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A collection of newfound objects discovered by the Euclid telescope more than doubles the number of known quasars from the universe's first billion years.

Electrons, negatively charged particles, sometimes coordinate their movements in ways that produce certain collective excitations referred to as quasiparticles. One case in which this occurs is the quantum Hall effect, a phenomenon that emerges when electrons are confined to a very thin layer, cooled to temperatures around 0 kelvin and exposed to a very strong magnetic field.

Probing the dawn of the cosmos for clues to how the first galaxies and supermassive black holes formed is no easy feat

Author(s): Simona J. MillerDifferent analyses of gravitational-wave observations are converging on evidence for a distinct population of massive black hole binaries produced through repeated mergers. [Physics 19, 96] Published Mon Jul 06, 2026

Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have identified what may be the most distant barred spiral galaxy ever discovered, dating to a time less than 1.2 billion years after the Big Bang. The paper outlining its properties was posted to the arXiv preprint server on June 23.

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.

Taylor Swift is reportedly negotiating a $1 billion concert residency split between Madison Square Garden and the Sphere in Las Vegas, potentially setting a new benchmark in the music industry.

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.

Existing fiber networks can now carry both quantum-secure communication and high-capacity data traffic. KEEQuant and consortium partners CESNET, EXATEL and PCSS validated a system in a representative modern optical transport network environment, demonstrating quantum-secure communication alongside high-capacity transport traffic over distance up to 75 km without dedicated dark fiber. The SEQRET consortium partners have validated that existing fiber networks can support quantum-secure communication alongside high-capacity data traffic on the same standard fiber pair. The system demonstrated quantum key distribution (QKD) together with up to 64 Tbps of classical data traffic and reached distances of up to 75 km. The result directly...

Non-intrusive technique could enable round-the-clock, offsite monitoring of reactor operations The post Antineutrino detectors could spot signs that a fusion reactor is producing weapons-grade plutonium appeared first on Physics World.

Ferromagnetism has long been studied in a wide range of periodic crystals and amorphous materials. In quasicrystals (QCs), which possess long-range quasiperiodic order and unconventional rotational symmetries, such as 10-fold symmetry, ferromagnetism remained elusive until recently, when it was finally realized in gold (Au)-based icosahedral QCs. These discoveries establish QCs as a third platform for magnetism beyond periodic crystals and amorphous materials.

Author(s): Cailin Plunkett, Salvatore Vitale, Thomas Callister, and Michael Zevin (Society of Physicists Interested in Non-Aligned Spins (SPINS))Different analyses of gravitational-wave observations are converging on evidence for a distinct population of massive black hole binaries produced through repeated mergers. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 021404] Published Mon Jul 06, 2026

Author(s): Sharan Banagiri, Eric Thrane, and Paul D. LaskyDifferent analyses of gravitational-wave observations are converging on evidence for a distinct population of massive black hole binaries produced through repeated mergers. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 021403] Published Mon Jul 06, 2026

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Proxima Fusion has raised $468 million as it looks to move towards commercializing the promising but infamously difficult technical challenge of nuclear fusion.

Proxima Fusion has raised $468 million as it looks to move towards commercializing the promising but infamously difficult technical challenge of nuclear fusion.

Fraunhofer ILT in Aachen has developed a highly complex laser-optical system for a quantum computer currently under construction at the 5th Institute of Physics at the University of Stuttgart. This system enables 2,000 Rydberg atoms to be positioned with submicrometer precision in the computer's highly compact vacuum chamber. To do this, the system projects an array of 2,000 individually controllable laser beams into the chamber. These beams act as optical tweezers and hold the trapped Rydberg atoms precisely at the distance required for them to interact with each other. The computer's quantum logic processes are based on these interactions.

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Phase transformations—in which a material changes from one crystal structure to another, thereby acquiring dramatically different properties—are ubiquitous in nature. Understanding the microscopic mechanisms of these transformations is essential for controlling material properties and designing functional devices.

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NASA's exoplanet-hunting spacecraft TESS has a new method for detecting worlds beyond the solar system, and it is thanks to Einstein.

Physicists isolated the 'last sound' of an enormous black hole collision, providing an unprecedented glimpse of the region next to the event horizon.

When checking that solutions to certain problems are correct, it turns out, you can’t get around the inherent complexity of the quantum world. The post Researchers Reveal the Power of ‘Quantum Proofs’ first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Researchers at Tohoku University have discovered a promising strategy that converts harmful carbon dioxide into valuable fuels and chemicals by precisely altering nanoclusters made of copper.

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Smithsonian Starstruck lets visitors walk through the Big Bang, brush past the Sun, and gaze into a black hole, all without leaving Washington, D.C.

