#Physics

In the ongoing discussion on cocktail icing, a reader recommends using crushed ice for rapid chilling and larger cubes to sustain the cold. This combination aims to achieve both quick cooling and prolonged temperature st…

The northern hemisphere's 2026 summer has brought intense heatwaves, droughts, and wildfires, making climate threats tangible. While adaptation measures like heat training and infrastructure improvements are useful, they…

In August 2026, a series of winter storms brought snow and heavy rain to Chile's Atacama Desert, one of the driest regions on Earth. The extreme weather forced several astronomical observatories, including ALMA, to suspe…

Computer models indicate that the African Superplume, a vast upwelling of hot mantle rock, is causing deformation parallel to the East African Rift. This deep-seated force works alongside shallower geological stresses as…

The article examines the hypothesis that our reality might be a virtual simulation, focusing on whether the universe's mathematical underpinnings could make that possible. It references the standard model of particle phy…

The LUX-ZEPLIN experiment in South Dakota detected an unusual flash and electric charge in its liquid xenon tank on June 16, 2023. The event does not match any known background sources or the expected signature of dark m…

The LUX-ZEPLIN experiment in South Dakota has analyzed 220 days of data and found a single particle event that could be the first weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) ever observed. If confirmed, this would be a ma…

Researchers in China, led by Shi-Liang Zhu at South China Normal University, used single photons to directly test Richard Feynman's 1948 path integral concept. By measuring probability amplitudes rather than tracking pat…

A team from Goethe University Frankfurt and TU Wien has mathematically described how a crystal-like state of spacetime can either dissolve or collapse into a microscopic black hole. Using an unconventional approach with …

About 100 trillion neutrinos pass through each person's body every second, according to physicist Michael Pravica. These particles, mostly produced by nuclear fusion in the sun, barely interact with ordinary matter and p…

Researchers at Tokyo Metropolitan University have built a test system that subjects miniature spacecraft models to shock waves exceeding 7 km/s while generating strong magnetic fields with an electromagnet. This setup al…

Researchers tested a gas-filled hollow-core capillary fiber for four-wave mixing, a process that converts light between wavelengths while preserving phase information critical for quantum signals. The study, involving te…

An international team of astrophysicists reanalyzed data and concluded that the universe's expansion is still accelerating, contradicting a 2025 claim of a slowdown. They attribute the earlier controversy to a misinterpr…

Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory used the Omega Laser Facility to vaporize a diamond sample, generating shock waves that compressed it to pressures over three times Earth's core and temperatures near…

The extract describes the cosmic microwave background as the earliest light in the universe, traveling for nearly 14 billion years. The author argues that studying cosmology is akin to being a griot, preserving and shari…

Time dilation, a consequence of Einstein's special relativity, causes clocks to tick slower near massive objects or at high speeds, a phenomenon confirmed by experiments. However, philosophers debate whether this effect …

Researchers built a vehicle-mounted mid-infrared dual-comb spectroscopy system that detects methane in real time during motion. It successfully identified simulated natural gas leaks and mapped gas diffusion across outdo…

Researchers have calculated the precision needed to detect violations of Lorentz symmetry for all 132 candidate extensions to the standard model of particle physics. This work, led by Jay Tasson at Carleton College, prov…

Researchers from the University of Bonn, Heidelberg University, and the National Autonomous University of Mexico observed critical scaling in a two-dimensional photon gas approaching Bose-Einstein condensation. This phen…

A recent study points out serious flaws in an analysis that supported the standard cosmological model of accelerating expansion driven by dark energy. The critique adds to growing doubts about the current understanding o…

Researchers in China have experimentally verified Richard Feynman's path integral formulation, a cornerstone of quantum mechanics proposed in 1948. By measuring successive propagators of photons through an optical maze, …

A review of Jim Al-Khalili's 'On Time' praises its thorough examination of both the experienced and physical aspects of time. The book disentangles contradictory views from general relativity and thermodynamics, asking h…

New Scientist's Last Word column invites readers to answer two questions: whether olfactory illusions exist, and what forces cause a fluid particle to spiral down a pipe. The column encourages concise scientific explanat…

A recent paper proposes using quantum teleportation to let multiple quantum computers collaborate on music, encoding melodic and rhythmic patterns as quantum states. The lead researcher, Eduardo Miranda, has previously c…

New figures from the UK's Office for National Statistics show that heat-related deaths in England and Wales are now almost as numerous as cold-related deaths, with over 40,000 excess deaths on hot days since 1988. The ga…

Satellite and seismic data suggest that a glacier at about 5,200 meters collapsed, dropping over a kilometer into a valley and triggering a massive flash flood in Nepal and Tibet. The collapse may have been caused by mel…

Researchers at Queen Mary University of London and colleagues have used a quantum computer to perform a novel form of computational spectroscopy. This method could reveal hidden behaviors of materials that are difficult …

A study in Science suggests that slow-moving waves in Earth's mantle lifted East Antarctica over millions of years, creating high terrain where ice could form even during a warmer global climate. This process, initiated …

An M6.9 solar flare erupted from sunspot region 4513 on August 25, triggering a moderate radio blackout over parts of Africa, Europe, and the Arctic. Early models suggest the accompanying coronal mass ejection could deli…

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array captured new detailed images of the red supergiant Betelgeuse, revealing bright hotspots and a corrugated surface from shifting plasma. The star, about 6…

