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Author(s): C. A. Argüelles, M. DuVernois, P. W. Graham, T. Kovachy, and J. MitchellAtom interferometers promise access to the decihertz gravitational-wave band, below LIGO’s reach and above LISA’s, where compact binaries radiate for hours to days before merger. This paper makes the case for building a kilometer-scale vertical atom interferometer in the Antarctic ice at the South Pole, where seismic noise is among the lowest on Earth, hot-water drilling and heavy-cargo logistics have already been proven by IceCube, and the southern location completes global source triangulation. Beyond early-warning alerts for multimessenger follow-up, such an instrument would enable precision tests of the equivalence principle and searches for wavelike dark matter. [Phys. Rev. Research 8, 043111] Published Fri Oct 30, 2026

Author(s): Sophia ChenA new device uses millimeter-wave radiation to accurately read the states of superconducting qubits without altering them. [Physics 19, s140] Published Fri Oct 30, 2026

Neutrinos are funny little particles that weigh almost nothing, making them one of the universe's most elusive building blocks. They can come from objects as mundane as bananas and as exotic as supernovas—the exploding death throes of massive stars. Most neutrinos stream through space and pass through the Earth without interacting with anything.

We all know that black holes can collide. It has happened since black holes began to form, early in cosmic time. The result is always a clash that gives off gravitational waves and a giant bang. Since black holes have such strong gravity, it's almost impossible to imagine a way that any force could break one apart. Yet, that's the task that a group of scientists in Europe set for themselves.

Dig a little deeper and you’ll find a thriving research program with exotic atoms that won’t solve the energy crisis but stretches the boundaries of physics. The post Is There More to Cold Fusion Than Failure and Fraud? first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Particle accelerators are expensive. Not just to build or to run, but also to predict the outcome of measurements obtained from them.

Copilot Fusion Arrives Developers on paid Copilot plans used 47 different AI models in September, and no single

In 2016, a binary star system emitting unusually strong gamma rays was discovered in our galactic neighborhood. Now, astronomers have found the smoking gun, or rather, a smoking trail of cool molecular gas that suggests jets emanating from a microquasar—one of the few known outside the Milky Way—are responsible.

In March 2026, NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope detected a GRB with an unusual light signature. Its initial gamma radiation was dim, and the afterglow exhibited unusual, delayed peaks. As it turns out, we were seeing it from a side angle, and the GRB actually packed one billion years of the Sun’s energy output into a thin beam.

Quantum networks could one day connect quantum computers into more powerful systems and enable new forms of secure communication. But a fundamental obstacle stands in the way: Quantum information is extraordinarily fragile, and the entanglement between particles of light on which such networks would depend is easily disrupted.

Before a stick of deodorant reaches a consumer's bathroom counter, it moves through a complex supply chain. Raw materials and packaging components are sourced, assembled into a finished product and shipped through warehouses and distribution centers before finally reaching a store shelf.

Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have found evidence that a distant, exceptionally blue galaxy may allow most of its ionizing radiation to escape into space. Known as EBG-1, the gravitationally lensed galaxy is seen at a redshift of 9.244, about 530 million years after the Big Bang. The paper was posted to the arXiv preprint server on Oct. 16.

Graphene, a material consisting of a sheet of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb pattern, has proved promising for various technological applications. Materials in which several layers of graphene are stacked together can exhibit different advantageous properties.

Using optogenetics, combined with holographic light patterning, researchers uncovered new information about how the brain drives learned movements and activities like learning to play the piano. Their findings could be used to boost learning, restore memory, and develop brain-computer interfaces that support motor skills. Previous studies show that during the execution of learned motor skills, the neural population in layer 2/3 of the primary motor cortex demonstrates a reproducible, spatiotemporal activity pattern. It is unclear whether the motor cortex actively participates in generating this learned pattern, and whether this pattern drives the learned movement in a cause-and-effect manner. Researchers at the University of...