The European Space Agency's Euclid space telescope has discovered 31 of the most ancient quasars ever found. Two of these giant and dazzling galaxy cores, powered by gargantuan black holes, are the earliest quasars yet observed in cosmic history. They shone with the light of a trillion suns when the universe was 670 million years old—just 5% of its current age.

Quantum mechanics has journeyed from a strange and controversial idea to the foundation of some of humanity’s most advanced technologies. Now researchers are pushing its boundaries even further, with potential breakthroughs in energy, medicine, computing, and our understanding of the universe.

An international team led by Stefanie Komossa from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (MPIfR) in Bonn has studied a galaxy that has been shining exceptionally brightly in the radio regime for more than eight years. Although it is only 1.8 billion light-years away from us, the central black hole in the galaxy exhibits properties typical of the early universe. New observations and archival data suggest that, for several years now, more matter has been falling into the black hole, triggering a high-energy particle jet. The discovery enables researchers to better understand the formation of jets and the growth of black holes in the early universe.

Donald Trump's sprawling speech at the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library opening in North Dakota has fuelled fresh speculation about the 80-year-old president's health and judgement.

Researchers have proposed that black holes stop evaporating at the last moment, leaving behind tiny remnants that preserve all the information they contain. The same seven-dimensional geometry behind this idea could also help explain why elementary particles have mass.

As we scour and scorch the Earth for deeper wells of energy, investors and government agencies are pouring

The technology at the center of the growing ‘resolution revolution’ has again showed its value to scientists at

The Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS) has developed a room-temperature single-photon source built into a compact 19-inch rack-mounted device that operates without cryogenic cooling. Designed as a plug-and-play system that works as soon as it is powered on, the device moves quantum light source technology beyond the laboratory and closer to practical, onsite use.

Werner Heisenberg's famous uncertainty principle describes one of the most intriguing features of quantum physics: certain pairs of physical quantities describing a particle, such as position and momentum, cannot simultaneously be determined with arbitrary precision—not because of imprecise measuring instruments, but because nature forbids it. Between position and time, however, there is no Heisenberg uncertainty principle.

Short-lived sources of radio radiation in the sky, known as radio transients, can originate in the vicinity of supermassive black holes in the centers of galaxies. They are the result of processes that take place under extreme physical conditions. While most radio transients associated with galactic centers last only days or weeks, the galaxy SDSS J110546.07+145202.4 has been shining very brightly in radio light for several years—the first source of its kind.

An international team of astronomers reports the discovery of a new massive barred spiral galaxy. The newfound galaxy, designated M1149-BSG-z5, was identified using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The finding was detailed in a paper published June 23 on the preprint server arXiv.

Neutrinos: They have no electric charge, pass through matter like a ghost and are so light they were initially thought to have zero mass. These are just some of the traits that make them so difficult to detect. Research on neutrinos requires massive underground observatories far from potential confounders that drown out their weak signals. One of the largest in the world, located 1,000 meters (3,281 feet) underground in Gifu Prefecture, Japan, is called Super-Kamiokande.

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world’s most powerful particle accelerator, has been switched off to begin CERN’s Long Shutdown 3 (LS3), a major program of maintenance, consolidation, upgrades, and installation work that will prepare the Laboratory for the High-Luminosity LHC (HiLumi LHC), the next phase in the exploration of the fundamental laws of nature. The HiLumi LHC, scheduled to begin operation in 2030, will increase the collider’s luminosity by a factor of up to ten beyond its original design. This will allow researchers to collect vastly larger datasets, enabling precision studies of the Higgs boson and enhancing the potential to uncover phenomena beyond the Standard Model. The LHC is currently shut...

Researchers have created quantum control techniques that can make a system appear to run backward in time. By precisely managing quantum measurements, they can reshape the system's arrow of time and even harvest energy from the measurement process itself. The breakthrough could lead to more powerful quantum computers, quantum batteries, and other advanced technologies.

An unusual gravitational wave signal has renewed hopes that primordial black holes, long considered purely theoretical, may finally be within reach of discovery. If confirmed, they could solve one of astronomy's greatest mysteries by explaining the nature of dark matter.

Natalya Saprunova's photo series exploring coastal erosion and permafrost thaw across Inuvialuit territories in Canada has won the New Scientist Editors Award at the Earth Photo 2026 competition

Astronomers have released the largest gravitational wave catalog ever, revealing 161 new black hole collisions and pushing the total number of detections to 390. Among the highlights are the clearest gravitational wave signal ever recorded, the most accurate location of a black hole merger, and growing evidence that some black holes are the products of previous black hole mergers. With discoveries now arriving several times a week, gravitational wave astronomy is entering an exciting new era.

