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Author(s): Sophia ChenResearchers demonstrate a new quantum memory device that will enable faraway nodes in a network to coordinate in time, a key ingredient for a future quantum Internet. [Physics 19, s120] Published Wed Sep 16, 2026

When a material heats up, its electrical resistance often rises. The harder question is what, exactly, is getting in the way. The electrons carrying the current may be scattered by vibrations of the material's atomic lattice, known as phonons. They may also collide with one another. Frustratingly, a conventional temperature test warms the electrons and the lattice together, so the effects arrive tangled in the same resistance measurement.

In March 2026, scientists succeeded in transporting antiprotons by road for the first time in a purpose-built trap loaded on a truck. The BASE collaboration, which realized this experiment at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva under the lead of Professor Dr Stefan Ulmer and Dr Christian Smorra from Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU), now presents its findings and experiences from this pioneering experiment in the journal Nature. Among other things, they report that it was possible to store antiprotons in a mobile transport vessel for more than a month for the first time ever.

Eastern oyster larvae are only 100–300 micrometers long, but their dense calcium carbonate shells make them substantially heavier than the surrounding seawater. A new study led by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) shows that this excess weight allows gravity to drive the feeding currents the larvae use to bring food to their mouths, a finding that reveals a critical role for gravity in how these tiny animals feed and survive.

Oxford University researchers have captured the step-by-step assembly of individual virus-like particles, revealing how simple molecular interactions can reliably build these complex biological structures. The results were published today (September 16) in Nature.

The SpaceX Falcon 9 Booster Landing Team received the first-ever Neil Armstrong Space Prize during a ceremony in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday night (Sept. 15).

Rydberg atoms are considered promising building blocks for quantum computers and their precursors, quantum simulators. Researchers at the 5th Institute of Physics of the University of Stuttgart have achieved record values for the lifetime, size, and storage time of circular Rydberg atoms, a special form of Rydberg atom in which electrons move in a stable circular orbit around the nucleus. The findings were published in Nature Communications.

Whether on a windowpane at home or during the industrial cleaning of computer chips: droplets sliding over solid surfaces become electrically charged. Yet the physical mechanism behind this charging remains a subject of debate. This charging is usually attributed to the exchange of charged particles (ions) at the interface between the droplet and the surface.

A new simulation suggests little red dots, unusually compact objects seen in photos from space, might be one stage in the evolution of black holes.

A new simulation suggests little red dots, unusually compact objects seen in photos from space, might be one stage in the evolution of black holes.

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James Webb Space Telescope spies colossal cosmic cloud | Space photo of the day for Sept. 16, 2026

Melania Trump visited a North Carolina elementary school to promote AI and technology education, joining pupils using robotics and announcing support for an AI learning platform.

Tennessee, the Tennessee Valley Authority, and the UK announced a partnership to advance fusion energy, focusing on supply chains and workforce development, aiming for commercial deployment.

A laser can reshape the eye in more than one way. For decades, corneal laser vision correction was

A 74-year-old Oakland County man won $1.5 million in Michigan's Lotto 47 Double Play after matching six numbers, while another player won $136,660 by accidental replay.

Soft materials such as colloidal suspensions, emulsions, foams and gels often display complex and unusual behaviors compared with ordinary solids or liquids. From a mechanical point of view, for instance, they can resist deformation like solids, but they can also start to flow like liquids when a sufficiently strong external drive is applied. This transition from solid-like to liquid-like behavior, known as "yielding," is central to the physics of soft amorphous materials and to many industrial and biological processes.

Join the audience for a live webinar on 6 October 2026 sponsored by IOP Publishing's journal, Physics in Medicine and Biology The post Establishing a research career in advanced X-ray Imaging: insights from Xiaochuan Pan and PMB award winner Ronan Smith appeared first on Physics World.

A defect framework unlocks difficult calculations in N = 4 super Yang-Mills The post A new way to study giant gravitons appeared first on Physics World.