Intel Corporation has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Classiq, a provider of quantum computing software. The acquisition of Classiq would combine Intel’s quantum software platform, scalable silicon spin-qubit technology and advanced semiconductor manufacturing expertise with Classiq’s automated quantum algorithm synthesis platform. The combination would enable Intel to become a full-stack quantum solutions provider, while also allowing the company to add quantum processing units to its already diverse compute platform portfolio spanning CPUs, GPUs, and application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs). Intel intends to continue to support Classiq’s existing multi-platform integrations and ensure a modality-...

Albert Einstein called quantum entanglement ‘spooky action at a distance,’ and the nickname has stuck for nearly 80

Star formation is a complicated process. It involves metallicity, gas temperature and density, dust grains, and stellar feedback from existing stars. Sometimes, studying all these factors and how they work means studying some of Nature's most beautiful structures, like the Cat's Head nebula in the Carina Nebula.

The word "vacuum" may conjure the image of empty space. Maybe you think of a region far outside the solar system without planets, debris, gas clouds or light. According to quantum theory, however, a vacuum is never truly empty. Quantum mechanics extends the Heisenberg uncertainty principle—which states that we cannot measure the position and the velocity of an object exactly at the same time—to a vacuum. The result is that a vacuum can never be still.

Scientists at Rutgers and in Estonia have used invisible light to look into tiny magnetic whirlpools, called vortices, inside a superconductor, revealing details that could help researchers develop better materials for carrying electricity.

Soft, flexible hydrogels have enabled significant advancements in engineering biological tissue by mimicking the natural scaffolding that provides structure and support to cells. Existing engineered hydrogels, however, fall short in a significant way. Unlike in nature, they do not have the dynamic ability to change their structure or support depending on what the biological tissue needs. The answer may rest in shining a light on the problem—literally, according to a team led by researchers at Yokohama National University.

Beating the X-Ray Cutoff With Helium High-harmonic generation turned ordinary lasers into sources of attosecond X-ray pulses and

Many chemical processes that sustain modern society depend on molecules binding to metal surfaces. The production of synthetic fertilizer, for example, relies on heterogeneous catalysis, in which gases react on the surface of a solid catalyst. Yet, until now, an important question has remained unresolved: How much of the metal surface actually participates in determining the strength of a chemical bond on the surface?

Astrophysicist Shep Doeleman explains how capturing the first image of a black hole required a telescope the size of the world, and why the next goal is to create a movie. The post How Do You Take a Picture of a Black Hole? first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Marge Ryan of Johnson Matthey is our podcast guest The post From catalysts to quantum materials: exploring the future of platinum group metals appeared first on Physics World.

Theoretical physicists at Emory University have discovered a way to use light to detect the "spectral fingerprints" of anyons—exotic quasiparticles that emerge from the collective behavior of many electrons. Their findings are published in Physical Review Letters. The work offers a new tool for the study of anyons, which hold potential as fundamental building blocks for quantum computing.

Nature is the foremost international weekly scientific journal in the world and is the flagship journal for Nature Portfolio. It publishes the finest peer-reviewed research in all fields of science and technology on the basis of its originality, importance, interdisciplinary interest, timeliness, accessibility, elegance and surprising conclusions. Nature publishes landmark papers, award winning news, leading comment and expert opinion on important, topical scientific news and events that enable readers to share the latest discoveries in science and evolve the discussion amongst the global scientific community.

Pink laughs off criticism of her viral makeup-free photo in New York, joking that she looks 'HOT' while responding to comments about her appearance.

A cosmic explosion that announced itself with a modest flash of gamma rays went on to produce one of the brightest afterglows astronomers have recorded in the past 20 years. An international team of astronomers now finds evidence that the surprising mismatch comes down to perspective: Earth was outside the most intensely beamed light from the explosion.

