/ 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. Laser-cooled atomic gases, gases of atoms chilled to temperatures around absolute zero using laser technologies, have proved to be versatile physical platforms to study and control quantum phenomena. When these atomic gases interact with light inside an optical cavity (i.e., a structure designed to trap and enhance light), they can give rise to effects that can be leveraged to realize quantum sensing or simulate complex quantum systems. /news/2025-05-hours-lasing-laser-cooled-strontium.html Optics & Photonics Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Mon, 05 May 2025 07:50:01 EDT news665412400 From microscopic robots that can carry and deliver drugs inside the human body to tiny particles that can detect and break down microplastics, an emerging field called active matter is looking toward the microscale to solve some of the world's biggest problems. /news/2025-04-qa-microscopic-traffic-solution-insights.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Tue, 22 Apr 2025 16:07:05 EDT news664556821 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 DNA-nanoparticle motors are exactly as they sound: tiny artificial motors that use the structures of DNA and RNA to propel motion through enzymatic RNA degradation. Essentially, chemical energy is converted into mechanical motion by biasing the Brownian motion. /news/2025-01-solution-dna-nanoparticles-motors-motor.html Bio & Medicine Wed, 22 Jan 2025 12:51:21 EST news656772677 Quantum sensing is a rapidly developing field that utilizes the quantum states of particles, such as superposition, entanglement, and spin states, to detect changes in physical, chemical, or biological systems. A promising type of quantum nanosensor is nanodiamonds (NDs) equipped with nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers. These centers are created by replacing a carbon atom with nitrogen near a lattice vacancy in a diamond structure. /news/2024-12-high-quality-nanodiamonds-bioimaging-quantum.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:11:05 EST news654178261 Colloidal gels are complex systems made up of microscopic particles dispersed in a liquid, ultimately producing a semi-solid network. These materials have unique and advantageous properties that can be tuned using external forces, which have been the focus of various physics studies. /news/2024-12-particles-3d-gels-denser-porous.html General Â鶹ÒùÔºics Soft Matter Fri, 20 Dec 2024 07:20:01 EST news653815177 Neither gas nor liquid, supercritical fluids exhibit a unique mashup of the properties of both and arise when fluids are pushed to very high temperatures and pressures. Their properties make them ideal for a wide variety of chemical, pharmaceutical and environmental applications. /news/2024-12-molecular-pinball-superfast-collisions-supercritical.html General Â鶹ÒùÔºics Soft Matter Thu, 19 Dec 2024 09:33:04 EST news653823182 A team of scientists have invented a technique to determine the dynamics of microscopic interacting particles by using image recognition to count the number of particles in an imaginary box. By changing the size of the observation box, such counting enables the study of the dynamics of the collective system, even for a dense group of particles suspended in a fluid. /news/2024-10-image-recognition-technique-particles-diffusion.html General Â鶹ÒùÔºics Soft Matter Tue, 29 Oct 2024 11:20:01 EDT news649415299 Researchers at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) have managed to enhance the framework of Brownian reservoir computing by recording and transferring hand gestures to the system that then used skyrmions to detect these individual gestures. /news/2024-09-energy-magnetic.html General Â鶹ÒùÔºics Condensed Matter Mon, 16 Sep 2024 10:57:08 EDT news645703024 Although systems consisting of many interacting small particles can be highly complex and chaotic, some can nonetheless be described using simple theories. Does this also pertain to the world of quantum physics? /news/2024-09-fluctuating-hydrodynamics-theory-chaotic-body.html Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Mon, 09 Sep 2024 15:07:06 EDT news645113224 It is hard to protect something if you don't know where it is. Yet many people who study and want to safeguard native plants are faced with this exact problem. /news/2024-09-gaps-biases-biodiversity.html Plants & Animals Ecology Mon, 09 Sep 2024 09:36:54 EDT news645093409 The ratchet mechanism is a fascinating energy-conversion system that converts disorderly or random motion into orderly, directed movement through a process known as spontaneous rectification. It is a critical component of mechanical systems, typically consisting of a gear