Light is traditionally described by properties such as wavelength, amplitude, phase and polarization. Advances in optics have shown that light can also be shaped into complex spatial patterns known as structured light, enabling new ways to carry information and interact with matter for applications in imaging, optical communications and information processing.

Author(s): Marric StephensIncreasing the charging rate of a quantum battery leads to unavoidable fluctuations in the total energy stored.  [Physics 19, s114] Published Tue Sep 15, 2026

A research team at the Institute of Applied Physics at TU Darmstadt has shown for the first time that atoms that are completely disordered and in constant motion can nevertheless emit jointly directed light preferentially in one direction—even though neither the atoms nor their environment exhibit a direction—and that the strength of this asymmetry can be specifically adjusted. The paper is published in the journal Physical Review Letters.

Xufeng Zhang is using magnets to make computers more power efficient at the quantum level. The Northeastern professor of electrical and computer engineering recently published two papers highlighting small-scale magnetic systems he and his team developed that could help make computers much more power efficient in the future.

Researchers have found that if black holes have certain features, known as "hair," then we could prove it by observing the gravitational ringdown of merging black holes. Future studies could test the no-hair theorem of general relativity.

A mathematical shape famous for covering a surface without ever repeating has revealed an unexpected ability to twist light into unusual chiral patterns. The discovery could lead to new ways of controlling light, polarization, and advanced optical devices.

Does gravity act equally on all particles in the universe, or are there differences between ordinary and exotic matter? Physics professor Anna Soter and her team at ETH Zurich and the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) in Villigen are investigating this question. "We have taken an important step toward carrying out an exciting experiment on this topic," says Soter. "We want to measure the gravitational interaction of the muon."

Astronomers have discovered that winds from a supermassive black hole are about 100 times more powerful than previously thought. XRISM observations showed the resulting turbulence spreading roughly 300,000 light-years, extending far beyond the black hole’s host galaxy. The energy involved rivals several billion supernova explosions, revealing just how dramatically black holes can influence the space around them.

The latest gravitational-wave discoveries include record-breaking cataclysms

Astronomers have found that a nearby galaxy's black hole is blasting out a far more powerful and hidden gas outflow than previously realized. Studying NGC 1068, a well-known galaxy with an actively feeding black hole at its center, researchers combined new infrared observations with existing data to map how the black hole's energy is reshaping the surrounding gas. The results are reported in a paper published Aug. 6 in Astronomy & Astrophysics.

Artificial intelligence is transforming how information is generated, processed and stored, but its rapid expansion is also driving unprecedented demand for computing power and electricity. Developing hardware that can process information more efficiently is therefore becoming one of the major technological challenges of the AI era.

Have you ever wondered what Earth observation satellites see when they look down at the deep ocean or a dense tropical forest during the dead of night? The answer, for the most part, is nothing. Standard optical sensors require a steady stream of light to function, and in these photon-limited regions, they hit a hard physical boundary. But what if we could rewrite the rules of optical imaging? By borrowing techniques from quantum photonics, we can push beyond these classical limits and unlock a fundamentally new way to observe the darkest and most hidden environments on our planet.

How can we predict the way a real material, such as a polymer, responds mechanically over timescales ranging from the ultrafast motion of atoms to the slow deformations measured in a laboratory? This is a deceptively difficult problem.

A new study of nine nearby galaxies has shown that actively growing supermassive black holes may contribute to, rather than prevent, star formation in their host galaxies.

Extremely short, intense light flashes are in high demand to investigate atoms, molecules and new materials. Free-electron lasers (FELs) produce these flashes. But around the world, beam time available at large-scale user facilities is in short supply, and waiting times are long.

The vast majority of modern quantum technologies—from quantum cryptography to the quantum internet to the quantum computer—rely on one essential element: the transmission of photons. Two qubits (two atoms, for example) exchange information: One qubit emits a photon, and the other qubit absorbs it.