Mathematicians have uncovered what they argue is a fundamental flaw in the standard model of the universe, potentially challenging the need for dark energy. Their calculations suggest that the mathematical framework used to describe cosmic expansion is inherently unstable and that the universe could accelerate naturally under Einstein's original theory of gravity. The findings also raise surprising questions about whether our location in the universe is as ordinary as scientists have long assumed.

NVision, a quantum technology company, has published a paper in Nature detailing an individually addressable organic molecular spin-photon interface, which the company identified as a key development on the road to connecting stationary qubits with photons. NVision also revealed a strategic partnership with thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) photonics leader HyperLight Corporation for the integration of its thin-film molecular qubits directly onto advanced PICs. According to NVision, its recent milestones open a path toward millions of qubits on chips compatible with standard foundry manufacturing, and establish a practical path to quantum computing at scale as a result, using photonic connectivity to link quantum resources within and...

Primordial black holes formed in the early universe might experience an extra dimension of space; a recent study suggests new ways to search for these mysterious objects The post Primordial black holes could reveal a hidden fifth dimension appeared first on Physics World.

Researchers at Kyushu University have found that an ultrathin layer of iridium manganese (IrMn) can improve two spin-related signals in a structure made of a magnetic insulator and a platinum film. By examining how spin currents are generated and absorbed, the team gained insights into how the intermediate layer improves spin transfer. The findings could inform the development of ultralow-power devices for computing and energy harvesting.

Two nearly identical materials have completely different chemical behavior. Research teams at the University of Vienna and TU Wien studied catalysts that use the energy of sunlight to produce ammonia. Surprisingly, when the three iron atoms that form tiny triangles in these catalysts are replaced by chromium atoms, the chemical reaction no longer takes place.

A new AI system that NYU Fire Research Group describes as a digital twin of an active wildfire has, in early testing, shown the ability to forecast how a fire will spread in near real time.

Nature is the foremost international weekly scientific journal in the world and is the flagship journal for Nature Portfolio. It publishes the finest peer-reviewed research in all fields of science and technology on the basis of its originality, importance, interdisciplinary interest, timeliness, accessibility, elegance and surprising conclusions. Nature publishes landmark papers, award winning news, leading comment and expert opinion on important, topical scientific news and events that enable readers to share the latest discoveries in science and evolve the discussion amongst the global scientific community.

Nature is the foremost international weekly scientific journal in the world and is the flagship journal for Nature Portfolio. It publishes the finest peer-reviewed research in all fields of science and technology on the basis of its originality, importance, interdisciplinary interest, timeliness, accessibility, elegance and surprising conclusions. Nature publishes landmark papers, award winning news, leading comment and expert opinion on important, topical scientific news and events that enable readers to share the latest discoveries in science and evolve the discussion amongst the global scientific community.

What do you see when you look up at the night sky? While everyone may have a different answer, the truth is that almost everything out there is hydrogen. The first element in the periodic table is by far the most abundant substance in the cosmos. It's the fuel of stars and the raw material from which the heavier elements were forged over billions of years. Even the sun is, at its core, a furnace for fusing hydrogen atoms together.

French physicist shared the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics The post Laser-cooling pioneer and Nobel laureate Claude Cohen-Tannoudji dies at 93 appeared first on Physics World.

By probing its molecular structure, biologists are uncovering how a tangle of unstructured proteins turns into a tough, flexible thread. The post How Spiders Spin ‘Silk Dope’ Into Nature’s Toughest Material first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Using a new slow-motion electron camera, physicists from Regensburg, Marburg and Jülich revealed how intense electric fields drive electrons in graphene, causing them to jump across energy gaps in a seemingly paradoxical manner. This was made possible by a novel combination of laser technology and electron microscopy.

The rare earth elements that help power electric vehicles, wind turbines, medical imaging machines and other advanced technologies

The Earth is surrounded by an invisible barrier that was thought to prevent highly energetic electrons from reaching closer to our planet. But in 2024, Japan's Arase space probe detected these electrons well inside the barrier. Now, research led by Nagoya University has found evidence that the electrons were accelerated locally rather than infiltrating from outer radiation belts.

