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. Artificial intelligence has attained an impressive series of feats—solving problems from the International Math Olympiad, conducting encyclopedic surveys of academic literature, and even finding solutions to some longstanding research questions. Yet these systems largely remain unable to match top experts in the conceptual frontiers of research math. Have reports of AI replacing mathematicians been greatly exaggerated? https://phys.org/news/2026-02-math-humans.html Mathematics Mon, 09 Feb 2026 20:40:01 EST news689849909 The irregular, swirling motion of fluids we call turbulence can be found everywhere, from stirring in a teacup to currents in the planetary atmosphere. This phenomenon is governed by the Navier-Stokes equations—a set of mathematical equations that describe how fluids move. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-revealing-hidden-turbulent-limited-equations.html General Physics Mon, 09 Feb 2026 13:27:34 EST news689866021 Right now, molecules in the air are moving around you in chaotic and unpredictable ways. To make sense of such systems, physicists use a law known as the Boltzmann distribution, which, rather than describe exactly where each particle is, describes the chance of finding the system in any of its possible states. This allows them to make predictions about the whole system even though the individual particle motions are random. It's like rolling a single die: Any one roll is unpredictable, but if you keep rolling it again and again, a pattern of probabilities will emerge. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-crazy-dice-proof-fundamental-law.html Mathematics Thu, 05 Feb 2026 15:23:43 EST news689527342 SpaceX's path to launching its massive Starship rocket from Florida's Space Coast passed another hurdle Friday after the Federal Aviation Administration released results of its nearly two-year long environmental review for launch plans from Kennedy Space Center. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-faa-dismisses-airline-sonic-boom.html Space Exploration Mon, 02 Feb 2026 07:50:01 EST news689239157 Time feels like the most basic feature of reality. Seconds tick, days pass and everything from planetary motion to human memory seems to unfold along a single, irreversible direction. We are born and we die, in exactly that order. We plan our lives around time, measure it obsessively and experience it as an unbroken flow from past to future. It feels so obvious that time moves forward that questioning it can seem almost pointless. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-fundamental-reality-quiet-revolution-physics.html Quantum Physics Thu, 29 Jan 2026 11:20:54 EST news688908002 An old puzzle in particle physics has been solved: How can quantum field theories be best formulated on a lattice to optimally simulate them on a computer? The answer comes from AI. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-ai-quantum-field-theories.html General Physics Mon, 26 Jan 2026 13:11:58 EST news688655448 Animal survival depends on effective attack and defense strategies, yet how these behaviors arise remains unclear. Addressing this question, a recent study shows that predator and prey behaviors emerge naturally as stable patterns shaped by simple sensory abilities and motor rules. These patterns correspond to Nash equilibria—states in which neither predator nor prey can improve its outcome by unilaterally changing behavior—providing a theoretical framework for understanding predator–prey interactions. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-nash-equilibria-hidden-math-predatorprey.html Ecology Thu, 22 Jan 2026 15:08:24 EST news688316882 Can a small lump of metal be in a quantum state that extends over distant locations? A research team at the University of Vienna answers this question with a resounding yes. In the journal Nature, physicists from the University of Vienna and the University of Duisburg-Essen show that even massive nanoparticles consisting of thousands of sodium atoms follow the rules of quantum mechanics. The experiment is currently one of the best tests of quantum mechanics on a macroscopic scale. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-metal-clumps-quantum-state-physicists.html Quantum Physics Wed, 21 Jan 2026 13:19:25 EST news688223942 A hundred years ago, quantum mechanics was a radical theory that baffled even the brightest minds. Today, it's the backbone of technologies that shape our lives, from lasers and microchips to quantum computers and secure communications. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-cat-years-quantum-weirdness-powers.html Quantum Physics Tue, 20 Jan 2026 15:47:36 EST news688146395 Quantum mechanics is rich with paradoxes and contradictions. It describes a microscopic world in which particles exist in a superposition of states—being in multiple places and configurations all at once, defined mathematically by what physicists call a "wavefunction." But this runs counter to our everyday experience of objects that are either here or there, never both at the same time. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-twitch-quantum-collapse-hint-tiny.html General Physics Tue, 20 Jan 2026 15:02:16 EST news688143721 This week, a new analysis of Jupiter's atmosphere estimated that the gas giant has 1.5 times more oxygen than the sun. Researchers in Brazil identified a protein that allows pancreatic cancer to infiltrate nerves and spread early in the course of the disease. And scientists at Duke-NUS Medical School discovered how exercise helps aging muscles regain their ability for self-repair. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-saturday-citations-super-earths-superagers.html Other Sat, 17 Jan 2026 08:50:01 EST news687787314 For more than a century, scientists have wondered why physical structures like blood vessels, neurons, tree branches, and other biological networks look the way they do. The prevailing theory held that nature simply builds these systems as efficiently as possible, minimizing the amount of material needed. But in the past, when researchers tested these networks against traditional mathematical optimization theories, the predictions consistently fell short. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-scientists-theory-code-natural-networks.html General Physics Wed, 07 Jan 2026 11:52:24 EST news687009121 Economics could do with less mathematics and more story, says Canada's most-cited economist. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-economics-lost-narrative-thread-expert.html Economics & Business Wed, 07 Jan 2026 09:52:23 EST news687001922 Quantum mechanics and relativity are the two pillars of modern physics. However, for over a century, their treatment of space and time has remained fundamentally disconnected. Relativity unifies space and time into a single fabric called spacetime, describing it seamlessly. In contrast, traditional quantum theory employs different languages: quantum states (density matrix) for spatial systems and quantum channels for temporal evolution. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-framework-space-quantum.html Quantum Physics Tue, 06 Jan 2026 09:22:04 EST news686913611 Conspiracy theories are one of the banes of the modern world, exacerbated by the internet and social media. What was once relegated to the fringe has now been pushed into the mainstream, actively shaping public discourse and policies. But why do so many people buy into these narratives even when they are contradicted by empirical facts? https://phys.org/news/2026-01-psychological-traits-fuel-conspiracy-theorist.html Social Sciences Mon, 05 Jan 2026 12:42:01 EST news686839199 Quantum theory and Einstein's theory of general relativity are two of the greatest successes in modern physics. Each works extremely well in its own domain: Quantum theory explains how atoms and particles behave, while general relativity describes gravity and the structure of spacetime. However, despite many decades of effort, scientists still do not have a satisfying theory that combines both into one clear picture of reality. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-quantum-gravity-dimensions.html General Physics Mon, 05 Jan 2026 08:32:51 EST news686824330 Quantum information theory is a field of study that examines how quantum technologies store and process information. Over the past decades, researchers have introduced several new quantum information frameworks and theories that are informing the development of quantum computers and other devices that operate leveraging quantum mechanical effects. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-physicists-flaw-quantum-resource-theorem.html General Physics Wed, 31 Dec 2025 09:00:01 EST news686204594 Every year, Santa Claus races around the globe in a matter of hours to bring presents to children all over the world. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-santa-quantum-physics-scientist.html Quantum Physics Mon, 22 Dec 2025 15:29:31 EST news685639756 A professor at the University of Cincinnati and his colleagues have figured out something two of America's most famous fictional physicists couldn't: how to theoretically produce subatomic particles called axions in fusion reactors. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-bazinga-physicists-big-theory-problem.html General Physics Thu, 18 Dec 2025 15:50:32 EST news685295401 In the wake of Sunday's tragic Bondi shooting, conspiracy theories and deliberate misinformation have spread on social media. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-misreading-google-trends-fueling-bondi.html Social Sciences Thu, 18 Dec 2025 12:40:16 EST news685283992 Effective communication lies at the heart of human connection. It helps us collaborate with each other, solve problems and build relationships. And communicating clearly is a major consideration for most of us in most aspects of life. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-words-affect.html Social Sciences Wed, 17 Dec 2025 21:10:04 EST news685197627 Researchers from the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, in collaboration with Huzhou University, discovered that the entanglement workhorse of most quantum optics laboratories can have hidden topologies, reporting the highest ever observed in any system: 48 dimensions with over 17,000 topological signatures, an enormous alphabet for encoding robust quantum information. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-conventional-entanglement-thousands-hidden-topologies.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 17 Dec 2025 12:23:28 EST news685196581 "Tis the season to extend social invitations to colleagues—a gesture that may seem simple, but research by an Indiana University Kelley School of Business Indianapolis professor and her colleagues shows these invitations can drive both positive and negative outcomes, shaping emotions and workplace behaviors. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-holiday-party-gift-burden-simple.html Social Sciences Fri, 12 Dec 2025 09:10:37 EST news684752941 High up in Earth's orbit, millions of human-made objects large and small are flying at speeds of over 15,000 miles per hour. The objects, which range from inactive satellites to fragments of equipment resulting from explosions or collisions of previously launched rockets, are space debris, colloquially referred to as space junk. Sometimes the objects collide with each other, breaking into even smaller pieces. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-space-debris-poses-threat-cleanup.html Space Exploration Thu, 04 Dec 2025 16:47:47 EST news684089240 A boiling sea of quarks and gluons, including virtual ones—this is how we can imagine the main phase of high-energy proton collisions. It would seem that particles here have significantly more opportunities to evolve than when less numerous and much "better-behaved" secondary particles spread out from the collision point. However, data from the LHC accelerator prove that reality works differently, in a manner that is better described by an improved model of proton collisions. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-lhc-validity-hadron-production-foundations.html General Physics Thu, 04 Dec 2025 12:12:31 EST news684072722 On Feb. 22, 2020, "Mad" Mike Hughes towed a homemade rocket to the Mojave Desert and launched himself into the sky. His goal? To view the flatness of Earth from space. This was his third attempt, and tragically it was fatal. Hughes crashed shortly after takeoff and died. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-flat-earth-spirits-conspiracy-theories.html Social Sciences Tue, 02 Dec 2025 22:40:01 EST news683902194 It is something like the "Holy Grail" of physics: unifying particle physics and gravitation. The world of tiny particles is described extremely well by quantum theory, while the world of gravitation is captured by Einstein's general theory of relativity. But combining the two has not yet worked—the two leading theories of theoretical physics still do not quite fit together. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-geodesic-approach-links-quantum-physics.html General Physics Tue, 02 Dec 2025 11:25:30 EST news683897101 New pan-European research has shown that the spread of conspiracy theories across the continent is driven by a continuous feedback loop between media reporting, political rhetoric, protest movements and social media algorithms—not any single cause. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-exposes-conspiracy-theories-mainstream-eu.html Social Sciences Tue, 02 Dec 2025 10:20:36 EST news683893202 Research published in Information Systems Research finds that social media marketing (SMM) does little to help high-quality firms stand apart from competitors. Instead, it often pushes companies of all quality levels toward similar spending and pricing strategies, blurring the very signals firms hope will differentiate them in digital marketplaces. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-social-media-falls-flat-quality.html Economics & Business Tue, 02 Dec 2025 05:31:20 EST news683875862 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