A new declaration from winners of the Fields Medal reflects many mathematicians’ growing alarm over a “severe misalignment” between the tech industry and their field a week after AI toppled one of math’s biggest open problems

The James Webb Space Telescope spots mysterious “little red dots” everywhere. A bold new theory suggests they’re suns dozens of times larger than our entire solar system. The post Black Holes or Black Hole Stars? Astronomers Spar Over Webb Telescope’s ‘Little Red Dots.’ first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Physicists at the University of Oxford have helped confirm that one of the strangest phenomena in physics—quantum entanglement—occurs even among some of the heaviest and most fleeting particles ever created. The discovery, made using the world's most powerful particle collider at CERN, has been published in Physical Review Letters.

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Monash University-led researchers have directly imaged tiny swirling structures inside an atomically thin semiconductor, opening new possibilities for future low-energy electronic technologies. Published in Science Advances, the study reveals structures known as merons and antimerons, nanoscale "whirlpools" of electrical polarization, in twisted layers of the semiconductor tungsten diselenide (WSe₂).

In 1931, physicist Hans Bethe predicted that, in certain one-dimensional quantum systems, particles can bind together to form multi-particle states known as Bethe strings. Unlike ordinary molecules, which are held together by chemical bonds, Bethe strings arise purely from interactions between particles and exist only in one dimension. For decades, Bethe strings remained primarily a theoretical concept.

Gravity from entropy theory offer hints of why low-entropy regions persist in the universe The post Could quantum information theory explain universe evolution? appeared first on Physics World.

Nonlinear optical processes enable frequency mixing, ultrafast signal processing, high-speed modulation, and many other functions critical to optical and quantum applications. Although nonlinearity is fundamental to photonics technologies, existing optical devices offer limited nonlinear capabilities. Moreover, nonlinear devices are difficult to miniaturize, hindering their widespread adoption. In a collaboration that included the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), the University of Texas at Austin (UTA), Graz University of Technology (TU Graz), and the University of California, Irvine, researchers addressed the material- and device-level constraints to nonlinearity in compact optical devices....

The Hubble and James Webb space telescopes discovered some surprising things about 27 new tiny objects far beyond the orbit of Neptune.

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has opened many wonders of the cosmos to scientists since it began science operations a few years ago. But one thing it hasn't done is find an "exomoon." These still-theoretical moons orbit exoplanets in other star systems, and JWST was supposed to find a plethora of them.

Black holes are regions of spacetime where gravity is so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape. When two black holes orbit each other and merge, they produce gravitational waves (i.e., ripples in spacetime) that can resemble those emitted by mergers involving other exotic compact objects.

Researchers have experimentally demonstrated the optical Magnus effect for the first time, revealing that a tightly focused laser interacts most strongly with an atom slightly away from the beam’s center. The unexpected shift is similar to the physics that makes a spinning table tennis ball curve through the air. Because lasers are used to control qubits, the effect could create errors in quantum computers, but it might also provide a new way to couple qubits together.

Scientists are combining an electron microscope with a quantum computer to squeeze far more information from each electron. The approach could reveal faint details with fewer electrons, helping protect fragile samples that conventional microscopy can damage.

Using the James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have discovered that the ring system of the tiny solar system body is even more interesting than they knew.

Physicists at CERN have found a new way to peer deep inside atomic nuclei and distinguish between two competing explanations for how gluons behave. Using the ALICE experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, researchers measured particle production at unprecedented spatial resolution, revealing structures as small as about one-quarter the size of a proton. At the smallest scales, they saw a surprising drop in J/ψ production that conventional “nuclear shadowing” struggles to explain.

The most comprehensive catalogue of exploding white dwarf stars ever assembled has revealed new clues about dark energy, the mysterious force driving the universe’s accelerating expansion.

Researchers at Harvard have demonstrated a way to protect quantum information using microscopic sound waves. By continuously surrounding a diamond-based qubit with mechanical vibrations, they extended its coherence time by roughly threefold. The same phonons could eventually both transmit and protect quantum information, opening the door to compact sound-based quantum networks on chips.

