/ en-us Â鶹ÒùÔº internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Â鶹ÒùÔºics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Nearly a decade after they first demonstrated that soft materials could guide the formation of superconductors, Cornell researchers have achieved a one-step, 3D printing method that produces superconductors with record properties. /news/2025-08-3d-superconductor-soft-approach.html Superconductivity Soft Matter Tue, 26 Aug 2025 13:44:57 EDT news675434692 Two-dimensional (2D) materials, thin crystalline substances only a few atoms thick, have numerous advantageous properties compared to their three-dimensional (3D) bulk counterparts. Most notably, many of these materials allow electricity to flow through them more easily than bulk materials, have tunable bandgaps, are often also more flexible and better suited for fabricating small, compact devices. /news/2025-08-approach-chip-synthesis-boron-nitride.html Nanomaterials Tue, 26 Aug 2025 07:00:07 EDT news675345365 With the help of innovative large-scale simulations on various supercomputers, physicists at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) have succeeded in gaining new insights into previously elusive aspects of the physics of strong interaction. /news/2025-08-simulations-reveal-pion-interaction-higgs.html General Â鶹ÒùÔºics Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Fri, 22 Aug 2025 11:45:21 EDT news675081910 The mysterious substance called dark matter is intrinsically invisible. It cannot be directly observed—rather, its presence is inferred by its gravitational influence on the universe, such as binding galaxy clusters together and moving stars around their galaxy faster than they should. /news/2025-08-deep-beneath-french-alps-scientists.html General Â鶹ÒùÔºics Wed, 20 Aug 2025 08:57:05 EDT news674899021 When light hits solar cells, so-called electron-hole pairs are created: the electrons are excited and can move almost freely in the material—i.e. to generate electricity. The electrons will leave 'positive gaps," so-called holes, in the semiconductor material. They can also move through the material. Both electrons and holes carry an electrical charge. They deform the surrounding atomic lattice on their way through the material slightly. /news/2025-08-ray-reveal-electron-hole-pairs.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Mon, 18 Aug 2025 13:10:16 EDT news674741402 A research team led by Prof. Huang Qing from the Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering (NIMTE) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has developed a new way to "edit" the internal layers of certain advanced materials, called MAX phases, in a breakthrough that could lead to entirely new kinds of two-dimensional (2D) layered materials with valuable technological uses. /news/2025-08-scientists-method-layered-inorganic-materials.html Nanomaterials Mon, 18 Aug 2025 12:58:04 EDT news674740676 An international research team from Washington State University, University of North Dakota, National Taiwan University, and partner institutions has discovered a way to supercharge platinum–ceria catalysts using a tiny but powerful ingredient—single-atom zirconium (Zr). This innovation could make pollution control systems more energy-efficient and cost-effective, while reducing the need for precious metals. /news/2025-08-atom-zirconium-powers-temperature-pollution.html Analytical Chemistry Materials Science Mon, 18 Aug 2025 11:42:03 EDT news674736121 Topological quantum systems are physical systems exhibiting properties that depend on the overall connectivity of their underlying lattice, as opposed to local interactions and their microscopic structure. Predicting the evolution of these systems over time and their long-range quantum correlations is often challenging, as their behavior is not defined by magnetization or other parameters linked to local interactions. /news/2025-08-topological-properties-quantum-liquids-rydberg.html Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Sun, 17 Aug 2025 08:00:02 EDT news674470369 Graphite is a key structural component in some of the world's oldest nuclear reactors and many of the next-generation designs being built today. But it also condenses and swells in response to radiation—and the mechanism behind those changes has proven difficult to study. /news/2025-08-graphite-pore-size-clues-nuclear.html Analytical Chemistry Materials Science Fri, 15 Aug 2025 10:07:05 EDT news674471221 In everyday