/ 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. Modern humans have existed for more than 200,000 years, and each new generation has begun with a single cell—dividing, changing shape and function, organizing into tissues, organs, and limbs. With slight variations, the process has repeated billions of times with remarkable fidelity to the same body plan. /news/2025-06-cells-anthrobots-biologically-younger.html Cell & Microbiology Biotechnology Wed, 18 Jun 2025 10:20:01 EDT news669460515 The precise measurement of states in atomic and molecular systems can help to validate fundamental physics theories and their predictions. Among the various platforms that can help to validate theoretical predictions are so-called diatomic molecular hydrogen ions (MHI), molecular ions that consist of two hydrogen nuclei (i.e., protons or their isotopes) and a single electron. /news/2025-05-method-rovibrational-ground-state-molecular.html General Â鶹ÒùÔºics Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Tue, 27 May 2025 09:40:17 EDT news667557609 Protons are the basic building blocks of matter. Together with neutrons, they form atomic nuclei. These minute, positively charged particles have an antimatter counterpart, antiprotons. While the latter have a negative charge and a reversed magnetic moment, they are otherwise identical to protons—at least according to the Standard Model of particle physics. /news/2025-05-penning-enables-loss-free-protons.html General Â鶹ÒùÔºics Wed, 14 May 2025 14:17:04 EDT news666451021 To improve photonic and electronic circuitry used in semiconductor chips and fiber optic systems, researchers at the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis tinkered with the rules of physics that govern the movement of light over time and space. They have introduced a new way to manipulate light transmission, opening possibilities for advanced optical devices. /news/2025-05-photonic-chip-simpler-solution-optical.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 14 May 2025 13:20:07 EDT news666447128 Axions, hypothetical subatomic particles that were first proposed by theoretical physicists in the late 1970s, remain among the most promising dark matter candidates. Â鶹ÒùÔºics theories suggest that the interactions between these particles and regular matter are extremely weak, which makes them very difficult to detect using conventional experimental set-ups. /news/2025-05-results-haystac-phase-ii-dark.html General Â鶹ÒùÔºics Mon, 12 May 2025 11:20:01 EDT news666265461 Altermagnets, which exhibit momentum-dependent spin splitting without spin–orbit coupling (SOC) or net magnetization, have recently attracted significant international attention. /news/2025-04-era-magnetization-future-applications-spintronics.html Condensed Matter Sat, 03 May 2025 18:00:01 EDT news665139627 For many years, physics studies focused on two main types of magnetism, namely ferromagnetism and antiferromagnetism. The first type entails the alignment of electron spins in the same direction, while the latter entails the alignment of electron spins in alternating, opposite directions. /news/2025-04-physicists-uncover-metallic-altermagnet-d.html Condensed Matter Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Mon, 07 Apr 2025 10:59:01 EDT news663242337 I've long been fascinated by the fundamental mystery of our universe's origin. In my work, I explore an alternative to the traditional singularity-based models of cosmology. Instead of a universe emerging from an infinitely dense point, I propose that a flat universe and its time-reversed partner—an anti-universe—can emerge together from nothing through a smooth, quantum process. /news/2025-03-quantum-genesis-emergence-flat-universe.html Astronomy Mon, 17 Mar 2025 10:50:01 EDT news661427096 A possible method for probing the properties of exotic particles that exist on the surfaces of an unusual type of superconductor has been theoretically proposed by two RIKEN physicists. /news/2025-03-revealing-hidden-symmetries-superconductor.html Condensed Matter Superconductivity Thu, 13 Mar 2025 07:49:23 EDT news661070960 In molecular shuttles, a ring molecule is threaded onto a linear molecular strand and can move between two portions of the strand, called stations, in response to external stimuli. Chemical stimuli, light or mechanical forces determine the time the shuttle spends at each station while it hops back and forth by random thermal motion. Measuring individual trajectories during the operation of such synthetic devices is crucial for a thorough understanding of their operation and in the optimization of molecular machines. /news/2025-02-optical-tweezers-reveal-motion-symmetric.