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. Fluorescent dyes have long been used in biological research to identify and visualize structures within living cells. Although effective, they have several drawbacks, including altering the cells under study, limiting the number of structures that can be examined at once and reducing measurement accuracy. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-ai-ramanomics-major-obstacle-cells.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 06 Aug 2026 15:40:01 EDT news705240841 Ants make up one of the most diverse groups of animals on the planet, with many species boasting remarkable physical abilities and social behaviors, and an overall species richness that far exceeds that of mammals. Various types of ants can carry up to one hundred times their weight or forage hundreds of meters from their nest, the equivalent of a human carrying thousands of kilograms and walking hundreds of kilometers. These feats have inspired researchers to study not only the anatomy that makes them possible but also how ants use these capabilities to forage and explore. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-random-physics-individual-ant-motion.html Plants & Animals Thu, 06 Aug 2026 14:00:07 EDT news705155701 Quantum errors are a normal part of quantum computing because fragile physical qubits (the tiny components storing data) can easily break down because of environmental noise, like heat, stray signals or microscopic vibrations. Typical fixes involve vast amounts of extra hardware qubits, which make computers larger, more expensive and harder to build. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-qubit-entangling-gate-flags-errors.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 06 Aug 2026 12:40:01 EDT news705228588 Astronomers may have just confirmed one of the quirkiest aspects of quantum mechanics: that seemingly empty space can alter the behavior of light. This phenomenon, called "vacuum birefringence," was first predicted nearly 90 years ago by Werner Heisenberg, one of the founding fathers of quantum mechanics. He suggested that even a perfect vacuum should be teeming with "virtual particles" that rapidly pop in and out of existence. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-rare-ultra-magnetic-star-key.html Astronomy Thu, 06 Aug 2026 10:20:06 EDT news705226981 Today's quantum technologies rely on energy-intensive lasers, raising concerns that scaling them up could further increase energy demands. In new work, researchers have demonstrated that quantum entanglement between photons can be generated directly from sunlight, offering a potential alternative. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-sunlight-powered-setup-generates-quantum.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 06 Aug 2026 10:00:04 EDT news705152641 If scientists could find a material that acts as a superconductor—that is, one that transmits energy with zero resistance—at normal pressures and relatively high temperatures, it would open up a vast number of possibilities. These include medical imaging, quantum computing and numerous other fields. So, yes, it would be a big deal. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-repurposing-deep-earth-tools-superconductors.html Superconductivity Thu, 06 Aug 2026 10:00:03 EDT news705220742 Super-thin superconducting materials, which are only one or a few atoms thick, have unique properties scientists can leverage to produce more compact, scalable, and efficient quantum devices. But these fragile materials degrade so rapidly in air that they are difficult to study or manufacture. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-air-stable-ultrathin-superconductors-scalable.html Superconductivity Wed, 05 Aug 2026 19:00:01 EDT news705161101 All chemistry starts with a push from electrons. In the early moments of a chemical reaction, it's the movement of electrons that initiates the breaking of old chemical bonds and forging of new ones, transforming one molecule into another. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-attosecond-ray-method-early-electron.html General Physics Wed, 05 Aug 2026 16:50:01 EDT news705166081 In early 2025, special signals wended their way through a fiber-optic highway strung above the streets and sidewalks of the Maryland suburbs. The arrival of those signals at their destination marks a significant step toward a long-held dream of building a "quantum network." Researchers believe that this emerging technology could someday link quantum devices in ways that supercharge scientific research, enable ultrasecure communications and boost the power of future quantum computers. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-spooky-particles-transit-dc-suburbs.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 05 Aug 2026 16:30:01 EDT news705164821 Lasers have become indispensable in everyday life and research, with applications ranging from data transmission and metrology to manufacturing. Masers, by contrast, have so far found hardly any practical applications. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-semiconductor-maser-room-temperature.html Condensed Matter Wed, 05 Aug 2026 16:00:06 EDT news705154441 One of the most famous and intriguing results of quantum mechanics is the finding that fundamental particles, such as electrons, cannot be pinned down to one single location. Instead, a particle is described by its "wavefunction," which allows researchers to derive probability distributions—a sort of mathematical map that shows the possibilities—of fundamental properties such as its position and momentum. In particular, the electron wavefunctions within a molecule, known as "molecular orbitals," carry information about how the molecule interacts with its surroundings. For example, they show how it may absorb light or how a chemical reaction might take place. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-molecular-orbitals-imaged-3d-path.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 04 Aug 2026 18:00:01 EDT news705077522 Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) are often described as a "fifth state of matter": a quantum state in which many particles lose their individual identities and behave as one collective object. For more than 60 years, researchers have sought to create such condensates from excitons—electron-hole pairs—as a solid-state route to macroscopic quantum coherence, which is useful for quantum technologies. This has been difficult to realize in controllable semiconductor devices because optically generated excitons have very short lifetimes of around a billionth of a second, and BECs are normally attained with ultracold gases in a vacuum. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-quantum-fluid-reveals-hidden-states.html Condensed Matter Tue, 04 Aug 2026 17:40:02 EDT news705076621 Scientists from Rice University in the U.S. have developed a way to precisely tune the temperature inside a trapped-ion simulator. The breakthrough means they will be able to run quantum simulations at precise temperatures that better reflect real-world conditions. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-temperature-dial-realistic-quantum-simulations.html Quantum Physics Tue, 04 Aug 2026 17:00:01 EDT news705070203 Digital security currently relies on difficult equations to protect data. For example, when you use a credit card online, the information is locked inside a math problem that would take a modern computer thousands of years to solve. However, if someone builds a powerful enough computer, that security breaks. