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Probing the vibration of atoms provides detailed information on local structure and bonding that define material properties. Tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (TERS) offers extremely high resolution to probe such vibrations. Krystof Brezina and Mariana Rossi from the MPI for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter (MPSD), and Yair Litman from the MPI for Polymer Research (MPIP), have demonstrated that realistic, first-principles simulations are essential for interpreting TERS images of molecules and materials on surfaces. Their approach reveals how interactions with metallic substrates reshape vibrational imaging at the nanoscale. The work has now been published in ACS Nano.

The performance and stability of smartphones and artificial intelligence (AI) services depend on how uniformly and precisely semiconductor surfaces are processed. KAIST researchers have expanded the concept of everyday "sandpaper" into the realm of nanotechnology, developing a new technique capable of processing semiconductor surfaces uniformly down to the atomic level.

Sending a mission to the solar gravitational lens (SGL) is the most effective way of actually directly imaging a potentially habitable planet, as well as its atmosphere, and even possibly some of its cities. But, the SGL is somewhere around 650–900 AU away, making it almost four times farther than even Voyager 1 has traveled—and that's the farthest anything human has made it so far.

The race to build reliable quantum computers is fraught with obstacles, and one of the most difficult to overcome is related to the promising but elusive Majorana qubits. Now, an international team has read the information stored in these quantum bits. The findings are published in the journal Nature.

New photonic platform combines low loss, polarization independence, and full tunability.

We describe electricity as a flow, but that’s not what happens in a typical wire. Physicists have begun to induce electrons to act like fluids, an effort that could illuminate new ways of thinking about quantum systems. The post Physicists Make Electrons Flow Like Water first appeared on Quanta Magazine

New research reveals how quiet galactic engines can help shape entire galaxies.

For the first time, physicists have developed a model that explains the origins of unusually stable magic nuclei based directly on the interactions between their protons and neutrons. Published in Physical Review Letters, the research could help scientists better understand the exotic properties of heavy atomic nuclei and the fundamental forces that hold them together.

Sending a mission to the Solar Gravitational Lens (SGL) is the most effective way of actually directly imaging a potentially habitable planet, as well as its atmosphere, and even possibly some of its cities. But, the SGL is somewhere around 650-900 AU away, making it almost 4 times farther than even Voyager 1 has traveled - and that’s the farthest anything human has made it so far. It will take Voyager 1 another 130+ years to reach the SGL, so obviously traditional propulsion methods won’t work to get any reasonably sized craft there in any reasonable timeframe. A new paper by an SGL mission’s most vocal proponent, Dr. Slava Turyshev of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, walks through the different types of propulsion methods that might eventually get us there - and it looks like we would have a lot of work to do if we plan to do it

Neutrinos are very small, neutral subatomic particles that rarely interact with ordinary matter and are thus sometimes referred to as ghost particles. There are three known types (i.e., flavors) of neutrinos, dubbed muon, electron and tau neutrinos.

Semiconductor company Aeluma appointed Bouchaib Nessar senior vice president of business development and product. Nessar has three decades of experience commercializing semiconductor photonics solutions across optical networking and data centers, sensing, and quantum. He held roles at JDS Uniphase, now Lumentum, overseeing sales, product marketing, and management for high-speed receiver product lines. In his role at Aeluma, Nessar will lead the company's efforts in data center interconnects for AI infrastructure, imaging sensors for mobile and consumer electronics, and semiconductor photonics for defense and aerospace. ORLANDO, Fla. — Laser Photonics Corporation appointed Ann Tewari executive vice president of global...

The STAR collaboration has released new results based on their imaging-by-smashing technique revealing uranium-238 could actually be pear-shaped The post What shape is a uranium nucleus? appeared first on Physics World.

Author(s): Philip BallBefore determining the correct quantum theory of gravity, researchers need to know if gravity is actually quantized. Experiments testing that assumption are now being developed. [Physics 19, 18] Published Tue Feb 10, 2026

Norwegian biathlete Sturla Holm Laegreid shocked viewers by confessing to cheating on his girlfriend during a live Olympic interview. Read about the backlash and his public plea.

The unveiling by IBM of two new quantum supercomputers and Denmark's plans to develop "the world's most powerful commercial quantum computer" mark just two of the latest developments in quantum technology's increasingly rapid transition from experimental breakthroughs to practical applications.

So we did that. And we found nothing. So far, with all of our experiments around the world, we find no evidence of missing momentum, and no signs of towers of gravitons slipping away into hidden dimensions.

