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New materials and catalysts have the potential to transform everything from food production and medicine to batteries and stainless steel. Computer simulations help scientists narrow down promising candidates before testing them in a lab, but those simulations can be unreliable, especially for molecules that contain multiple metals.

Humanity's ongoing disruption of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) concentrations, temperatures, and global nutrient cycles is starving the oceans of oxygen. Although we can measure ongoing changes to ocean circulation and marine life, we still don't know how far the oxygen loss and the damage to ocean ecosystems could go. One way to foresee the oceans' future is to look back at how our seas and their inhabitants responded to higher CO₂ levels and warmer climates in the past.

Silicon spin qubits are a promising platform for building scalable quantum computers as they are compatible with the semiconductor manufacturing technologies used to produce today's computer chips. However, they have an important weakness: silicon spin qubits typically lose accuracy when several qubits are under parallel control. To be useful, quantum computers will need to operate many qubits simultaneously without compromising the accuracy of their operations.

When corals are stressed by pollution, high water temperatures or other environmental changes, they can lose the microscopic algae living inside them and on which they depend for food. As a result, they turn white, a phenomenon known as coral bleaching. They will not die straight away, but it will be game over if the stress continues long enough for them to starve.

The work could help improve quantum computers’ accuracy in complex calculations

Physicists at Auburn University have used flashes of laser light to bring order to tiny electrically charged "islands" inside a crystal. The discovery helps answer a decades-old question about how the material organizes itself and shows how light could be used to control its behavior—a step toward exploring new technologies for processing and storing information.

Space-based solar power has the potential to meet Earth's energy needs many times over. Will it see the light of day?

When light hits a tiny defect embedded in a solid material like diamond or silicon carbide, it can kick the defect's electrons into an excited state. These spin defects have the potential to be used as stable, readable qubits for quantum technologies, for example, quantum sensing. But modeling the full physics of their energetics over time—a key step in developing spin defects into new technologies—is a challenging task.

The Large-Sized Telescope will provide new insights into the early universe The post Officials celebrate completion of gamma-ray telescope array in La Palma appeared first on Physics World.

Germany Ties Fusion Money to Milestones Germany will pay fusion startups only as they prove progress, and it

Quantum pioneer calls for more investment in Europe’s quantum industries The post Ignacio Cirac: Newton Medal winner looks to the future of quantum technology appeared first on Physics World.

New study places a quantum limit on how fast a system can reach a state of thermal equilibrium The post Your beer can only cool so fast. Blame quantum mechanics appeared first on Physics World.

Einstein's theory of general relativity describes gravity as the bending of spacetime, a mathematical model that combines three-dimensional space and time into a single, four-dimensional continuum. The theory also predicts that a rotating object, such as Earth, slightly drags the surrounding spacetime as it rotates, a phenomenon known as frame-dragging.

Finding particles of interest in an air pollution particulate matter sample can be harder than finding a needle in a haystack. It's a time-consuming process that requires scientists to manually locate and scan thousands of microscopic particles across a large sample area, often taking several days.

Siloton, which develops optical technology for medical imaging, has been awarded an £8.4 million ($11M) contract from Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation. The contract will accelerate development of its groundbreaking handheld eye imaging system, making detection and monitoring of retinal diseases more accessible to patients. Siloton team posing with their GiraffeOCT handheld retinal imaging device. Courtesy of Siloton. The contract will specifically help Siloton accelerate the design of the in-clinic and at-home versions of its GiraffeOCT optical coherence tomography (OCT) device, as well as complete trials on both systems. Siloton expects the funding could cut the development process by up to two years. Under the...

Author(s): Sophia ChenAn ultrafast optical technique uncovers new clues to the origin of bulk polarization in quantum ferroelectric materials. [Physics 19, s132] Published Wed Oct 14, 2026

Fine particulate matter consists of tiny particles with diameters in the nanometer range. They are produced, for example, by fuel combustion, remain suspended in the air and can penetrate deep into the respiratory tract. There, they can trigger oxidative stress, a process that promotes inflammation and, over the long term, can lead to serious health problems such as respiratory or cardiovascular diseases. Scientists call this harmful property the particles' oxidative potential.