A major breakthrough in quantum technology has turned magnons, tiny magnetic waves once considered too short-lived for practical use, into promising carriers of quantum information. Researchers extended their lifetime by nearly 100 times, reaching up to 18 microseconds, and discovered that the main limitation is not a law of physics but the purity of the material itself. That means future improvements could come from better manufacturing rather than entirely new discoveries.

A new quantum device can generate precisely controlled bursts of sound-like particles, or phonons, by forcing electrons through an ultra-thin crystal at extremely low temperatures. The surprising behavior pushes beyond the limits predicted by current theories, suggesting scientists need to rethink how energy moves through advanced materials. In the future, the breakthrough could lead to phonon lasers, faster communications, improved medical technologies, and powerful new sensing systems.

Ultra-thin crystalline silver films showed stronger second-harmonic generation as their thickness decreased, with nearly two orders of magnitude higher thickness-normalized conversion efficiency at 1.8 µm. The effect was linked to quantum-well states and quantum confinement, offering a route to compact nonlinear nanophotonic, plasmonic, and quantum-technology platforms.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a method that uses a single ion to detect electromagnetic fields above a surface and to create a three-dimensional map of them. In the future, this approach can be used to improve chips for quantum computers and quantum sensors.

Prescribed fires are vital for reducing wildfire risk and sustaining forest biodiversity. But they also contribute significantly to air pollution and smoke exposure, according to new research from the University of Georgia. The issue is especially pertinent to the southeastern United States, where 60% of all prescribed fires in the country occur. More than 20% of the fine-particle pollution in the southeastern U.S. can be attributed to prescribed burns, the study found.

Quantum materials, materials exhibiting physical behavior governed by the laws of quantum mechanics, have proved promising for the development of numerous advanced technologies, including quantum technologies, memory devices and solar panels. In some of these materials, electrons can collectively arrange themselves in unusual patterns, giving rise to states that cannot be explained by classical physics theories.

Quantum properties of light are extremely delicate. When researchers attempt to measure them, even small losses on the way to a detector can make them invisible, limiting their use outside carefully controlled environments. A collaborative team of researchers involving scientists at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light (MPL) has shown a new way to measure several quantum channels of light at the same time and reveal their entanglement, even when almost all of the light is lost before reaching the detector. The results, recently published in Nature Communications, open new possibilities for scalable quantum technologies.

The question of how gravity interacts with the quantum world has long perplexed physicists, but a non-quantum theory of space-time could present an answer

"It's like using a time machine to peer into the distant future of our solar system."

Of the known things in the universe, black holes are among the most extreme. They pack huge amounts of mass densely into a small area, producing gravity that is so strong that even light cannot escape. To describe their properties, physicists have relied on complex equations from Einstein's theory of general relativity and quantum mechanics. But in the early 1970s, Stephen Hawking and other physicists found parallels between the laws of thermodynamics describing ordinary things—like how a stovetop boils a pot of water—and black hole mechanics.

Everything around us, from atoms and molecules to planets and galaxies, is governed by two extraordinarily successful theories of physics: quantum mechanics and gravity. Quantum mechanics explains the behavior of the microscopic world, while Einstein's theory of gravity describes the motion of stars, black holes and the expansion of the universe. Yet despite their successes, physicists are still searching for a theory of "quantum gravity" that would unite them into a single description of nature.

Device based on two-dimensional oxide interface superconductors can be “edited” using atomic force microscope lithography The post New superconducting diode gives greater control over the flow of electrons appeared first on Physics World.

Dark matter accounts for 85% of the matter in the universe, but scientists still do not know what it is made of. A study, published in Physical Review Letters, by Rice University researchers proposes a detector design that could help search for axions, hypothetical particles that many physicists think could make up dark matter.

Hawking radiation is a form of radiation emitted by black holes, as theoretically predicted by Stephen Hawking. It suggests that black holes do not merely swallow matter—as had previously been assumed—but also emit very faint radiation themselves. This radiation has not yet been observed in space; instead, researchers use models in the laboratory that mimic the behavior of black holes.

Researchers have developed a halide perovskite nanocrystal (HPNC) that remains bright and stable in aqueous environments. The HPNC could provide a reliable light source for water-based quantum technologies and bioimaging applications. HPNCs are known for their vivid colors, high brightness, and strong optoelectronic properties. They also demonstrate high single-photon purity at room temperature, a desirable feature for quantum technologies and optical imaging and sensing at the molecular level. But HPNCs break down quickly when exposed to even a slight amount of moisture, which limits their use in biological or water-based environments. At Nanyang Technological University (NTU), a research team led by professor Sum Tze Chien...