Astronomers used the XRISM x-ray satellite to observe two supermassive black holes in two separate galaxy clusters. Researchers know that SMBH have powerful effects on star formation and galaxy evolution. The observations reveal new details in how it all works.

Once considered an oddity of quantum physics, time crystals could be a good building block for accurate clocks and sensors, according to new calculations

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Whether a smartphone battery lasts longer or a new drug can be developed to treat incurable diseases depends on how stably the atoms constituting the material are bonded. The core of molecular design lies in finding how to arrange these countless atoms to form the most stable molecule. Until now, this process has been as difficult as finding the lowest valley in a massive mountain range, requiring immense time and costs. Researchers at KAIST have developed a new technology that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to solve this process quickly and accurately.

Relatedly, astronomers may have just pushed the upper size limit of what counts as a planet.

If a pulsar that may lie at the center of our galaxy is confirmed, it could enable more precise measurements of the spacetime around the Milky Way’s central supermassive black hole

A team of US researchers has unveiled a device that can conduct electricity along its fractionally charged edges without losing energy to heat. Described in Nature Physics, the work, led by Xiaodong Xu at the University of Washington, marks the first demonstration of a "dissipationless fractional Chern insulator," a long-sought state of matter with promising implications for future quantum technologies.

Researchers from Columbia University and Breakthrough Listen, a scientific research program aimed at finding evidence of civilizations beyond Earth, have published new results from the Breakthrough Listen Galactic Center Survey, one of the most sensitive radio searches ever conducted for pulsars in the dynamically complex central region of the Milky Way. The study, led by recent Columbia Ph.D. graduate Karen I. Perez, was published in The Astrophysical Journal.

Italy's Dominik Paris won bronze in the men's Olympic downhill at Milan–Cortina 2026, sharing the podium with teammate Giovanni Franzoni and Switzerland's gold medallist Franjo von Allmen. Away from the slopes, the 36-year-old is also the frontman of groove-metal band Rise of Voltage, turning his medal into an unlikely cultural crossover.

On July 2, 2025, the China-led Einstein Probe (EP) space telescope detected an exceptionally bright X-ray source whose brightness varied rapidly during a routine sky survey. Its unusual signal immediately set it apart from ordinary cosmic sources, triggering rapid follow-up observations by telescopes worldwide.

Research suggest that those who work alongside laureates may not be seen as original thinkers

Efficiency and hardness of a computation problem are revealed The post Entanglement reveals the difficulty of computational problems appeared first on Physics World.

Using NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, Chinese astronomers have observed a gamma-ray binary system known as PSR J2032+4127. Results of the new observations, published February 3 on the arXiv preprint server, shed more light on the orbital parameters of this binary, which could help us better understand its nature.

Researchers at the University of Osaka have discovered multiple ways to deliver light in a limited space in an effort to address bottlenecks in quantum computing. The researchers' discovery stems from their development of a power-efficient nanophotonic circuit with optical fibers attached to waveguides to deliver six different laser beams to their destinations. The design method for photonic circuits, which will be used in quantum computers, will potentially promote mass production and scaling up. In some quantum computing schemes, single ions are trapped and exposed to electromagnetic fields, including laser light, to produce certain effects used to perform calculations. Such circuits require many different wavelengths of light to...

At the 35th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony Tom Lam of Scientific American interviewed the 2025 Ig Nobel Physics Prize winners, and later tried to use his new knowledge in making the Italian pasta dish called cacio e pepe. This video documents that:

A long-standing mystery in spintronics has just been shaken up. A strange electrical effect called unusual magnetoresistance shows up almost everywhere scientists look—even in systems where the leading explanation, spin Hall magnetoresistance, shouldn’t work at all. Now, new experiments reveal a far simpler origin: the way electrons scatter at material interfaces under the combined influence of magnetization and an electric field.

Two African journalists have won the IYQ Quantum Pitch Competition held at the 2025 World Conference of Science Journalists in South Africa. [Physics 19, 16] Published Mon Feb 09, 2026

Author(s): Xiao-Liang QiA combined experimental and theoretical study reveals the emergence of quantum chaos in a complex system, suggesting that it can be described with a universal theoretical framework. [Physics 19, 12] Published Mon Feb 09, 2026

Time may feel smooth and continuous, but at the quantum level it behaves very differently. Physicists have now found a way to measure how long ultrafast quantum events actually last, without relying on any external clock. By tracking subtle changes in electrons as they absorb light and escape a material, researchers discovered that these transitions are not instantaneous and that their duration depends strongly on the atomic structure of the material involved.