Flat is fine for a sheet of paper, but many of the most useful molecules need depth. Now, researchers from Japan have found a way to give them that depth using nothing more than a single carbon atom.

A research team led by Haruki Watanabe, a professor in the Department of Physics and the Jockey Club Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), in collaboration with professor Yukitoshi Motome and graduate student Sena Watanabe from the University of Tokyo, has developed a unified theory that predicts when two states of matter are genuinely distinct and when they are actually the same.

Studying rare processes is part and parcel of particle physics, providing stringent tests of the Standard Model. At the recent International Conference on High Energy Physics (ICHEP), the CMS and LHCb collaborations presented their latest research into one such process: the transformation of a beauty quark into a strange quark, a muon and the oppositely charged antimuon (b→sμ⁺μ⁻).

An international collaboration led by a research group from GSI/FAIR in Darmstadt, Germany, has achieved the first measurement of the chemical stability of a superheavy element compound.

Organizations are unprepared for the risks posed by quantum computing, IBM's Europe and Africa vice president Alessandro Curioni told AFP Wednesday, referring to the high-speed technology that could crack security encryptions and enable large-scale cyberattacks.

A major software advance could aid the creation of bigger, more reliable quantum computers, a study suggests. Researchers have developed an algorithm that enables off-the-shelf computers to run quantum simulations previously only possible using the world's most powerful supercomputers.

Quantum information systems could one day shape everyday life through faster computing, sharper sensing and more secure communication. A new result from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U. of I.) marks an important step toward enabling magnetic spins—a quantum property of matter that can be used to store and manipulate information—to play a role in the future of quantum information processing.

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.

Join the audience for a live webinar at 2 p.m. GMT/3 p.m. CET on 12 November 2026 Explore how precise sample manipulation enables complementary nanoscale techniques to work together on one sample The post One sample, many dimensions: prospects for multimodal nanoscale characterization appeared first on Physics World.

Scientists have developed a material that can grow and coordinate its own movement until the entire structure pulses in unison, paving the way for versatile robots that behave more like living systems.

Understanding and controlling phase transitions are fundamental to physics and central to many technological revolutions. There is currently strong interest in materials with coupled structural and electronic phase transitions, where controlling the transition plasticity naturally yields built-in memory—a key step in emulating neurons and synapses for "neuromorphic" or brain-like computing technologies.

Astronomers have found two actively feeding supermassive black holes separated by just 175 parsecs (570 light-years) in a galaxy seen when the universe was only about 2 billion years old. The system, MG B2016+112, lies at a redshift of 3.273 and is the most compact dual AGN known at this redshift. The study was posted to the arXiv preprint server on Sept. 25.

Researchers used spatiotemporal terahertz emission nanoscopy to map the electromagnetic signatures of ultrafast spin-driven charge currents in a fiber-coupled spintronic terahertz emitter with femtosecond temporal resolution and nanoscale spatial sensitivity. The study shows how localized in-plane currents produce detectable out-of-plane electric fields, clarifying how near-field terahertz measurements can probe ultrafast spin-to-charge transport.

Quantum networks are systems that connect different users or devices using principles of quantum mechanics. In the future, these networks could help improve the security of communications.

Researchers demonstrate Rashba-like spin splitting in a perfectly symmetric plasmonic crystal, challenging conventional assumptions about the role of structural asymmetry The post A new route to spin-controlled photonics appeared first on Physics World.

Author(s): Ryan WilkinsonPhotoelectron interference can reveal otherwise hidden properties of quantum light through an apparent attosecond time shift. [Physics 19, s125] Published Tue Oct 13, 2026

Author(s): John B. DeBrotaA new analysis reveals that all major derivations of the Born rule depend on a probabilistic assumption. [Physics 19, 133] Published Tue Oct 13, 2026

Researchers at Friedrich Schiller University Jena and the University of Regensburg have developed a method for determining, using light, a quantum property of electrons that has hitherto been difficult to access. The focus is on what is known as Berry curvature—a quantity that describes certain geometric properties of the quantum mechanical states of electrons. The researchers measured it in a layer of the semiconductor tungsten diselenide, just one atomic layer thick, using ultrashort laser pulses. The results have been published in the latest issue of the journal Nature Photonics.