More than a century after Einstein first devised the equations that describe gravity, physicists are still finding new ways of interpreting them. Luca Comisso, an associate research scientist in Columbia University's departments of Astronomy and Physics and the Columbia Astrophysics Laboratory, and Felipe A. Asenjo of Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez in Chile, recently found a new way of looking at Einstein's equations that reveals a striking analogy with "magnetic reconnection" in plasmas, which occurs when magnetic field lines break and reconnect, powering explosive phenomena such as solar flares.

Researchers at Delft University of Technology (the Netherlands) have succeeded in controlling the magnetism in the nucleus of a single atom with radio waves. This came as a surprise: until now, physicists believed that this nuclear spin could not be manipulated directly. The discovery could open up new possibilities for storing and reading quantum information. The research is published in the journal Nature Communications.

When two objects touch and then separate, they can swap tiny amounts of electric charge, even if they are made from exactly the same material. This 'triboelectric effect' is the source of everyday static electricity, but it is still poorly understood in large samples of powder, where vast numbers of particles are constantly colliding with each other.

Researchers at the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) at the U.S. Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have measured the shortest high-energy x-ray pulses ever recorded at an x-ray free-electron laser (XFEL). The pulses had photon energies of about 9 keV and clocked in at durations of 100 as to 400 as. These high-energy, or “hard” attosecond x-ray pulses are invaluable to researchers studying the universe at its smallest, fastest scales. “The pulses are both energetic enough to look deep into atomic systems and fast enough to record electronic motion frozen in time,” said Agostino Marinelli, a professor of photon science, particle physics, and astrophysics at SLAC. The...

iPronics, a developer of silicon photonics-based optical circuit switching for AI infrastructure, appointed co-founder and CTO Daniel Pérez-López CEO. Pérez-López launched iPronics after working on quantum photonics at Xanadu Quantum Technologies. Additionally, the company named Geoffrey Tate chairman of the board. Tate has spent 10 years at AMD running several business units, most recently as senior vice president of processors. The leadership transition follows iPronics’ recent $125 million Series B funding round, which includes strategic participation from NVIDIA. Sparrow leadership team (From left to right): Anne Marie Engtoft Meldgaard, chief commercial officer; Kurt Stokbro, executive advisor;...

Scientists have long known that when two black holes collide, they merge to create a more massive black hole. New research suggests that the opposite may happen too: single black holes may split in two.

New research shows that trapping spinons can create, rather than destroy, protected quantum behaviour at a material’s edges The post Trapping quasiparticles creates quantum behaviour appeared first on Physics World.

Rebalancing the books of entropy could help bridge the gap between thermodynamics and quantum mechanics The post World’s smallest engines need an entropy accountant appeared first on Physics World.

Envision a material whose magnetic properties and electronic topology can be toggled by exposure to light, paving the way for future electronic devices that do not rely on traditional electrical switching, which wastes energy by producing heat.

Donald Trump's Mississippi rally took a confrontational turn when a protester demanded the Epstein files, drawing boos before being escorted out.

Neutrinos are among the most abundant particles in the universe, but they are also among the most elusive. Nearly massless, they are produced by nuclear reactions in the sun, exploding stars, particle accelerators and even the decay of radioactive elements on Earth. They interact so weakly with ordinary matter that trillions pass through each person every second without leaving a trace. Studying these ghostly particles could help answer some of the biggest questions in physics, from the nature of dark matter to why matter exists at all.

Dense stellar environments were common in the early Universe. These environments fostered more numerous stellar collisions, and some of those would've been mergers that formed very massive stars. Those stars would've exploded as supernovae, becoming massive black holes, the potential seeds for today's supermassive black holes.

Researchers from Jülich, Aachen and Cologne have performed a quantum operation on a qubit in just 6.8 nanoseconds—with more than 99.98% accuracy. Such operations typically take several tens of nanoseconds in superconducting quantum computers. The paper was published in Nature Communications.