The strongest known form of quantum-secure communication is no longer limited to tabletop experiments. The post Scientists Send Secure Quantum Keys Over 62 Miles of Fiber—Without Trusted Devices appeared first on SingularityHub.

To test it, I want you to imagine rolling up a piece of paper into a tight cylinder. Or, if you happen to be near a source of paper, doing it in real life. The analogy works either way.

In nanoscale particle research, precise control and separation have long been a bottleneck in biotechnology. Researchers at the University of Oulu have now developed a new method that improves particle separation and purification. The promising technique could be applied, for example, in cancer research.

As quantum computers continue to advance, many of today's encryption systems face the risk of becoming obsolete. A powerful alternative—quantum cryptography—offers security based on the laws of physics instead of computational difficulty. But to turn quantum communication into a practical technology, researchers need compact and reliable devices that can decode fragile quantum states carried by light.

Ripples in space-time from a pair of merging black holes have been recorded in unprecedented detail, enabling physicists to test predictions of general relativity

As the climate crisis becomes a part of daily life with unprecedented heat waves and cold snaps, technology to effectively remove greenhouse gases is emerging as a critical global challenge. In particular, catalytic technology that decomposes harmful gases using oxygen is a key element of eco-friendly purification. South Korean researchers have identified the principle that catalysts—which were previously vaguely thought to simply "use oxygen well"—can selectively utilize different oxygen sources depending on the reaction environment, presenting a new standard for catalyst design.

There's been widespread agreement that a supermassive black hole resides in the Milky Way's Center. But that may not be true. Researchers say that a dense clump of fermionic dark matter can also explain the motions of stars and gas clouds in the region. Crucially, it can also explain the famous Event Horizon Telescope image of the SMBH.

Quantum materials and superconductors are difficult enough to understand on their own. Unconventional superconductors, which cannot be explained within the framework of standard theory, take the enigma to an entirely new level. A typical example of unconventional superconductivity is strontium ruthenate, SRO214, the superconductive properties of which were discovered by a research team that included Yoshiteru Maeno, who is currently at the Toyota Riken—Kyoto University Research Center.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) maintains one of the richest and most diverse histories in the federal government. Although the department itself has only existed since 1977, its lineage traces back to the Manhattan Project—the massive scientific effort that developed the atomic bomb during World War II—and to various energy-related programs that were previously […] The post From the Manhattan Project to Fusion: The History of DOE’s National Labs appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Damage to beam’s power supply marks latest setback for troubled Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research

Just after 9 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 6, 2026, final beams of oxygen ions—oxygen atoms stripped of their electrons—circulated through the twin 2.4-mile-circumference rings of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) and crashed into one another at nearly the speed of light inside the collider's two house-sized particle detectors, STAR and sPHENIX. RHIC, a nuclear physics research facility at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory has been smashing atoms since the summer of 2000. The final collisions cap a quarter century of remarkable experiments using 10 different atomic species colliding over a wide range of energies in different configurations.

After years of work building an exquisitely sensitive instrument, University of Chicago scientists stood and watched as it flew up and out of sight into the fiercely blue Antarctic sky. Launched on Dec. 20, it would travel for the next 23 days on a NASA balloon along the very highest reaches of the atmosphere, scanning the continent of Antarctica from its 120,000-foot vantage point for minuscule visitors from outer space known as neutrinos.

The discussion about nuclear fusion has long involved its potential to create limitless amounts of energy. Thea Energy is one of several companies working to turn that potential into reality. The post The POWER Interview: Thea Energy’s Fusion Architecture appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Physics World and Physics Magazine announce successful pitches The post Winners of International Quantum Year science-journalism competition picked appeared first on Physics World.

A supercharged neutrino that smashed into our planet in 2023 may have been spit out by an exploding primordial black hole with a "dark charge." If true, this theory could lead to a definitive catalog of all subatomic particles and unveil the elusive identity of dark matter.

In order to build the computers and devices of tomorrow, we have to understand how they use energy today. That's harder than it sounds. Memory storage, information processing, and energy use in these technologies involve constant energy flow—systems never settle into thermodynamic balance. To complicate things further, one of the most precise ways to study these processes starts at the smallest scale: the quantum domain.

The problem that large extra dimensions just might solve is called the hierarchy problem, and it’s one of the nastiest outstanding problems in modern physics.