Magnetic skyrmions (MSks) are swirling patterns of magnetization that form inside certain magnetic materials. They can behave like actual particles in many ways, exhibiting a stable internal structure and distinct boundaries. Because they are extremely small and can be pushed around with relatively little energy, MSks are regarded as promising information carriers in emerging technologies, including low-power memories and logic circuits. However, a major goal in the field has been to find practical ways to control their motion with high precision.

A faster way of finding the best diamond-based materials for quantum computers has been developed by a researcher at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL). The new approach has already identified promising materials for practical quantum sensors and computers that could one day transform scientific research as a whole. The research was recently published in the journal ACS Central Science and has already garnered attention from other experts in the field.

For decades, physicists have sought a practical two-dimensional topological insulator: an ultrathin material whose interior blocks electricity but whose edges conduct it. In ordinary wires, electrons constantly bounce off imperfections, losing energy. But along the edges of a 2D topological insulator, electrons with opposite spins travel in opposite directions, like cars in one-way lanes, so they rarely scatter and lose energy.

A concept from the field of quantum mechanics, spin is a property of particles that has no direct counterpart in everyday experience. Since the early 20th century, researchers have learned to manipulate it deliberately by means of precisely shaped electromagnetic pulses. This has resulted in two technologies that are widespread today: magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is commonplace in hospitals, and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) is used to determine the structures of proteins and to develop new drugs. The mathematical framework of optimal control theory can be used to improve these technologies.

When drugmakers want to improve on compounds they have already created, they can replace a carbon atom with a nitrogen atom. While effective, the techniques they use to perform this chemical swap, known as skeletal editing, have some downsides. For example, older approaches often require harsh chemicals or only work on specific types of molecules.

Qubit decoherence remains the primary barrier to many practical quantum devices. This is why vacuum and cryogenic equipment scaling are key enablers to delivering useful quantum products and systems The post Engineering the unknown: building vacuum and cryogenic systems for the quantum frontier appeared first on Physics World.

Oxford physicists have recreated a bizarre quantum effect in which a particle responds to a magnetic field without ever traveling through it. Using a hybrid quantum computer, they demonstrated how introducing a simulated magnetic flux could completely halt a particle's movement through quantum interference. The experiment brings a decades-old prediction into a new setting where matter and quantum fields influence one another.

The European Space Agency’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) will return to Earth on 28 September, with flight

Hydrogen may be the most common element in the cosmos, but scientists could use it to do something unique: uncover the nature of dark energy.

Quantum simulation goes beyond traditional models The post Gluon string breaking is simulated using trapped ions appeared first on Physics World.

Recent research shows that gravity and quantum information are deeply connected and that the shape of spacetime can be traced back to the way information is stored in quantum fields.

For many years, the simplest view of dark energy has been that it remains unchanged. Throughout cosmic history, the mysterious ingredient believed to drive the universe's accelerated expansion is thought to have behaved in the same way at every epoch. However, an increasing number of observations are challenging this idea.

When Belgian American particle physicist Francis Halzen was awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in physics "for decisive contributions to the IceCube Neutrino Observatory and the discovery of high-energy neutrinos of astrophysical origin," it was a reminder that for more than a century, scientists have treated Antarctica's environments as windows onto worlds beyond Earth.

First observation of fundamental quantization in mechanical vibrations could have applications in quantum error correction and protein diagnostics The post Sound waves come in quantum jumps appeared first on Physics World.

Researchers from Rutgers, IBM and collaborating institutions have shown that a quantum computer can check what is happening inside it and respond while it is running, repeatedly resetting parts of the system to bring chaotic behavior under control.

The nebula NGC 7129, as seen in a brand new image from the James Webb Space Telescope.

Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have discovered the most distant Fast Radio Burst (FRB) ever, more than doubling the previous record.

President Trump just gave Elon Musk and a handful of other tech luminaries the National Medal of Science, the highest honor the U.S. can bestow on a scientist or engineer.

