/ 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. Deep in the swamps of the American Southeast stands a quiet giant: the bald cypress (Taxodium distichum). These majestic trees, with their knobby "knees" and towering trunks, are more than just swamp dwellers—they're some of the oldest living organisms in Eastern North America. Some have been around for more than 2,500 years, quietly thriving in nutrient-poor, flooded forests where most other trees would wither. /news/2025-06-unearthing-climate-secrets-ancient-trees.html Plants & Animals Ecology Mon, 09 Jun 2025 15:00:06 EDT news668676541 Â鶹ÒùÔºicists at Loughborough University have used cutting-edge nanotechnology to create what they believe may be "the world's smallest violin," which is small enough to fit within the width of a human hair. /news/2025-06-physicists-world-smallest-violin-nanotechnology.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Tue, 03 Jun 2025 11:26:29 EDT news668168779 An SMU-led research team has developed a more cost-effective, energy-efficient material called high-entropy oxide (HEO) nanoribbons that can resist heat, corrosion and other harsh conditions better than current materials. /news/2025-05-high-entropy-nanoribbons-effective-solution.html Nanomaterials Thu, 29 May 2025 16:39:04 EDT news667755541 In a world increasingly driven by high-speed communication and low-power electronics, a team of researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) has proposed a fundamentally new way of manipulating light using the geometry of matter itself. /news/2025-05-ballistic-electrons-gen-terahertz-devices.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Thu, 29 May 2025 10:15:03 EDT news667732501 Water reshapes Earth through slow, powerful erosion, carving intricate landscapes like caves and pinnacles in soluble rocks such as limestone. An international team from the Faculty of Â鶹ÒùÔºics at the University of Warsaw, the University of Florida, and the Institute of Earth Sciences in Orléans has discovered that vertical channels, known as karstic solution pipes, preserve a record of Earth's climatic history. /news/2025-05-underground-channels-ancient-climate.html Earth Sciences Environment Wed, 28 May 2025 12:56:03 EDT news667655761 Plasma—the electrically charged fourth state of matter—is at the heart of many important industrial processes, including those used to make computer chips and coat materials. /news/2025-05-faster-stable-plasma-simulations-advance.html Plasma Â鶹ÒùÔºics Wed, 21 May 2025 17:14:04 EDT news667066441 Imagine drawing on something as delicate as a living cell—without damaging it. Researchers at the University of Missouri have made this discovery using an unexpected combination of tools: frozen ethanol, electron beams and purple-tinted microbes. /news/2025-05-cool-science-craft-tiny-biological.html Bio & Medicine Nanomaterials Tue, 20 May 2025 12:26:04 EDT news666962762 A new study has uncovered hidden social patterns in ancient Hebrew kingdoms by analyzing personal names from archaeological findings. Applying diversity statistics typically used in ecological studies, the researchers found that the Kingdom of Israel had a far more diverse onomastic (naming) landscape than Judah—indicating a more open, cosmopolitan society. /news/2025-05-diversity-social-patterns-ancient-hebrew.html Archaeology Social Sciences Mon, 12 May 2025 15:00:02 EDT news666257762 A new study published in Nature Communications shows, for the first time, how heat moves—or rather, doesn't—between materials in a high-energy-density plasma state. /news/2025-05-extreme-conditions-materials.html Plasma Â鶹ÒùÔºics Fri, 02 May 2025 10:49:49 EDT news665401778 A research group at the University of Stuttgart has manipulated light through its interaction with a metal surface so that it exhibits entirely new properties. The researchers have published their findings in Nature Â鶹ÒùÔºics. /news/2025-04-fields-extraordinary-plasmonic-skyrmion-bags.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 22 Apr 2025 12:01:03 EDT news664542061 The nanomaterial MXene is used for battery technology or as a high-performance lubricant. Until now, its production was difficult and toxic. New methods for its creation have been developed at TU Wien. /news/2025-04-mxene-production-green-electricity-toxic.html Nanomaterials Mon, 14 Apr 2025 11:37:03 EDT news663849421 Beams of light that can be guided into corkscrew-like shapes called optical vortices are used today in a range of applications. Pushing the limits of structured light, Harvard applied physicists in the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) report a new type of optical vortex beam that not only twists as it travels but also changes in different parts at different rates to create unique patterns. The way the light behaves resembles spiral shapes common in nature. /news/2025-04-spirals-nautilus-shell.html Optics & Photonics Fri, 11 Apr 2025 14:13:03 EDT news663599581 Capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) from industrial emissions is crucial in the fight against climate change. But current methods, like chemical absorption, are expensive and energy-intensive. Scientists have long eyed graphene—an atom-thin, ultra-strong material—as a promising alternative for gas separation, but making large-area, efficient graphene membranes has been a challenge. /news/2025-04-scalable-graphene-membranes-supercharge-carbon.html Nanomaterials Fri, 11 Apr 2025 05:00:03 EDT news663503170 Researchers from ICMAB are revolutionizing how we manipulate light at the nanoscale using chiral plasmonic structures—nanomaterials designed to interact with polarized light in extraordinary ways. /news/2025-04-chiral-plasmonic-nanostructures-limits-nanoscale.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Thu, 10 Apr 2025 11:58:03 EDT news663505081 Interferometers, devices that can modulate aspects of light, play the important role of modulating and switching light signals in fiber-optic communications networks and are frequently used for gas sensing and optical computing. /news/2025-03-cascaded-mode-interferometer-waveguides-fiber.