Scientists blasted diamonds with lasers to get the best measurement of the mineral's melting point yet. The new, more accurate numbers could help improve fusion experiments and studies of giant planets.

Quantum computers promise to tackle problems that are extraordinarily difficult for today's computers. But there is a major obstacle: quantum systems are notoriously fragile. Noise, loss and even tiny disturbances can destroy the delicate behavior that gives them their power. Building systems with many quantum particles is also extremely challenging.

A new study suggests that the young stars orbiting the Milky Way's central black hole may have a surprisingly ordinary origin. But the black hole's influence may be what makes their origin look more exotic than it really is. Along with shaping their orbits, it may also destroy their stellar companions. The paper outlining this work was published in Astronomy & Astrophysics on Aug. 11.

Rocket Lab has filed a protest against NASA's decision to award Blue Origin a $700 million Mars orbiter contract, saying it's inconsistent with the eligibility rules laid out by Congress.

Two studies find signs of strange black hole binary systems

Donald Trump has faced online criticism after appearing to turn away during a museum guide's account of how Marine Corporal William 'Kyle' Carpenter shielded a fellow serviceman from a grenade.

Researchers have found a way to perform certain quantum operations more than 1,000 times faster, cutting thousands of repeated control cycles down to just one. The advance could reduce errors and bring reliable, fault-tolerant quantum computers closer to reality.

New finding could help create active matter with a structure that continuously reorganizes itself The post Non-reciprocal interactions keep particles in collective motion appeared first on Physics World.

Author(s): Zhuang Ge, Tommi Eronen, Vasile Alin Sevestrean, Ovidiu Niţescu, Sabin Stoica, Marlom Ramalho, Jouni Suhonen, Anu Kankainen, Marjut Hukkanen, Arthur Jaries, Ari Jokinen, Joel Kostensalo, Jenni Kotila, Maxime Mougeot, Iain D. Moore, Wirunchana Rattanasakuldilok, Jouni Ruotsalainen, and Marek StryjczykHigh-precision measurements of nuclear decay energies can reveal rare low-Q transitions with enhanced sensitivity to the absolute neutrino mass. Using the JYFLTRAP double Penning trap and the PI-ICR technique, the electron-capture Q value of 113 Sn was determined with an eightfold improvement in precision over the previous evaluation. Combining the new mass result with known excited states in

Author(s): Michael SchirberA crystal with special geometric properties can be optically driven to produce an output beam with any desired polarization. [Physics 19, s113] Published Thu Sep 10, 2026

Author(s): Klaus RichterTheorists find a persistent signature of a chaotic quantum system’s initial state, implying a memory effect—called a quantum birthmark—that resists thermodynamic equilibration. [Physics 19, 125] Published Thu Sep 10, 2026

To monitor the amount and type of nuclear material at power plants and weapons facilities, scientists look for a special signal—the unique pattern of gamma rays emitted by specific radioactive elements. However, some of these elements also emit X-rays in the same energy range as the gamma-ray emissions, masking the signal and making nuclear stockpiles harder to assess.

Over a decade ago, the Fermi satellite detected an excess of gamma-ray emissions in the galactic center. Potential explanations included Sgr. A*, the Milky Way's SMBH, pulsars, and even self-annihilating dark matter. There's no clear answer yet, since the region is so difficult to observe. But recent research shows that dark matter can't be ruled out.

Within tiny halos of light clinging to a vanishingly thin wisp of optical fiber, scientist Jongmin Lee guides atoms like marbles through a narrow pipe. Rock the fiber and the atoms shift side by side; they just don't fall off. But don't be deceived by the seemingly delicate nature of his experiment. Lee is exploring how to measure motion precisely in rough-and-tumble environments.

On Sept. 10, 2011, NASA's GRAIL spacecraft launched on a mission to the moon! Here's why the moon gravity mapping mission mattered.