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) was designed to look back in time and study galaxies that existed shortly after the Big Bang. In so doing, scientists hoped to gain a better understanding of how the universe has evolved from the earliest cosmological epoch to the present. When Webb first trained its advanced optics and instruments on the early universe, it discovered a new class of astrophysical objects: bright red sources that were dubbed "Little Red Dots" (LRDs). Initially, astronomers hypothesized that they could be massive star-forming regions, but this was inconsistent with established cosmological models.

Physicists at Heidelberg University have developed a new theory that finally unites two long-standing and seemingly incompatible views of how exotic particles behave inside quantum matter. In some cases, an impurity moves through a sea of particles and forms a quasiparticle known as a Fermi polaron; in others, an extremely heavy impurity freezes in place and disrupts the entire system, destroying quasiparticles altogether. The new framework shows these are not opposing realities after all, revealing how even very heavy particles can make tiny movements that allow quasiparticles to emerge.

Physicists saw excitons, a type of quasiparticle, undergo a reversible phase transition from superfluid to supersolid for the first time, opening new doors for studying extreme states of matter.

I always say that one of the things that separates real science from pseudoscience is that while in both you’re allowed to say whatever crazy idea pops into your mind, in real science you’re obligated to take that idea seriously.

A research team affiliated with UNIST has developed stable and efficient chalcogenide-based photoelectrodes, addressing a longstanding challenge of corrosion. This advancement paves the way for the commercial viability of solar-driven water splitting technology—producing hydrogen directly from sunlight without electrical input.

Astronomers propose that an ultra-dense clump of exotic dark matter could be masquerading as the powerful object thought to anchor our galaxy, explaining both the blistering speeds of stars near the center and the slower, graceful rotation of material far beyond. This dark matter structure would have a compact core that pulls on nearby stars like a black hole, surrounded by a broad halo shaping the galaxy’s outer motion.

Tuning electron interactions in iron telluride selenide controls superconducting and topological phases, offering a pathway to more stable quantum computing.

Author(s): Michael SchirberExperiments with structured light beams provide the first observation of “lump” solitons, shape-preserving solitary waves in a 2D setting. [Physics 19, s22] Published Fri Feb 06, 2026

"We found an unexpected chemical complexity, with abundances far higher than predicted by current theoretical models."

Recently published data from the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) of the galaxy Messier 87 facilitate new insights into the direct environment of the central supermassive black hole. Measured differences in the radio light on different spatial scales can be explained by the presence of an as of yet undetected jet at frequencies of 230 Gigahertz at spatial scales comparable to the size of the black hole. The most likely location of the jet base is determined through detailed modeling.

Concerns that quantum computers may start easily hacking into previously secure communications has motivated researchers to work on innovative new ways to encrypt information. One such method is quantum key distribution (QKD), a secure, quantum-based method in which eavesdropping attempts disrupt the quantum state, making unauthorized interception immediately detectable.

After 25 years, Brookhaven National Laboratory’s Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider—the U.S.’s largest particle collider—has ceased operations, but its science lives on

Physicists have found a way to measure the time involved in quantum events and found it depends on the symmetry of the material.

The properties of a quantum material are driven by links between its electrons known as quantum correlations. A RIKEN researcher has shown mathematically that, at non-zero temperatures, these connections can only exist over very short distances when more than two particles are involved. This finding, now published in Physical Review X, sets a fundamental limit on just how "exotic" a quantum material can be under realistic, finite-temperature conditions.

Researchers in Australia have unveiled the largest quantum simulation platform built to date, opening a new route to exploring the complex behavior of quantum materials at unprecedented scales.

Among the many trillions of microorganisms in the human gut is Blautia luti. Like many gut bacteria, it metabolizes indigestible dietary components, such as fiber in the form of carbohydrates. This process produces, among other things, acetic acid (acetate), an important energy source for our intestinal cells and a signaling molecule that can even influence our well-being via the gut-brain axis.

A new theoretical study led by researchers at the University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory has identified the microscopic mechanisms by which diamond surfaces affect the quantum coherence of nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers—defects in diamond that underpin some of today's most sensitive quantum sensors. The study has appeared in Physical Review Materials and was selected to be an Editors' Suggestion paper.

Iridium oxide is one of the most important—and most problematic—materials in the global push toward clean energy. It is currently the most reliable catalyst used in the conversion of energy to chemicals by electrolysis, a process that uses electricity to split water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen.

Time crystals, a collection of particles that "tick"—or move back and forth in repeating cycles—were first theorized and then discovered about a decade ago. While scientists have yet to create commercial or industrial applications for this intriguing form of matter, these crystals hold great promise for advancing quantum computing and data storage, among other uses.