Gravity, the attraction between objects with mass, is the weakest of the four fundamental forces governing physical processes. Detecting the tiny gravitational pull of objects that are just a few millimeters in size and have a very small mass is extremely challenging.

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.

Breaking down this year’s Nobel Prize–winning science, from switching brain cells on and off with light to catching cosmic neutrinos in Antarctic ice to building mirror-image molecules. Plus, a 194-year-old tortoise’s DNA might hold the key to a longer life.

Many of nature's most important processes depend on how particles of matter interact with light and other force-carrying particles. So far, however, it has proven difficult for conventional computers to determine how individual particles behave in these interactions.

Researchers developed an end-to-end inverse design method that uses LSTM prediction, a conditional generative adversarial network, and metasurface reconstruction to tailor the photon density of states in 3D photonic crystals made through holographic lithography. The method produced connected structures with strong local pDOS enhancement across multiple target frequencies and identified two recurring high-pDOS morphological families, while the reported optical gains remained computational rather than experimentally measured.

Cirac is honoured for contributions to modern quantum information science The post Quantum physicist Ignacio Cirac awarded 2026 Isaac Newton Medal and Prize appeared first on Physics World.

Some classical physical systems can explore many configurations over time until their long-term behavior no longer reveals their starting conditions. The sampling of available configurations according to the appropriate statistical distribution is a property called ergodicity.

Trump criticised Norway after South African lawyer and former UNCHR Commissioner Navi Pillay won the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize, saying his record of settling conflicts should have earned him the award.

Physicists at the University of Twente have improved the standard test for the quality of individual particles of

Scientists in Vienna have achieved a major breakthrough in timekeeping by creating the world’s first self-stabilizing nuclear clock, a technology that could eventually surpass even the most precise atomic clocks. Instead of relying on electrons in atoms, the clock uses the tiny nuclei of thorium atoms, which are far less sensitive to outside disturbances.

When we think about a diamond, we often think about a material whose value comes from its perfection. In my research, however, I am interested in something almost opposite: the tiny imperfections inside diamonds. These atomic-scale defects can give diamonds new optical and electronic properties, and some of them can serve as quantum systems. The challenge is learning how to control these defects without disturbing the others.

Scientists have developed a powerful new way to calculate the Kondo effect, a strange quantum phenomenon that appears when magnetic atoms are embedded in metals. Instead of relying on simplified models, the method uses the real atomic and electronic structures of materials, allowing researchers to predict their behavior with far greater accuracy.

Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory may have found a dramatically more efficient route to fusion energy by reversing the traditional approach: heating plasma first, then increasing its density. Their calculations could help future reactors reach self-sustaining fusion with far less energy while avoiding hidden problems that make ignition harder.

Most of us recognize basic phases of matter and their properties: solids maintain their shape, liquids flow freely with constant volume, and gases expand to fill their container. Quantum phases, on the other hand, are much harder to categorize, overturning traditional notions of what a phase even is and forcing physicists to rethink their definitions.

Donald Trump criticised the Nobel Peace Prize decision after Navi Pillay won, claiming he deserved eight awards and accusing Norway of an unfair snub.

Donald Trump called Elon Musk a 'national treasure' at the National Medal of Science ceremony as viewers debated their brief onstage exchange.

Physicists in the Department of Physics at the University of Oxford have used a hybrid quantum computer, made up of qubits and quantum oscillators, to observe the Aharonov–Bohm effect in a quantum simulation. The effect is a quantum phenomenon in which a particle can acquire a measurable phase by traveling around a magnetic flux, even though it never passes through a region where a magnetic field is present.

Nobel Physics Prize for IceCube For the first time since 1991, the Nobel Prize in Physics belongs to

Photoelectrochemical water splitting offers a clean path to produce hydrogen fuel directly from sunlight and water. Quantum dots—nanoscale semiconductor crystals—are highly promising for this application due to their tunable bandgaps and strong light absorption. However, most high-performance quantum dots rely on toxic heavy metals such as cadmium or lead, limiting their practical deployment.