Some of the most massive galaxies in the Universe appear to be missing a lot of stars. That seems unusual, since birthing stars is one of a galaxy's main tasks as it grows. According to Xin "Cindy" Xiang of the University of Michigan, something is suppressing or quenching the births of stars in these and she thinks that black holes might be the culprit.

Researchers at The University of Manchester and Hebei University of Technology have identified how a new class of catalyst can break down lignin into useful chemical building blocks, offering a more sustainable route to replace fossil-based materials.

In May, the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) announced its intent to provide more than $2 billion in federal incentives to nine companies pursuing innovations in quantum science. The high-dollar funding underscores a clear groundswell of belief among global powers in the need to advance quantum technologies in the interest of national security. This is a distinctly multipronged victory for the U.S. quantum community. The government funding allocates capital that, according to the DOC, “will address the most consequential unresolved engineering problems in multiple quantum modalities.” The agency is speaking specifically about quantum computing here, and its use of this superlative, even if only to characterize the...

A philosopher has put forward an argument for rethinking how particles are defined within the standard model of particle physics

The Trump administration says it has ended 65 years of paper-based federal retirement processing at a limestone mine 230 feet underground in Boyers, PA.

After decades of debate, the scientific case is clear for Europe’s Future Circular Collider, a colossal successor to the Large Hadron Collider. But transforming this megaproject from vision to reality is far from guaranteed

A new quantum computer sets a high watermark for accuracy. Are we on the verge of a big breakthrough?

Every muscle in the human body is, in a sense, in constant conversation with gravity, sensing load and responding accordingly to stay strong. Remove that conversation, as happens to astronauts in orbit, and the consequences unfold at a molecular level long before they become visible. New NASA-supported research is tracing exactly how that breakdown happens, using a purpose-built model that mimics weightlessness here on Earth. The surprising twist is where else this knowledge might apply

Fusion Bionic, a Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS spinout company developing laser-based solutions for large-area and high-speed processing, has secured €8.2 million ($9.3M) in a seed financing round. The company is pioneering an approach to achieve functional surfaces that do not require additional coating or wet chemical processes. It plans to use the capital to accelerate its expansion from a technology provider to a provider of industrial machine solutions. An additional €2.4 million will be allocated to two major industrial projects in which the bio-inspired laser technology will be translated into large-scale applications and machine solutions, the company said. The Fusion Bionic team is...

ATLAS probes top-antitop quark interactions near threshold The post Observation of top-antitop quark excess appeared first on Physics World.

Limits on the speed of quantum algorithms are not quite as rigid as previously thought, according to new research The post How can you fast-forward a quantum simulation? appeared first on Physics World.

Researchers demonstrated a polymer-free 3D metal nanoprinting method that uses spatiotemporally confined hot electrons to print multiple metals with sub-250 nm resolution and low pulse energy. The approach produced dense, mechanically robust, and optically functional metal nanostructures, including metamaterials, nanospirals, and complex 3D architectures.

By remotely accessing an IBM quantum computer, a research scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has successfully simulated a key process in particle physics: hadronization. Although based on a simplified model of quantum mechanics, the project lays the groundwork for how physicists can leverage the power of quantum computers to make large scientific calculations beyond the capabilities of classical supercomputers. The research is published in the journal Physical Review D.

A University at Buffalo-led team of researchers has developed a method for producing advanced nanoparticles that could accelerate the discovery of new materials for energy and electronic applications. The study, published in Nature Communications, introduces a one-step process that rapidly combines multiple metals into uniform nanoparticles in milliseconds. This allows researchers to quickly produce and explore a wider range of material combinations than was previously possible.

Scientists from the Faculty of Physics at the University of Warsaw, in collaboration with teams from the National University of Singapore and Radboud University in the Netherlands, have observed single-photon emission from layered two-dimensional material ZnPS₃. This discovery represents a crucial step toward establishing low-dimensional materials as a versatile platform for quantum information science. The research findings were published in the journal ACS Nano.

Astronomers have recently started looking for black holes bigger than galaxies. Brian Lacki explains how these “stupendously large black holes” might be used by alien civilisations, and what makes them such an intriguing possibility

The technology at the center of the growing "resolution revolution" has again shown its value to scientists at Yale by revealing the secrets of gum disease.

The Large Hadron Collider, the world’s largest atom smasher, has shut down for a planned 4-year upgrade that will make it 10 times more sensitive than its initial version.

The way that dark matter is distributed may need a rethink. New research shows that dark matter could gather near supermassive black holes. The evidence is based on a new detection method, and is only moderately convincing so far. But if true, it also turns SMBH into 'dark matter labs' and could change how we understand SMBH growth.