Quantum computers struggle because their qubits are incredibly easy to disrupt, especially during calculations. A new experiment shows how to perform quantum operations while continuously fixing errors, rather than pausing protection to compute. The team used a method called lattice surgery to split a protected qubit into two entangled ones without losing control. This breakthrough moves quantum machines closer to scaling up into something truly powerful.

A study led by the Center for Astrobiology (CAB), CSIC-INTA, using modeling techniques developed at the University of Oxford, has uncovered an unprecedented richness of small organic molecules in the deeply obscured nucleus of a nearby galaxy, thanks to observations made with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).

EPFL physicists have found a way to measure the time involved in quantum events and found it depends on the symmetry of the material. "The concept of time has troubled philosophers and physicists for thousands of years, and the advent of quantum mechanics has not simplified the problem," says Professor Hugo Dil, a physicist at EPFL. "The central problem is the general role of time in quantum mechanics, and especially the timescale associated with a quantum transition."

The famed collider at Brookhaven National Laboratory has ended operations, but if all goes to plan, a new collider will rise from its ashes.

A new study has uncovered an unprecedented richness of small organic molecules in the deeply obscured nucleus of a nearby galaxy. This provides new insights into how complex organic molecules and carbon are processed in some of the most extreme environments in the Universe.

"It highlights gravity's possible hidden complexity and invites a reevaluation of where dark matter effects originate."

Technique lays the groundwork for neutral-atom quantum computers with more than 100 000 qubits, say physicists The post Metasurfaces create super-sized neutral atom arrays for quantum computing appeared first on Physics World.

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Excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, polluted water, and increasingly strict environmental regulations are driving the search for materials that can efficiently trap pollutants at the molecular level. For more than two decades, this challenge has drawn scientific attention to metal–organic frameworks (MOFs)—highly advanced porous materials widely regarded as one of the most promising tools for tackling climate change and environmental pollution.

Ciaran O'Hare scribbles symbols using colored markers across his whiteboard like he's trying to solve a crime—or perhaps planning one. He bounces around the edges of the board, slowly filling it with sharp angles and curling letters. I watch on, and when he senses I'm losing track, he pauses intermittently, allowing my brain to catch up. Ciaran speaks with an easy to understand British inflection, but the language on the whiteboard might as well be hieroglyphics.

The discovery by JWST of a substantial population of compact "Little Red Dots" (LRDs) presented astronomers with a major mystery. By reproducing their spectra with simulations, a team argued that they were Direct Collapse Black Holes (DCBHs).

An international collaboration of astrophysicists that includes researchers from Yale has created and tested a detection system that uses gravitational waves to map out the locations of merging black holes—known as supermassive black hole binaries—around the universe. Such a map would provide a vital new way to explore and understand astronomy and physics, just as X-rays and radio waves did in earlier eras, the researchers say. The new protocol demonstrated by the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav) offers a detection protocol to populate the map.

Team in China sends data with entangled atoms, neutralizing backdoor hardware threats

In 2023, a subatomic particle called a neutrino crashed into Earth with such a high amount of energy that it should have been impossible. In fact, there are no known sources anywhere in the universe capable of producing such energy—100,000 times more than the highest-energy particle ever produced by the Large Hadron Collider, the world's most powerful particle accelerator. However, a team of physicists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst recently hypothesized that something like this could happen when a special kind of black hole, called a "quasi-extremal primordial black hole," explodes.

Recently, a research team from the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences successfully grew a high-entropy garnet-structured oxide crystal and achieved enhanced laser performance at the 2.8 μm wavelength band. By introducing a high-entropy design into a garnet crystal system, the team obtained a wide emission band near 2.8 μm and continuous-wave laser output with improved average power and beam quality, demonstrating the material's strong potential as a high-performance gain medium for mid-infrared ultrashort-pulse lasers.

Our Milky Way galaxy may not have a supermassive black hole at its centre but rather an enormous clump of mysterious dark matter exerting the same gravitational influence.

Scientists say a jet from a previously studied supermassive black hole has grown brighter, becoming one of the most energetic events in the universe.

Cosmic rays are extremely fast, charged particles that travel through space at nearly the speed of light. The Amaterasu particle was detected in 2021 by the Telescope Array experiment in the U.S. It is the second-highest-energy cosmic ray ever observed, carrying around 40 million times more energy than particles accelerated at the Large Hadron Collider. Such particles are exceedingly rare and thought to originate in some of the most extreme environments in the universe.