors, and the occasional large asteroid. While these events were often destructive, sometimes to the point of triggering a mass extinction, they may have also played an important role in the emergence of life on Earth. This is especially true of the Hadean Era (ca. 4.1 to 3.8 billion years ago) and the Late Heavy Bombardment, when Earth and other planets in the inner solar system were impacted by a disproportionately high number of asteroids and comets. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-comets-blocks-life-ocean-worlds.html Astrobiology Mon, 09 Sep 2024 12:46:05 EDT news645104761 SUNY Polytechnic Institute (SUNY Poly) Professor of Physics Dr. Amir Fariborz recently published research titled, "An alternative to the Euler equation of rigid body rotational dynamics," in the European Journal of Physics. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-alternative-euler-equation-rigid-body.html General Physics Tue, 13 Aug 2024 14:30:56 EDT news642778254 There's little else in the food world that brings about as much social turbulence as the durian. This so-called "king of all fruits" is considered a delicacy across its native Southeast Asia, where durian season is currently in full swing. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-stinky-durian-king-fruits.html Agriculture Sat, 20 Jul 2024 11:30:02 EDT news640600194 A new study of radar experiment data from the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn has yielded fresh insights related to the makeup and activity of the liquid hydrocarbon seas near the north pole of Titan, the largest of Saturn's 146 known moons. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-analysis-cassini-yields-insights-titan.html Planetary Sciences Tue, 16 Jul 2024 11:00:01 EDT news640337101 This drone took to the sky over Finland to assess the suitability of one particular terrestrial technology for space: the radar systems found in many of today's cars, responsible for automated cruise control and other safe driving functions. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-drone-planetary-radar.html Planetary Sciences Wed, 12 Jun 2024 10:50:01 EDT news637407999 A new theory suggests that Titan's majestic dune fields may have come from outer space. Researchers had always assumed that the sand making up Titan's dunes was locally made, through erosion or condensed from atmospheric hydrocarbons. But researchers from the University of Colorado want to know: Could it have come from comets? https://phys.org/news/2024-04-titan-dunes-comet.html Planetary Sciences Thu, 18 Apr 2024 14:30:04 EDT news632669402 Speculation about extraterrestrials is not all that new. There was a vibrant debate in 17th-century Europe about the existence of life on other planets. https://phys.org/news/2024-04-modern-science-philosophers-alien-life.html Social Sciences Wed, 17 Apr 2024 13:20:01 EDT news632577929 Scientists from the University of Sharjah and the Warburg Institute are poring over the writings of an 11th-century Arab-Muslim polymath to demonstrate their impact on the development of optical sciences and how they have fundamentally transformed the history of physics from the Middle Ages up to modern times in Europe. https://phys.org/news/2024-04-11th-century-arab-muslim-optical.html Other Mon, 15 Apr 2024 13:25:08 EDT news632406286 A fresh, icy crust hides a deep, enigmatic ocean. Plumes of water burst through cracks in the ice, shooting into space. An intrepid lander collects samples and analyzes them for hints of life. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-saturn-moon-enceladus-esa.html Space Exploration Tue, 26 Mar 2024 10:09:16 EDT news630666435 Upgrading social housing is a central part of EU projects to make city life healthier and happier. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-home-renovations-europe-income-families.html Social Sciences Mon, 25 Mar 2024 13:08:23 EDT news630590897