life, continuously doing work on a system is found to heat it up. Rubbing your hands together warms them. Hammering a piece of metal makes it hot. Even without knowing the equations, we learn from experience: driving any system, whether by stirring, pressing, or striking, leads to a rise in the system's temperature. /news/2025-08-quantum-gas-physicists-body-dynamical.html Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Thu, 14 Aug 2025 14:00:16 EDT news674378821 An international team of scientists led by Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) has developed a new type of ultracompact laser that is more energy efficient and consumes less power. /news/2025-08-energy-efficient-ultracompact-laser-loss.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 14 Aug 2025 11:34:04 EDT news674390042 In a new study published in Nature Â鶹ÒùÔºics, scientists have achieved the first experimental observation of phonon angular momentum in chiral crystals. /news/2025-08-scientists-phonon-angular-momentum-chiral.html Condensed Matter Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Thu, 14 Aug 2025 11:00:09 EDT news674383921 When two mesh screens or fabrics are overlapped with a slight offset, moiré patterns emerge as a result of interference caused by the misalignment of the grids. While these patterns are commonly recognized as optical illusions in everyday life, their significance extends to the nanoscale, such as in materials like graphene, where they can profoundly influence electronic properties. /news/2025-08-customized-moir-patterns-stacked-metal.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Wed, 13 Aug 2025 15:23:03 EDT news674317381 In a significant leap toward next-generation lithium battery design, researchers from the School of Materials Science and Engineering at Peking University, led by Professor Xia Dingguo, have discovered a previously unknown anionic redox mechanism in an amorphous Li-V-O-F cathode featuring tetrahedral coordination. /news/2025-08-amorphous-cathode-reveals-voltage-oxygen.html Analytical Chemistry Materials Science Wed, 13 Aug 2025 11:50:03 EDT news674304602 The ability to detect single photons (the smallest energy packets constituting electromagnetic radiation) in the infrared range has become a pressing need across numerous fields, from medical imaging and astrophysics to emerging quantum technologies. In observational astronomy, for example, the light from distant celestial objects can be extremely faint and require exceptional sensitivity in the mid-infrared. /news/2025-08-bottleneck-photon-2d-materials.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 07 Aug 2025 14:43:44 EDT news673796618 Chemistry and physics are combining forces at Columbia, and it's leaving everyone frustrated—in a good way. New work, published in Nature Â鶹ÒùÔºics, describes a new two-dimensional material capable of complex quantum behaviors that arise from its underlying chemistry, rather than its atomic structure. /news/2025-08-chemistry-geometry-triggers-unusual-electron.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Thu, 07 Aug 2025 08:53:04 EDT news673775582 Serendipitously and for the first time, an international research team led by scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory formed solid binary gold hydride, a compound made exclusively of gold and hydrogen atoms. /news/2025-08-scientists-gold-hydride-combining-hydrogen.html Materials Science Tue, 05 Aug 2025 07:35:06 EDT news673598099 Crystals and glasses have opposite heat-conduction properties, which play a pivotal role in a variety of technologies. These range from the miniaturization and efficiency of electronic devices to waste-heat recovery systems, as well as the lifespan of thermal shields for aerospace applications. /news/2025-07-hybrid-crystal-glass-materials-meteorites.html General Â鶹ÒùÔºics Soft Matter Mon, 28 Jul 2025 15:59:02 EDT news672937136 MIT physicists have performed an idealized version of one of the most famous experiments in quantum physics. Their findings demonstrate, with atomic-level precision, the dual yet evasive nature of light. They also happen to confirm that Albert Einstein was wrong about this particular quantum scenario. /news/2025-07-famous-quantum-essentials.html Optics & Photonics Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Mon, 28 Jul 2025 10:43:00 EDT news672918174 A new theory-guided framework could help scientists probe the properties of new semiconductors for next-generation microelectronic