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 25 Mar 2025 10:58:03 EDT news662119081 Researchers at TU Delft and Brown University have developed scalable nanotechnology-based lightsails that could support future advances in space exploration and experimental physics. Their research, published in Nature Communications, introduces new materials and production methods to create the thinnest large-scale reflectors ever made. /news/2025-03-scalable-nanotechnology-based-lightsails-generation.html Space Exploration Mon, 24 Mar 2025 14:27:03 EDT news662045221 Deep ultraviolet (DUV) lasers, known for their high photon energy and short wavelengths, are essential in various fields such as semiconductor lithography, high-resolution spectroscopy, precision material processing, and quantum technology. These lasers offer increased coherence and reduced power consumption compared to excimer or gas discharge lasers, enabling the development of more compact systems. /news/2025-03-compact-solid-state-laser-generates.html Optics & Photonics Fri, 21 Mar 2025 11:30:03 EDT news661775402 When light interacts with metallic nanostructures, it instantaneously generates plasmonic hot carriers, which serve as key intermediates for converting optical energy into high-value energy sources such as electricity and chemical energy. Among these, hot holes play a crucial role in enhancing photoelectrochemical reactions. However, they thermally dissipate within picoseconds (trillionths of a second), making practical applications challenging. /news/2025-03-advancing-electricity-energy-conversion-method.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Mon, 17 Mar 2025 17:40:10 EDT news661451995 UCLA doctoral student Yilin Wong noticed that some tiny dots had appeared on one of her samples, which had been accidentally left out overnight. The layered sample consisted of a germanium wafer topped with evaporated metal films in contact with a drop of water. On a whim, she looked at the dots under a microscope and couldn't believe her eyes. Beautiful spiral patterns had been etched into the germanium surface by a chemical reaction. /news/2025-03-serendipitous-discovery-reveals-stress-chemistry.html Materials Science Thu, 13 Mar 2025 15:19:37 EDT news661097972 Â鶹ÒùÔºicists at the University of Cologne have taken an important step forward in the pursuit of topological quantum computing by demonstrating the first-ever observation of Crossed Andreev Reflection (CAR) in topological insulator (TI) nanowires. /news/2025-03-topological-insulator-nanowires-reveal-superconducting.html Superconductivity Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Tue, 11 Mar 2025 11:54:04 EDT news660912842 In order to meet our goals for carbon neutralization by the 2050s, we need environmentally friendly fuels. Catalysts (and their precursor, precatalysts) are key components in the electrochemical water-splitting reaction that produces clean hydrogen fuel. /news/2025-03-rational-precatalysts-boosts-hydrogen-production.html Analytical Chemistry Materials Science Mon, 10 Mar 2025 13:34:15 EDT news660832453 A research team from Seoul National University College of Engineering has developed a technology to observe atomic structural changes of nanoparticles in three dimensions. Their study, which resolves a long-standing challenge even past Nobel laureates could not solve, was published online in Nature Communications on January 29. /news/2025-03-3d-imaging-technique-captures-dynamic.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Tue, 04 Mar 2025 13:12:46 EST news660316363 Before there was light, there was cosmic inflation. /news/2025-03-jpl-space-mission-unravel-mystery.html Astronomy Space Exploration Mon, 03 Mar 2025 08:08:12 EST news660211645 Silicon is the best-known semiconductor material. However, controlled nanostructuring drastically alters the material's properties. Using a specially developed etching apparatus, a team at HZB has now produced mesoporous silicon layers with countless tiny pores and investigated their electrical and thermal conductivity. /news/2025-02-mesoporous-silicon-etching-technique-reveals.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Tue, 25 Feb 2025 13:19:03 EST news659711941 Keeping work surfaces clean during meat processing is a challenge. Bacteria from meat can attach, grow, and build up to create a biofilm that is difficult to remove, even on stainless steel surfaces used in industrial facilities. It can also aggregate, clumping together into an invisible mass that is stronger than individual cells, making it harder to kill using food-grade antibacterial surface cleaners. /news/2025-02-laser-textured-metal-surfaces-mimic.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Tue, 25 Feb 2025 11:00:03 EST news659607841 Northwestern University researchers have identified structural features in engineered cell receptors that correlate with variations in receptor function. /news/2025-02-unraveling-function-relationships-synthetic-cell.html Cell & Microbiology Biotechnology Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:47:43 EST news659267256 Particle detectors play a crucial role in our understanding of the fundamental building blocks of the universe. They allow scientists to study the behavior and properties of the particles produced in high-energy collisions. Such particles are boosted to near the speed of light in large accelerators and then smashed into targets or other particles where they are then analyzed with detectors. Traditional detectors, however, lack the needed sensitivity and precision for certain types of research. /news/2025-02-photons-protons-team-breakthrough-high.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Tue, 11 Feb 2025 16:45:04 EST news658514702 Scientists have developed a method for generating fast, bright proton beams using a high-repetition-rate laser-plasma accelerator. This work, published in Nature Communications, resolves several long-standing challenges and ushers this technology to the threshold of real-world applications—all thanks to a stream of water. /news/2025-02-discovery-laser-plasma.html Optics & Photonics Plasma Â鶹ÒùÔºics Tue, 11 Feb 2025 12:32:44 EST news658499558 Superconducting materials are similar to the carpool lane in a congested interstate. Like commuters who ride together, electrons that pair up can bypass the regular traffic, moving through the material with zero friction. /news/2025-02-physicists-key-aspect-superconductivity-magic.html Superconductivity Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Wed, 05 Feb 2025 11:00:08 EST news657883337 A solution to injuries from slips and falls may be found underfoot—literally. The footpads of geckos have hydrophilic (water-loving) mechanisms that allow the little animals to easily move over moist, slick surfaces. /news/2025-01-animal-footpads-polymer-ice.html Polymers Analytical Chemistry Thu, 30 Jan 2025 09:17:06 EST news657451021