Quantum technologies are poised to transform fields ranging from medicine and sensing to computing and communications by manipulating the energy states of atoms and molecules. These manipulations are achieved by controlling quantum states with laser pulses.

So far, quantum computers have been held back by their extreme sensitivity to errors and external disturbances. The longer a quantum operation takes, the greater the risk of computational errors.

For years, scientists have relied primarily on radio imaging from techniques like very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) to study jets from the active galactic nuclei of supermassive black holes. This allows for the detection of broad, unresolved features, called components, moving at what appear to be faster-than-light speeds. However, traditional imaging has poor resolution and treats each observation as a separate snapshot in time, limiting information about how the features move.

A research team at the University of Vienna led by physicist Jani Kotakoski demonstrates how the shape of nanopores in hexagonal boron nitride—the electrically insulating counterpart to graphene, also known as "white graphene"—can be precisely controlled at the atomic level.

A catalog of almost 3,000 white dwarfs that exploded as type Ia supernovas after overfeeding on companion stars indicates that dark energy is changing over time.

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has opened up many wonders of the cosmos to scientists since it began its science operations a few years ago. But one thing that it hasn’t done is find an “exomoon”. These, as yet still theoretical, moons orbit exoplanets in other star systems, and JWST was supposed to find a plethora of them. However, so far it has found precisely none. It seems the cause is noise in the telescope’s instrumentation or noise from the star itself. But a new paper, available in pre-print form on arXiv from David Kipping, an astronomer at Columbia and also the host of the Cool Worlds YouTube Channel, shows how JWST can, in fact, find an exomoon. It likely just has to look for one in the same place repeatedly.

Debate span atomic and particle physics The post Doubts cast on ‘superradiant neutrino laser’ proposal appeared first on Physics World.

The joint BepiColombo mission of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is settling into orbit around Mercury after an eight-year journey. In early September, BepiColombo's two orbiters, the Mercury Planetary Orbiter and the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter, separated from the transfer module. The orbiters will enter Mercury's orbit in November and separate from each other in December.

Superconductors are materials that carry electricity with zero resistance below specific temperatures. Many of these materials become superconducting at very low temperatures, yet some enter superconducting phases at higher temperatures.

SkyWater Technology has launched SkyWater Quantum Solutions, a dedicated merchant supplier offering focused on semiconductor process development, integration, and manufacturing. The offering will provide semiconductor solutions for quantum computing, networking, and sensing applications, with the aim of accelerating customers’ time to market, according to SkyWater. The newly established business will address applications across quantum computing, networking, sensing, and timing. It will cater to a range of technologies such as photonics, superconducting devices, materials, interconnects, packaging, and heterogeneous integration.brings together SkyWater’s semiconductor process development and manufacturing capabilities in...

New work will help advance the development of more reliable free-space networks The post Skyrmion topology makes long-distance optical communications more robust appeared first on Physics World.

In September 2022, astronomers noticed a perplexing feature on an image of a galaxy around 7.5 billion light-years

Placing two lattices - like window screens - on top of each other and twisting one layer compared to the other creates intriguing patterns. In fact, there are toys based on the designs that emerge, called moire patterns. But moire patterns aren't just visually interesting. At the nanoscale, this phenomenon reveals properties that could form a foundation for new technologies.

Those "Little Red Dots" discovered by the James Webb Space Telescope, galaxies that existed during the very early Universe, could be sending neutrino particles that are reaching us today.

An electrical fingerprint found on tiny particles in the blood may help detect signs of pancreatic cancer that are often overlooked, according to new research from Rice University. The researchers developed a device that separates these particles based on their electrical charge, making cancer-associated signals more visible.

For decades, physicists have searched for dark matter, the invisible substance thought to make up roughly 85% of all matter in the universe. Although its gravitational influence shapes galaxies and the large-scale structure of the cosmos, dark matter has never been directly detected. Now, an international team has identified a new class of quantum materials that could dramatically improve the search for some of the lightest and most elusive forms of dark matter.