The shutdown will involve removing and replacing 1.2 km of magnets and components The post CERN says Large Hadron Collider has ‘exceeded every expectation’ as it shuts down ahead of major upgrade appeared first on Physics World.

In a new study published in Nature Physics, researchers have demonstrated the Hong–Ou–Mandel (HOM) effect with up to 12 indistinguishable neutral atoms—an effect that has been predominantly observed in photonic systems.

Peering far into the distant, high-redshift universe, the James Webb telescope has discovered an abundance of small red galaxies known as the Little Red Dots. From their observations, astronomers believe that at least some of these galaxies may be home to growing supermassive black holes at their centers, objects which they believe are embedded in dense gaseous envelopes, an environment suitable for producing high-energy neutrinos.

Author(s): Jamir MarinoThe synchronization of two quantum oscillators reveals a collective rhythm encoded solely in their correlations. [Physics 19, 93] Published Mon Jun 29, 2026

Imagine a city with thousands of drivers on the streets every day. How might you make their commutes

Plutonium is one of the most complex elements in the periodic table. First synthesized and isolated in 1940 by scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, plutonium has been studied closely for more than eight decades. It's most often associated with its role in nuclear security, but it's also vital to nuclear power, where it is produced in reactors and can be recycled as fuel. Despite plutonium's importance, some of its most fundamental behaviors remain a mystery.

A new Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) study based on data from NASA's New Horizons spacecraft has uncovered insights into why the solar wind gradually slows as it moves toward the edge of the solar system and the boundary with interstellar space. The study "The Gradual Slowing of the Solar Wind in the Outer Heliosphere" is published in The Astrophysical Journal.

A new AI-powered framework could transform how astronomers measure the expansion of the Universe. By analyzing images of Type Ia supernovae and modeling their environments in unprecedented detail, researchers can estimate cosmic distances with near-spectroscopic accuracy. The technique is designed for the flood of data expected from the upcoming Vera C. Rubin Observatory and may greatly improve our understanding of dark energy.

On September 22, 2021, the IceCube Neutrino Detector in Antarctica caught a blast of neutrinos as it passed through the solar system. These neutrinos were remarkably high-energy and came from a galaxy 11 billion light-years away. That's a period of the Universe's history known as "Cosmic Noon". It's when star formation in galaxies was at its most active and that provided an interesting clue to their origin. The source of the neutrinos was nicknamed "Shadow Blaster" because the event that created the neutrinos was hidden by a dense cloud of dust, which made it invisible to optical observations.

There is growing demand for smart materials that can change their physical properties in response to various external stimuli such as light, heat, pressure, magnetic fields and electric fields. One such physical property is the magnetic state of material complexes, which depends on electronic spin states. Metal atoms in these complexes can change their spin state—between magnetic and nonmagnetic configurations—in response to light, heat or mechanical pressure.

Stellar mass black holes may not be black holes at all. Instead, they could be a type of extremely compact star called a gravastar, which mimics a black hole. This is according to theoretical phsyicists who have discovered a solution to Einstein's Theory of General Relativity that doesn't automatically result in a black hole when a star collapses at the end of its life.

The High-Luminosity LHC, planned to switch on in 2030, could help physicists unravel mysteries about the Higgs boson, dark matter and more.

The US government is trying to speed up the development of quantum computers so it can have one sooner

Researchers at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) have developed a new way to use molecules as tiny data storage devices with a new manganese-based material. Until now, this was possible only with iron-containing molecular materials, which require very low temperatures—ranging from 100 to a maximum of 130 Kelvin (minus 173 to minus 143°C)—making their application significantly more difficult.

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Using the James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have spotted a massive and densely packed galaxy cluster at "cosmic noon" before such structures were thought to be possible.

Hamamatsu Photonics has provided an update into its involvement in a project that aims to detect faint flashes of light produced by neutrino interactions in Antarctic ice. The company's announcement, regarding the IceCube initiative upgrade at the U.S. National Science Foundation’s Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, is focused on newly installed sensor strings. The IceCube Neutrino Observatory is a large-scale scientific facility embedded in approximately one cubic kilometer of exceptionally clear Antarctic ice. In detecting the faint flashes of light produced by neutrino interactions, it aims to help researchers investigate fundamental questions in astrophysics. A multi-photomultiplier tube digital optical module (mDOM) is...

Reading Time: 6 minutesThe University of Tennessee at Chattanooga signals its quantum ambitions The post UTC Quantum Center: collaboration turns quantum discovery into quantum impact appeared first on Physics World.