Another bombshell result shows how artificial intelligence is fueling fierce competition at the frontiers of math and physics

Adelaide University quantum engineers have found a new way to improve some of the world's most sensitive sensors of electromagnetic fields, a breakthrough that could help advance brain imaging, medical diagnostics, communications technology and next-generation quantum devices.

A US defence study explored whether dark energy could make Alcubierre-style warp drives feasible, but scientists say the concept remains highly speculative and faces major physical obstacles.

Quantum networks, systems that connect devices using quantum mechanical effects, could potentially allow users to share information more securely and efficiently. Building these networks typically entails linking stationary qubits, units of quantum information encoded in trapped ions or other physical systems, using photons (particles of light) transmitted through optical fibers.

Donald Trump attacked Norway at a Michigan rally after missing out on the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize, despite the Norwegian committee operating independently of the government

Diamond sample propelled up to 1.5 microns by its own nitrogen-vacancy centres The post Electron spin force moves a macroscopic object appeared first on Physics World.

For the first time, a team of physicists in the U.S. has clearly demonstrated a "helicon current drive" in a nuclear fusion experiment. Led by Jeff Lestz at General Atomics, San Diego, the team took advantage of the latest advances in tokamak technology to show that radio waves steered to travel around the donut-shaped device can be absorbed by its confined plasma, driving an electric current inside it.

Nature is the foremost international weekly scientific journal in the world and is the flagship journal for Nature Portfolio. It publishes the finest peer-reviewed research in all fields of science and technology on the basis of its originality, importance, interdisciplinary interest, timeliness, accessibility, elegance and surprising conclusions. Nature publishes landmark papers, award winning news, leading comment and expert opinion on important, topical scientific news and events that enable readers to share the latest discoveries in science and evolve the discussion amongst the global scientific community.

Nature is the foremost international weekly scientific journal in the world and is the flagship journal for Nature Portfolio. It publishes the finest peer-reviewed research in all fields of science and technology on the basis of its originality, importance, interdisciplinary interest, timeliness, accessibility, elegance and surprising conclusions. Nature publishes landmark papers, award winning news, leading comment and expert opinion on important, topical scientific news and events that enable readers to share the latest discoveries in science and evolve the discussion amongst the global scientific community.

Author(s): Christopher Gerlach, Yann Gouttenoire, Antonio J. Iovino, and Nicholas LeisterPrimordial black holes heavier than 10 11 solar masses generate isocurvature perturbations that exceed current cosmic microwave background limits, ruling them out as a dark matter candidate. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 181401] Published Mon Oct 26, 2026

Designing structural high-entropy alloys (SHEAs) means solving a problem with an enormous number of moving parts: which combinations of composition and processing conditions will yield the phases, microstructures, and mechanical properties a given application demands? Because these alloys mix multiple principal elements in comparable proportions, that question spans length and time scales that no single experiment or model can cover on its own.

DNA-nano/microparticle motors are among the fastest artificial molecular motors reported to date, moving at approximately 30 nm per second. However, they are still slower than natural motor proteins (approximately 100–1,000 nm per second), and further improvements in design and performance are required.

A hypothetical particle could have briefly held more energy than everything else in the infant universe combined, which could help explain how matter won out over antimatter.

At a Michigan rally, Donald Trump linked his Nobel Peace Prize snub to remarks rejecting Norwegian immigrants. Norway says its Nobel committee is independent.

To produce hydrogen using sunlight, the energy obtained from light must be retained until it can be used in a chemical reaction. However, if an electron that has gained energy from light quickly returns to its original position, it becomes difficult to make use of that energy.

Quantum computers need qubits that can be controlled both quickly and reliably. Yet making semiconductor spin qubits faster often makes them more sensitive to electrical noise, creating a difficult trade-off.