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:22:03 EST news659276521 The Anderson transition is a phase transition that occurs in disordered systems, which entails a shift from a diffusive state (i.e., in which waves or particles are spread out) to a localized state, in which they are trapped in specific regions. This state was first studied by physicist Philip W. Anderson, who examined the arrangement of electrons in disordered solids, yet it was later found to also apply to the propagation of light and other waves. /news/2025-02-simulations-reveal-anderson-transition-3d.html Optics & Photonics Fri, 14 Feb 2025 06:30:01 EST news658660097 What if time is not as fixed as we thought? Imagine that instead of flowing in one direction—from past to future—time could flow forward or backwards due to processes taking place at the quantum level. This is the thought-provoking discovery made by researchers at the University of Surrey, as a new study reveals that opposing arrows of time can theoretically emerge from certain quantum systems. /news/2025-02-physicists-uncover-evidence-arrows-emerging.html Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Thu, 13 Feb 2025 09:43:00 EST news658662173 Topological insulators (TIs) are among the hottest topics in condensed matter physics today. They're a bit strange: Their surfaces conduct electricity, yet their interiors do not, instead acting as insulators. Â鶹ÒùÔºicists consider TIs the materials of the future because they host fascinating new quantum phases of matter and have promising technological applications in electronics and quantum computing. Scientists are just now beginning to uncover connections between TIs and magnetism that could unlock new uses for these exotic materials. /news/2025-01-illuminating-asymmetric-gap-topological-antiferromagnet.html Condensed Matter Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Tue, 21 Jan 2025 16:47:15 EST news656700425 Two-dimensional (2D) van der Waals are made of atomically thin layers, held together by weak van der Waals forces. These materials have been the focus of numerous studies, as their unique properties make them ideal for studying various exotic and rare physical phenomena. /news/2025-01-domain-wall-fluctuations-2d-materials.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Thu, 09 Jan 2025 11:16:39 EST news655643794 Using muon spin rotation at the Swiss Muon Source SmS, researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) have discovered that a quantum phenomenon known as time-reversal symmetry breaking occurs at the surface of the Kagome superconductor RbV3Sb5 at temperatures as high as 175 K. This sets a new record for the temperature at which time-reversal symmetry breaking is observed among Kagome systems. /news/2024-11-kagome-superconductor-temperatures.html Condensed Matter Superconductivity Wed, 06 Nov 2024 04:35:37 EST news650090130 This week, physicists suggested that quantum entanglement may be really, really fast rather than instantaneous, and could be measured at an attosecond scale. Paleontologists discovered a fossilized mammal in Colorado that may have lived alongside dinosaurs in the Late Cretaceous. And scientists with the U.S. Geologic Survey reported that up to 95 million people may be relying on drinking water contaminated with PFAS chemicals. /news/2024-10-saturday-citations-comprehension-revisiting-tardigrade.html Other Sat, 26 Oct 2024 08:50:01 EDT news649078775 We live in a golden age for learning about the universe. Our most powerful telescopes have revealed that the cosmos is surprisingly simple on the largest visible scales. Likewise, our most powerful "microscope," the Large Hadron Collider, has found no deviations from known physics on the tiniest scales. /news/2024-10-early-cosmos-balloon-size-mirror.html Astronomy Thu, 24 Oct 2024 13:14:01 EDT news648994436 Modern high-speed internet uses light to quickly and reliably transmit large amounts of data through fiber-optic cables, but currently, light signals hit a bottleneck when data processing is necessary. For that, they must convert into electrical signals for processing before further transmission. /news/2024-10-optical-device-paves-faster-fiber.html Optics & Photonics Sat, 19 Oct 2024 13:21:23 EDT news648562870 In recent years, many physicists and materials scientists have been studying a newly uncovered class of magnetic materials known as altermagnets. These materials exhibit a unique type of magnetism that differs from both conventional ferromagnetism and antiferromagnetism, marked by electrons whose spin varies depending on their momentum. /news/2024-10-physicists-reveal-nonlinear-quantum-geometry.html Condensed Matter Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Fri, 11 Oct 2024 06:30:02 EDT news647773547 As our digital world generates massive amounts of data—more than 2 quintillion bytes of new content each day—yesterday's storage technologies are quickly reaching their limits. Optical memory devices, which use light to read and write data, offer the potential of durable, fast and energy-efficient storage. /news/2024-10-quantum-paves-efficient-ultra-high.html Optics & Photonics Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Wed, 02 