Europe experienced repeated heat waves, with temperatures exceeding 40°C in many regions and record highs in countries like Slovakia and Denmark. The extreme conditions led to widespread drought, wildfires, and an estima…

Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory are using plutonium-241 beta decays to search for sterile neutrinos, a hypothetical particle that could constitute warm dark matter. The Magneto-ν experiment precisel…

Simulations by Waseda University researchers demonstrate that magnetic skyrmions diffuse asymmetrically through an off-center gate, moving more readily from left to right. This behavior arises from their chiral dynamics …

Researchers from the Technical University of Denmark and Aarhus University tested artificial prickles on skin-like materials to understand why rose thorns have an oval cross-section. Their findings, published in Journal …

Scientists at the University of Osaka have created a fast first-principles method to evaluate color centers that emit single photons for quantum technologies. The approach simplifies calculations of energy losses due to …

Researchers at the University of Göttingen combined advanced photoelectron spectroscopy with new algorithms to reconstruct the three-dimensional wavefunction of a nanometer-sized organic molecule. The imaging resolved fe…

Physicists have developed a grain-of-rice-sized chip that produces a stable series of evenly spaced light frequencies, known as a microcomb, which can be converted into high-frequency millimeter waves. This could enable …

NIST researchers found that scaling up superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors can overcome fabrication limits and improve performance. These detectors, which catch individual photons, are crucial for quantum co…

Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory found that inertial fusion implosions can withstand significant asymmetries before yield declines sharply. The study, published in Physics of Plasmas, suggests fuel t…

A wildfire near Reno, Nevada, has burned more than 15,000 acres since igniting on August 22, prompting evacuation orders for roughly 90,000 residents. The blaze, deemed 'extreme' by federal officials, is human-caused and…

Researchers at City University of Hong Kong have devised an optical imaging technique that detects corners in scenes using specially engineered metasurfaces. The approach, inspired by how bees and woodpeckers focus on an…

A new analysis highlights that while no one can predict exactly when a major climate disaster will strike, the conditions for such an event are accumulating. The article references historical experiments showing carbon d…

A physicist proposes a version of quantum theory that excludes irrational numbers, potentially eliminating entanglement and superposition. This rational quantum mechanics would also impose a strict limit on quantum compu…

Scientists at CERN's ALICE collaboration produced quark-gluon plasma by colliding oxygen-16 and neon-20 nuclei, much smaller than previously thought necessary. The collisions mimic the state of matter that filled the uni…

A coronal mass ejection from December 15, 2024, was tracked by a record 17 spacecraft positioned across the solar system. The measurements showed the eruption was surprisingly asymmetric, with a hidden cloud of charged p…

A team from TU Wien and partner institutions has devised a method to couple an electron microscope's beam to a quantum computer, enabling extraction of quantum information from each electron rather than merely counting t…

Researchers investigating La₃Ni₂O₇ thin films found superconductivity near 80 K under high pressure, with evidence pointing to an electron-pairing mechanism distinct from the d-wave pairing seen in cuprates. The study, p…

Lightning strikes generate seismic vibrations in the ground, known as thunderquakes, which have now been harnessed for subsurface imaging. Researchers converted a 4-kilometer fiber-optic cable into thousands of vibration…

Researchers cooled the liquid core of an optical fiber to -196°C, causing it to solidify while still guiding light. This frozen section enabled light and sound to interact more than 1,000 times more strongly than in ordi…

Astronomers have observed stars that survive multiple close passes by supermassive black holes, each time emitting a burst of light. In some systems, these flares become progressively fainter with each return. New resear…

A new study in Nature suggests that the apparent saturation of Earth's magnetic response to strong solar winds could be a statistical illusion. Researchers propose that regression to the mean in satellite data from the L…

In the lead-up to the first atomic bomb test in July 1945, scientists faced the challenge of designing experiments to quantify the explosion's energy and confirm its success. The test involved numerous subsidiary experim…

Tapping a soda can before opening is a common trick to avoid a fizzy mess, but its effectiveness depends on the physics of carbon dioxide bubbles. Shaking creates pressure waves that form tiny bubbles in low-pressure zon…

A new experiment at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams has traced the mysterious 'low-energy enhancement' of gamma rays to magnetic transitions within atomic nuclei. The effect, which has puzzled scientists for decades,…

Researchers at Monash University have predicted that bosons and fermions can form stable, self-bound quantum droplets under strong interactions. This challenges previous assumptions that such droplets were unlikely in st…

Astronomers have identified a previously unseen class of radio galaxies whose radio lobes are dimming, indicating their central supermassive black holes have ceased activity. The team studied 14 candidate remnant galaxie…

Physicists have created wire-grid polarizers for terahertz radiation using laser-cut aluminum foil, drastically reducing costs compared to commercial devices. The inexpensive components could make terahertz experiments m…

A tornado touched down in Nassau County on Long Island and a possible second hit the Rockaways in Queens on Thursday, surprising residents. The twisters formed due to an unstable, moist atmosphere with rotation in storms…

Scientists at Science Tokyo used diamond-anvil cells with laser heating to study iron hydride under conditions similar to Earth's inner core. They found experimental evidence of a superionic state, where some atoms move …

A newly developed Monte Carlo technique reduces the computational burden of simulating polymer melts with many interlocked chains. The method overcomes the steep rise in simulation time that occurs as chain length increa…