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. Carbon's unique chemical properties allow it to be an essential building block for life on Earth and many other molecules we rely on for day-to-day life—but what about carbon's neighbor? Silicon is located one row below carbon in the periodic table of elements, and similarly has many possible uses, and is a key component of semiconductors, silicon carbide fibers, and silicones. However, silicon has some key weaknesses compared to carbon. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-silicon-role-carbon-debut-cyclopentadienides.html Analytical Chemistry Fri, 06 Feb 2026 12:40:01 EST news689601023 Researchers announced that they have achieved the world's first elucidation of how hydrogen produces free electrons through the interaction with certain defects in silicon. The achievement has the potential to improve how insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) are designed and manufactured, making them more efficient and reducing their power loss. It is also expected to open up possibilities for future devices using ultra-wide bandgap (UWBG) materials. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-hydrogen-role-generating-free-electrons.html Analytical Chemistry Fri, 23 Jan 2026 13:59:35 EST news688399092 For decades, the ability to visualize the chemical composition of materials, whether for diagnosing a disease, assessing food quality, or analyzing pollution, depended on large, expensive laboratory instruments called spectrometers. These devices work by taking light, spreading it out into a rainbow using a prism or grating, and measuring the intensity of each color. The problem is that spreading light requires a long physical path, making the device inherently bulky. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-ai-driven-ultrafast-spectrometer-chip.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 20 Jan 2026 17:40:02 EST news688142668 Researchers at the University of Konstanz have developed a gentle, contact-free method to collect liquids and remove them from microscopic surface structures. The method uses vapor condensation to generate surface currents that transport droplets off surfaces. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-dry-surface-fluid-physics-contact.html Soft Matter Tue, 13 Jan 2026 14:22:30 EST news687536521 Quantum technologies are highly promising devices that process, transfer or store information leveraging quantum mechanical effects. Instead of relying on bits, like classical computers, quantum devices rely on entangled qubits, units of information that can also exist in multiple states (0 and 1) at once. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-scientists-qubit-quantum-register-silicon.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 13 Jan 2026 09:20:01 EST news687517722 Using NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have spotted two rare kinds of dust in the dwarf galaxy Sextans A, one of the most chemically primitive galaxies near the Milky Way. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-webb-early-universe-analog-unexpected.html Astronomy Tue, 06 Jan 2026 14:35:28 EST news686932501 In order to scale quantum computers, more qubits must be added and interconnected. However, prior attempts to do this have resulted in a loss of connection quality, or fidelity. But, a new study published in Nature details the design of a new kind of processor that overcomes this problem. The processor, developed by the company Silicon Quantum Computing, uses silicon—the main material used in classical computers—along with phosphorus atoms to link 11 qubits. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-silicon-atom-processor-links-qubits.html Quantum Physics Thu, 18 Dec 2025 11:10:06 EST news685278269 A dissertation study at the University of Jyväskylä (Finland) developed two-dimensional fishnet-like structures from DNA origami for silicon surfaces and investigated how different conditions affect their formation. The results provide new possibilities for DNA-assisted lithography and thus for the fabrication of new types of materials, for example, for optics. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-dna-origami-lattices-silicon-possibilities.html Bio & Medicine Fri, 12 Dec 2025 13:50:01 EST news684769654 A tiny device that entangles light and electrons without super-cooling could revolutionize quantum tech in cryptography, computing, and AI. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-scientists-advance-quantum-technology.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 02 Dec 2025 13:40:01 EST news683904546 Most modern semiconductors are fabricated of or on silicon (Si), but as devices get smaller and denser, they dissipate more power and, as a result, are reaching their physical limits. Germanium (Ge)—once used in the first transistors of the 1950s—is now making a comeback as researchers find new ways to harness its superior properties while keeping the benefits of silicon's established manufacturing technologies. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-electrical-material.html Nanomaterials Mon, 24 Nov 2025 11:57:03 EST news683207822 Reusable menstrual cups reduce waste and are more cost-effective than single-use pads and tampons. But some people avoid the cups because they require thorough cleaning and are sometimes messy to empty. To solve these problems, researchers coated a commercially available silicone cup in silicone oil and created a plant-based, absorbent tablet. These design adjustments could make menstrual cups safer and easier to use, according to a study published in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-menstrual-cup-sustainable-adjustments-easier.html Materials Science Sat, 01 Nov 2025 11:00:03 EDT news680972350 University of Queensland researchers have created a microscopic "ocean" on a silicon chip to miniaturize the study of wave dynamics. The device, made at UQ's School of Mathematics and Physics, uses a layer of superfluid helium only a few millionths of a millimeter thick on a chip smaller than a grain of rice. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-microscopic-ocean-chip-reveals-nonlinear.html Soft Matter Thu, 23 Oct 2025 17:01:03 EDT news680457662 If you think of a single atom as a grain of sand, then a wavelength of visible light—which is a thousand times larger than the atom's width—is comparable to an ocean wave. The light wave can dwarf an atom, missing it entirely as it passes by. This gulf in size has long made it impossible for scientists to see and resolve individual atoms using optical microscopes alone. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-seating-atoms-positions-materials.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 22 Oct 2025 14:21:04 EDT news680361661 Metasurfaces are two-dimensional (2D), nanoengineered surfaces that interact strongly with electromagnetic waves and can control light with remarkable precision. These ultra-thin layers can be used to develop a wide range of advanced technologies, including optical photonic, sensing and communication systems. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-hybrid-metasurface-modulates-voltages-energy.html Optics & Photonics Mon, 20 Oct 2025 06:30:01 EDT news679928445 A few years ago, researchers in Michal Lipson's lab noticed something remarkable. They were working on a project to improve LiDAR, a technology that uses lightwaves to measure distance. The lab was designing high-power chips that could produce brighter beams of light. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-powerful-precise-multi-lasers-chip.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 07 Oct 2025 09:22:04 EDT news679047721 In Silicon Valley's unofficial literary canon, few works loom as large as The Sovereign Individual. A kind of survival manual for 21st-century tech billionaires, it has been enthusiastically championed by Palantir and Paypal co-founder Peter Thiel (mentor to JD Vance), who wrote the foreword to the 2020 edition. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-libertarian-manifesto-peter-thiel-urges.html Social Sciences Mon, 29 Sep 2025 17:00:03 EDT news678369220 Why do glass and other amorphous materials deform more easily in some regions than in others? A research team from the University of Osaka, the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Okayama University, and the University of Tokyo has uncovered the answer. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-topology-reveals-hidden-amorphous-materials.html Condensed Matter Thu, 25 Sep 2025 05:00:07 EDT news677926022 UNSW engineers have made a significant advance in quantum computing: they created 'quantum entangled states'—where two separate particles become so deeply linked they no longer behave independently—using the spins of two atomic nuclei. Such states of entanglement are the key resource that gives quantum computers their edge over conventional ones. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-quantum-atoms-chatting-distance.html Quantum Physics Thu, 18 Sep 2025 14:00:13 EDT news677405582 A team of scientists at Simon Fraser University's Quantum Technology Lab and leading Canada-based quantum company Photonic Inc. have created a new type of silicon-based quantum device controlled both optically and electrically, marking the latest breakthrough in the global quantum computing race. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-physicists-electrically-silicon-based-quantum.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 18 Sep 2025 12:51:04 EDT news677418661 Deep in space, an ancient brown dwarf nicknamed "The Accident" has revealed the first-ever detection of a molecule that scientists have been searching for in planetary atmospheres for decades. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-ancient-brown-dwarf-reveals-cloud.html Planetary Sciences Tue, 16 Sep 2025 10:10:05 EDT news677234616 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 Researchers at IMDEA Materials Institute have developed a pioneering method to assemble silicon nanowires into ordered, macroscopic networks: a key step toward expanding their industrial applications. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-silicon-nanowires-macroscopic-networks-advanced.html Nanomaterials Tue, 09 Sep 2025 14:01:00 EDT news676645254 Why has silicon, one of the most common elements in the universe, gone largely undetected in the atmospheres of Jupiter, Saturn, and gas planets like them orbiting other stars? A new study using observations from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope sheds light on this question by focusing on a peculiar object that astronomers discovered by chance in 2020 and called "The Accident." https://phys.org/news/2025-09-cosmic-accident-jupitersaturn-silicon-puzzle.html Planetary Sciences Tue, 09 Sep 2025 13:08:04 EDT news676642082 Researchers at Beijing Genomics and IMDEA Nanociencia institutes have introduced a novel method that could significantly accelerate efficiency and reduce the cost of handling fluidics in DNA sequencing. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-method-dna-sequencing-faster-efficient.html Biotechnology Wed, 03 Sep 2025 14:11:03 EDT news676127462 Researchers from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) have collaborated with the SILVACX project group at Heidelberg University to develop a therapeutic vaccination concept that can mobilize the immune system to target cancer cells. The team showed that virus peptides coupled to silica nanoparticles can elicit effective T-cell responses against HPV-related tumors. In a mouse model, the nanoparticle-based vaccine was able to partially or completely suppress HPV-related tumors. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-therapeutic-vaccination-hpv-tumors-nanoparticles.html Bio & Medicine Tue, 02 Sep 2025 14:33:37 EDT news676042413 Over the past century, American universities have evolved to be more than institutions for research and learning—they've become engines of innovation fueling economic and societal progress. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-universities.html Economics & Business Mon, 18 Aug 2025 10:33:13 EDT news674731989 Just as overlapping ripples on a pond can amplify or cancel each other out, waves of many kinds—including light, sound and atomic vibrations—can interfere with one another. At the quantum level, this kind of interference powers high-precision sensors and could be harnessed for quantum computing. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-powerful-quantum-paves-phonon-based.html Condensed Matter Mon, 11 Aug 2025 14:39:04 EDT news674141941 As Greenland's ice retreats, it's fueling tiny ocean organisms. To test why, scientists turned to a computer model from JPL and MIT that's been called a laboratory in itself. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-nasa-supercomputers-life-greenland-glacier.html Earth Sciences Wed, 06 Aug 2025 16:56:15 EDT news673718168 A new method for ammonia synthesis has demonstrated a 5.6-fold increase in yield, offering a promising alternative to traditional, carbon-intensive production processes. The research is published online in Nature Communications. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-emission-nh-production-method-yield.html Analytical Chemistry Wed, 30 Jul 2025 09:13:04 EDT news673085581 Used as a versatile material in industry and health care, magnesium oxide may also be a good candidate for quantum technologies. Research led by the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory and published in npj Computational Materials reveals a defect in the mineral that could be useful for quantum applications. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-thousands-defects-magnesium-oxide-qubit.html Condensed Matter Tue, 29 Jul 2025 09:26:17 EDT news672999972