Oct 2024 14:48:42 EDT news647099318 A group of Nagoya University researchers in Japan has synthesized 4- and 5-layered versions of the important electrical material perovskite. Analyzing the mechanism of ferroelectricity in the material, they found it has a unique function: the material switches its ferroelectric mechanisms depending on whether the number of layers is odd or even. Researchers expect that these diverse properties will greatly expand the development of new electronic devices. The Journal of the American Chemical Society published the study. /news/2024-09-template-synthesis-multilayered-perovskites-unique.html Analytical Chemistry Materials Science Wed, 18 Sep 2024 12:32:59 EDT news645881569 Using two optically-trapped glass nanoparticles, researchers observed a novel collective Non-Hermitian and non-linear dynamic driven by non-reciprocal interactions. This contribution expands traditional optical levitation with tweezer arrays by incorporating non-conservative interactions. /news/2024-07-nonreciprocal-interactions-nonlinear-hermitian-dynamics.html Optics & Photonics Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Thu, 25 Jul 2024 10:53:25 EDT news641123601 A research team has constructed a coherent superposition of quantum evolution with two opposite directions in a photonic system and confirmed its advantage in characterizing input-output indefiniteness. The study was published in Â鶹ÒùÔºical Review Letters. /news/2024-07-reversal-output-indefiniteness.html Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Mon, 08 Jul 2024 11:34:02 EDT news639657241 An updated model reconciles the gap between recent experiments and theory concerning polarization in wurtzite semiconductors—paving the way for the development of smaller, faster and more efficient electronic devices, according to a recent study by University of Michigan researchers. /news/2024-06-textbook-polarization-gallium-nitride-optimize.html Optics & Photonics Superconductivity Fri, 28 Jun 2024 11:27:14 EDT news638792827 Photonic alloys, alloy-like materials combining two or more photonic crystals, are promising candidates for the development of structures that control the propagation of electromagnetic waves, also known as waveguides. Despite their potential, these materials typically reflect light back in the direction where it originated. /news/2024-06-photonic-alloy-topological-properties.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 19 Jun 2024 08:00:01 EDT news637947432 In physics, nonreciprocity occurs when a system's response varies depending on the direction in which waves or signals are propagating within it. This asymmetry arises from a break in so-called time-reversal symmetry, which essentially means that a system's processes observed as they evolve over time will be different compared to those processes observed on rewind. /news/2024-06-nonreciprocal-quantum-batteries-remarkable-capacities.html Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Sat, 08 Jun 2024 08:30:02 EDT news636971189 The accelerated expansion of the present universe, believed to be driven by a mysterious dark energy, is one of the greatest puzzles in our understanding of the cosmos. The standard model of cosmology called Lambda-CDM, explains this expansion as a cosmological constant in Einstein's field equations. However, the cosmological constant itself lacks a complete theoretical understanding, particularly regarding its very small positive value. /news/2024-06-partner-anti-universe-expansion-dark.html General Â鶹ÒùÔºics Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Tue, 04 Jun 2024 09:20:01 EDT news636711595 Consider the sea urchin. Specifically, the painted urchin: Lytechinus pictus, a prickly Ping-Pong ball from the eastern Pacific Ocean. /news/2024-05-sea-urchins-scientists-transgenic-breakthrough.html Plants & Animals Biotechnology Thu, 30 May 2024 10:16:50 EDT news636283005 For the first time, nuclear physicists have made precision measurements of a short-lived radioactive molecule, radium monofluoride (RaF). In their study published in the journal Nature Â鶹ÒùÔºics, the researchers combined ion-trapping techniques with specialized laser systems to measure the fine details of the quantum structure of RaF. /news/2024-05-nuclear-physicists-precision-radium-monofluoride.html General Â鶹ÒùÔºics Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Wed, 22 May 2024 17:33:03 EDT news635617982 Using interference between two lasers, a research group led by scientists from RIKEN and NTT Research have created an "optical conveyor belt" that can move polaritons—a type of light-matter hybrid particle—in semiconductor-based microcavities. This work could lead to the development of new devices with applications in areas such as quantum metrology and quantum information. /news/2024-05-scientists-optical-conveyor-belt-quasiparticles.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 14 May 2024 08:50:04 EDT news634895401