Author(s): J. B. Lestz, R. I. Pinsker, B. Van Compernolle, S. X. Tang, A. Dupuy, A. M. Garofalo, L. McAllister, C. P. Moeller, C. C. Petty, M. Porkolab, M. P. Ross, G. Rutherford, and A. TorrezanHelicon current drive has been observed experimentally for the first time in dedicated DIII-D tokamak experiments, providing a proof-of-principle and an attractive source of efficient current drive in reactor-grade tokamak plasmas. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 155101] Published Fri Oct 09, 2026

Every black hole hides a question at its center. Einstein's theory predicts that whatever falls in is crushed into a singularity, a point of infinite density where the theory itself breaks down. Most physicists expect quantum gravity to replace that point with something finite. But the center lies hidden behind the horizon. How could we ever learn what is there?

Finding a single cancer cell in a tube of blood is a bit like finding a needle in a haystack. As researchers seek to detect ever-smaller and rarer targets, from viruses to circulating tumor cells in blood, the demand for ultrasensitive, robust sensors that are practical for real-world samples continues to grow.

For highly fragile quantum information systems, the ability to store quantum information is vital—but also challenging. Quantum information is transported in particles of light called photons, which often must be temporarily paused (or "stored") while other, slower quantum operations catch up. This storage must be performed on microchips as small as 1 centimeter (0.4 inches)—a distance covered by light in a few trillionths of a second. Storing photons for a microsecond would represent a massive leap forward for the capabilities of quantum chips.

University of Glasgow researchers are part of an international collaboration that could lead to a new generation of quantum sensors. The team, which included researchers from the University of Tokyo, University of Glasgow, University of Sheffield and Kobe University, has for the first time used light to read out the magnetic spin of electrons trapped inside a porous crystalline material known as a metal-organic framework (MOF).

Nitrogen is one of life's building blocks, but it's only helpful in the right amounts. Too much nitrogen in water, for example, can lead to poor water quality and the gradual death of aquatic organisms. Microbes remove nitrogen from water by converting it to a gas that escapes into the atmosphere. But scientists have difficulty determining how much nitrogen is removed this way.

Have you been keeping up to date with physics news? Try our short quiz to find out The post Quiz of the week: which star could help astronomers measure the spin of Sagittarius A*? appeared first on Physics World.

Navi Pillay wins the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize and jokes about sharing it with Trump, as his latest snub fuels scrutiny and Mark Carney enters TIME Person of the Year speculation.

Navi Pillay wins the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize for advancing international law and prosecuting atrocities, while Donald Trump misses out again.

Quantum computers, computer systems that leverage the laws of quantum mechanics, store and process information using qubits (i.e., quantum bits). In many quantum computers, qubits are linked via entanglement, a quantum mechanical effect that connects particles in such a way that their shared state cannot be described as separate, independent states.

South African jurist Navi Pillay has won the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize for advancing peace and international law, as the Nobel Committee warns that global legal institutions face mounting pressure.

Nearly a century after physicist Hans Bethe predicted them, scientists have created and directly observed unusual quantum states known as “Bethe strings” in an ultracold gas. By cooling cesium atoms to near absolute zero and trapping them in thousands of tiny one-dimensional tubes, researchers were able to make groups of atoms bind together without ordinary chemical bonds. These strange clusters could contain six or more particles and even collide with one another without falling apart.

A Canadian radio telescope has detected the faint glow of hydrogen from billions of years ago using only its own observations, proving a long-awaited way to map the distant universe can actually work. CHIME can use this hydrogen signal to trace how matter is spread across space and measure how the universe has expanded over time, offering a powerful new way to investigate dark energy.

Octopuses, squid and cuttlefish, collectively known as coleoid cephalopods, have evolved exceptionally large and elaborately structured nervous systems capable of complex behaviors such as problem-solving and rapid camouflage. A new study by scientists at the University of Vienna suggests that the origins of this complexity may lie not just in the genes themselves, but in how the genome is organized in 3D.

Author(s): Sophia ChenA new device in which more than 600 atoms are manipulated within a single optical cavity could allow for the scaling up of neutral-atom quantum computers. [Physics 19, s126] Published Thu Oct 08, 2026