devices, or discover materials that boost the performance of quantum computers. /news/2025-07-theory-strategy-scope-quantum-interactions.html Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Thu, 24 Jul 2025 08:49:54 EDT news672565788 A research team led by Linda Zhang at Tohoku University has developed a novel metal-organic framework (MOF) that enables record-breaking separation of hydrogen isotopes, achieving a D2/H2 selectivity of 32.5 at 60 K. /news/2025-07-hydrogen-isotope-isotopologue-driven-dynamics.html Materials Science Wed, 23 Jul 2025 08:59:12 EDT news672479946 Solar cells and computer chips need silicon layers that are as perfect as possible. Every imperfection in the crystalline structure increases the risk of reduced efficiency or defective switching processes. /news/2025-07-cosmic-chips-cooling-triggers-phase.html Condensed Matter Tue, 22 Jul 2025 07:30:05 EDT news672386224 Researchers are creating new moiré materials at the nanometer scale using advanced DNA nanotechnology. DNA moiré superlattices form when two periodic DNA lattices are overlaid with a slight rotational twist or positional offset. This creates a new, larger interference pattern with completely different physical properties. /news/2025-07-programmable-dna-moir-superlattices-material.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Thu, 17 Jul 2025 11:52:25 EDT news671971940 A team of astronomers has uncovered an unexpectedly complex and dynamic filamentary network within a very-high-velocity cloud (VHVC) in the Milky Way. /news/2025-07-astronomers-tangled-supersonic-filaments-distant.html Astronomy Thu, 17 Jul 2025 10:51:50 EDT news671968306 Oregon State University pigment researchers are using a rare mineral discovered in Norway more than a century ago as a road map for creating new yellows, oranges and reds that are vibrant, durable, non-toxic and inexpensive. /news/2025-07-pigment-vivid-yellows-oranges-reds.html Materials Science Thu, 17 Jul 2025 08:40:05 EDT news671960181 By leveraging the concept of chirality, or the difference of a shape from its mirror image, EPFL scientists have engineered an optical metasurface that controls light to yield a simple and versatile technique for secure encryption, sensing, and computing. /news/2025-07-chiral-metasurfaces-encode-images-visible.html Optics & Photonics Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Wed, 16 Jul 2025 09:50:10 EDT news671877679 Researchers at the Jülich Research Center and the Leibniz Institute for Innovative Microelectronics (IHP) have developed a material that has never existed before: a stable alloy of carbon, silicon, germanium, and tin. The new compound, abbreviated as CSiGeSn, opens up exciting possibilities for applications at the interface of electronics, photonics, and quantum technology. /news/2025-07-element-semiconductor-alloy-advances-chip.html Materials Science Tue, 15 Jul 2025 12:03:12 EDT news671799788 For thousands of years, humans have combined metals to collectively harness properties found in individual components, producing such practical materials as bronze, brass and, more recently, steel. However, predicting the exact microstructures underpinning these alloys to understand how specific properties of the constituent materials may manifest across scales is still a complex mystery researchers are working to solve. Now, thanks to a team based in Japan, that work could take minutes instead of years. /news/2025-07-approach-alloy-microstructure-years-minutes.html Analytical Chemistry Tue, 15 Jul 2025 10:30:15 EDT news671792241 There's a new record holder for the most accurate clock in the world. Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have improved their atomic clock based on a trapped aluminum ion. Part of the latest wave of optical atomic clocks, it can perform timekeeping with 19 decimal places of accuracy. /news/2025-07-world-precise-clock-decimal-accuracy.html Optics & Photonics Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Mon, 14 Jul 2025 14:17:26 EDT news671721440 A few years ago, physicists were surprised to learn that stacking and subtly twisting two atomically thin layers of an electronic material like graphene creates a pattern that changes the material's properties and can even turn it into a superconductor. This superimposed grid, like what would emerge if two window screens were laid slightly askew, is called a moiré pattern. /news/2025-07-patterns-exploring-supermoir.html General Â鶹ÒùÔºics Mon, 14 Jul 2025 12:26:00 EDT news671714754