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-quantum-encryption-method-ciphertext-cloned.html Quantum Physics Mon, 03 Aug 2026 17:20:04 EDT news704987395 While Earth's core consists mostly of iron, its density implies that lighter elements are also mixed in. Because hydrogen is abundant in the universe and can mix with iron under certain conditions, scientists suspect it makes up part of the lighter-element composition. Data from earthquakes suggest the inner part of the core also changes with depth, but scientists aren't sure exactly how this occurs. Now, a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences indicates that hydrogen likely exists in a gradient within the inner and outer core that arises from thermodynamic equilibrium. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-exotic-phase-hydrogen-earth-core.html Earth Sciences Mon, 03 Aug 2026 13:20:01 EDT news704977583 A research team led by Taeyeon Kim, a professor in the Department of Chemistry at Sungkyunkwan University, in collaboration with a team from Yonsei University, has identified a new principle that controls charge separation, a phenomenon that plays a central role in both plants' generation of electrical energy (photosynthesis) and next-generation molecular semiconductor devices. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-key-principle-boost-efficiency-artificial.html General Physics Mon, 03 Aug 2026 09:40:04 EDT news704964952 IBM and researchers from the University of Chicago announced a demonstration in quantum computing that meets the fundamental criteria for "quantum advantage"—the point where quantum computers can be confirmed to have outperformed classical computers on trusted computations. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-quantum-task-classical-simulations.html Quantum Physics Sat, 01 Aug 2026 08:00:05 EDT news704644006 The performance of many next-generation devices depends on controlling how energy flows at extremely small scales. In the field of microelectronics—where devices continue to shrink and new materials are introduced—small imperfections in solids can strongly influence how a material stores, transfers or loses energy. Those processes can either be used to improve device performance or create problems such as energy loss, information loss, signal disruption or reduced reliability. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-source-software-energy-tiny-defects.html General Physics Fri, 31 Jul 2026 14:00:06 EDT news704719732 Researchers in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have discovered a new type of quantum light emitter in diamonds that could help overcome a number of challenges facing quantum technologies. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-diamond-newfound-defect-vibrations-hinder.html Optics & Photonics Fri, 31 Jul 2026 11:40:08 EDT news704711281 In mathematics and getting dressed, some processes are commutative, while others are noncommutative. Commutative means the order doesn't matter (3 + 2 is the same as 2 + 3, and it doesn't matter which sock goes on first). Noncommutative means the order does matter. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-explored-quantum-code-powerful-stable.html Quantum Physics Fri, 31 Jul 2026 10:00:04 EDT news704709901 Semiconductor spin qubits are one of the most promising building blocks for future quantum computers, but turning them into a working, large-scale quantum computer has so far proven difficult. For now, two big questions remain open: how to connect qubits that aren't sitting right next to each other, and how to control huge numbers of them without an unmanageable tangle of wiring. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-independent-semiconductor-qubits-scales.html Condensed Matter Fri, 31 Jul 2026 07:20:04 EDT news704643614 Large-scale quantum communication networks require both reliable quantum memories and coherent single-photon sources that can exchange quantum information efficiently. A coherent source of single photons with narrow linewidth, high brightness, spectral uniformity and compatibility with quantum memories is necessary. While a variety of single-photon sources, such as quantum dots (QDs) and atoms in warm vapor cells, have been developed in recent years, each has inherent limitations, making a scalable and functional quantum network challenging to achieve. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-cesium-atoms-quantum-dots-generate.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 30 Jul 2026 16:20:07 EDT news704640781 Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have demonstrated a new way of switching a material between two fundamentally different magnetic states using an electric current. The discovery could pave the way for compact, energy-efficient electronic devices that store information, perform logic operations and even interface with future quantum computers. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-electrically-magnetic-gen-cryogenic-devices.html Condensed Matter Thu, 30 Jul 2026 16:10:01 EDT news704645341 For years, researchers have tried to harness the "twist" of light to transmit data. This property describes how light spirals as it travels forward, and because it can be molded into a virtually infinite number of different twists, it provides a massive, promising alphabet for high-capacity communication. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-hidden-properties-quantum-chaos-bad.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 30 Jul 2026 13:40:01 EDT news704630222 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 When astronomers talk about directly imaging an exoplanet orbiting a faraway star, the analogy they most commonly use is trying to spot a firefly next to a massive searchlight. An Earth-like exoplanet is incredibly dim—usually between 100 million and 10 billion times fainter than its host star. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-quantum-physics-earth.html Astrobiology Thu, 30 Jul 2026 07:40:01 EDT news704610361 Electrons zipping through transistors, powering the screens on our smartphones. Light zooming from distant stars to Earth, moving faster than anything else in the universe. Protons enabling MRI machines to analyze people's injuries. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-quantum-palm-evolution-superconducting-qubits.html Superconductivity Wed, 29 Jul 2026 23:20:04 EDT news704540077 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 most theories in physics, the order of operations has little impact on the result. When setting a dial to a certain position, for example, it doesn't matter whether it's turned clockwise or counterclockwise—the result will always be the same. Yet for non-Abelian gauge theories, order does matter. These theories underpin the Standard Model, but to test their more subtle predictions, researchers have so far relied on enormous particle accelerators. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-complex-field-physics-tabletop-photonic.html General Physics Wed, 29 Jul 2026 11:20:04 EDT news704539586 Quantum technologies are devices and systems that exploit the laws of quantum mechanics and could perform tasks that are difficult or impossible to tackle using their classical counterparts. These technologies process and store information using qubits (i.e., quantum bits), which can exist in a superposition of multiple states simultaneously. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-rare-earth-ions-enable-telecom.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 29 Jul 2026 08:20:03 EDT news704367590