A new study reveals a dust-reddened quasar from a time when the universe was less than a billion years old. Located at a redshift of 6.5488, the object J1440+0019 contains a rapidly accreting supermassive black hole with a mass of about 1.1 billion suns. The paper was posted to the arXiv preprint server on Oct. 9.

Dr. Francis Halzen, the recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics, sheds some light on the mysterious, subatomic particles that whiz through us everyday.

A team of physicists from several universities in the Netherlands and the UK have developed one- and two-dimensional

Young Sheldon spin-off fallout: read how Lance Barber, Raegan Revord's mother and Iain Armitage's mother reacted to Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage.

Scientists have discovered a way to operate multiple silicon qubits simultaneously with remarkable accuracy, overcoming a major challenge in scaling up quantum computers. Their new technique maintained accuracy of approximately 99.9% even when all five qubits were running at once, opening the door to larger and more powerful quantum processors.

Donald Trump criticised Norway after Navi Pillay was awarded the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize, renewing his claim that his diplomatic efforts deserved the honour

One of the fundamental challenges of quantum computing is obtaining information from a quantum bit, or qubit. Unlike a conventional bit, which can be read repeatedly without altering its content, direct measurement of a quantum system typically causes the state to collapse before it can be determined. In other words, reading the information modifies it.

Astronomers have discovered three actively feeding black holes inside a single galaxy more than 12.5 billion light-years away, revealing a remarkable scene from the universe’s infancy. Two of the black holes are separated by just 620 light-years and are expected to eventually merge, while a third lurks farther away. One weighs an astonishing 80 million suns, and another is growing faster than conventional theories predict.

The positron is the antimatter counterpart of the electron, identical in mass but carrying an equal and opposite electric charge. Like the electron, it also behaves like a tiny bar magnet, and according to a key prediction of the Standard Model of particle physics, its magnetic moment should be exactly equal and opposite to the electron's.

An international collaboration co-led by an IAS scholar has uncovered a universal rule governing one of the most

Quantum computers only work when a control system reliably delivers algorithms to the hardware while immediately detecting and

Author(s): Mark BuchananLab experiments provide new details about the charge-transfer process that occurs in ash clouds and other collections of particles. [Physics 19, 143] Published Fri Oct 23, 2026

Researchers at AIST have directly observed magnetic flux quanta generated in a superconductor by photon absorption and demonstrated a new principle of photon detection that identifies the number of photons based on the number of these flux quanta.

In 1953, two physicists showed that an electron beam skimming past a grating emits light whose color depends only on the electron's speed and the grating's spacing. Known as Smith-Purcell radiation, this phenomenon has become a useful tool for building compact, tunable light sources and tracking particle beams without touching them.

Two black holes can collide and merge into one. But could the opposite happen: could a single black hole split into two smaller ones? That question is explored in a new theoretical study: "When Black Holes Admit Pair-of-pants Topologies," published in the journal Physical Review D.

Tesla recently demonstrated its Rocket Roadster "flying car." We asked our readers whether they think flying cars will be widely available in the near future.

A sweeping barred spiral galaxy marks the spot in this image, but the real treasure is the gravitational lens in the lower-right corner, where a distant background galaxy is being magnified and distorted by the gravity of a closer galaxy.

Expectations are high and billions are being invested in the quantum race. Doctoral researcher Christa Schauman explains how

Quantum technologies sound like science fiction. In a sense, they are. Technologies that use quantum effects can seem

Quantum systems can occupy superpositions, quantum states that combine different possibilities. For instance, a microwave field can be prepared in a superposition of an empty state and a state that contains microwave light.

Researchers have solved a long-standing challenge in understanding how tiny defects in materials like diamond and silicon carbide behave when exposed to light. Their new computational method revealed a surprisingly important energy-loss mechanism in silicon carbide that scientists had previously underestimated. The finding helps explain a mystery that has puzzled researchers for years and could improve the design of quantum computers and sensors.