and a pawl, which restricts the movement of the gear in one direction. /news/2024-08-ratchet-mechanism-geometrically-symmetric-gear.html General Â鶹ÒùÔºics Tue, 20 Aug 2024 10:34:04 EDT news643368842 Cilia are sensory structures extending from the surface of some cells. These hair-like structures are known to contribute to the sensorimotor capabilities of various living organisms, including humans. /news/2024-08-robotic-platform-complex-ciliary-behavior.html Soft Matter Tue, 13 Aug 2024 08:10:01 EDT news642683025 Checking whether an avocado is hard or soft by looking at it? This would require recognizing how the plant cells behave behind the skin. The same applies to all other cells on our planet: Despite more than 100 years of intensive research, many of their properties remain hidden inside the cell. /news/2024-08-laser-view-avocado-method-reveals.html General Â鶹ÒùÔºics Mon, 05 Aug 2024 11:34:12 EDT news642076447 A research team affiliated with UNIST has made a significant breakthrough in understanding the properties of short-chain branched (SCB) polymers. The findings have far-reaching implications for various industrial applications, as SCB polymers can exhibit enhanced performance in packaging materials, electronic devices, automobile parts, and medical devices. The study is published in the Journal of Rheology. /news/2024-07-reveal-unique-characteristics-short-chain.html Polymers Thu, 25 Jul 2024 14:37:03 EDT news641137021 Fast radio bursts (FRBs) represent the most intense radio explosions in the universe. Since the first discovery in 2007, FRBs have garnered significant attention, culminating in the 2023 Shaw Prize in Astronomy. With yet unknown origin, these extreme cosmic bursts are among the most enigmatic phenomena in astronomy as well as physics. /news/2024-04-fast-radio-approach-characterize-behavior.html Astronomy Fri, 12 Apr 2024 14:04:55 EDT news632149493 Understanding complex biological and biomedical systems is greatly aided by 3D imaging, which provides much more detailed information than traditional two-dimensional methods. However, live cell and tissue imaging remain challenging due to factors like limited imaging speed and significant scattering in turbid environments. /news/2024-02-3d-chemical-imaging-phase-modulation.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 22 Feb 2024 12:44:03 EST news627828241 In nature, the collective motion of some birds and fish, such as flocks of starlings and shoals of sardines, respectively, can generate impressive dynamic phenomena. Their study constitutes active matter science, which has been a topic of great interest for the past three decades. /news/2024-02-scientists-behaviors-chiral-skyrmions-obstacles.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Tue, 13 Feb 2024 10:52:42 EST news627043959 A team of Rice University researchers mapped out how flecks of 2D materials move in liquid ⎯ knowledge that could help scientists assemble macroscopic-scale materials with the same useful properties as their 2D counterparts. /news/2024-02-unveils-key-dynamics-2d-nanomaterials.html Nanomaterials Thu, 01 Feb 2024 07:53:53 EST news625996421 Artificial intelligence using neural networks performs calculations digitally with the help of microelectronic chips. Â鶹ÒùÔºicists at Leipzig University have now created a type of neural network that works not with electricity but with so-called active colloidal particles. In their publication in Nature Communications, the researchers describe how these microparticles can be used as a physical system for artificial intelligence and the prediction of time series. /news/2024-01-microparticles-artificial-intelligence.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Mon, 29 Jan 2024 10:37:43 EST news625747059 Several recent experiments identify unusual patterns in particle diffusion, hinting at some underlying complexity in the process which physicists have yet to discover. Through new analysis published in The European Â鶹ÒùÔºical Journal B, Adrian Pacheco-Pozo and Igor Sokolov at Humboldt University of Berlin show how this behavior emerges through strong correlations between the positions of diffusing particles traveling along similar trajectories. /news/2024-01-role-random-particle-diffusion.html General Â鶹ÒùÔºics Soft Matter Fri, 19 Jan 2024 10:21:47 EST news624882105 A new study led by scientists from Spain and Germany has found a fundamental asymmetry showing that heating is consistently faster than cooling, challenging conventional expectations and introducing the concept of "thermal kinematics" to explain this phenomenon. The findings are published in Nature Â鶹ÒùÔºics. /news/2024-01-efficiency-asymmetry-scientists-fundamental-cooling.html General Â鶹ÒùÔºics Wed, 17 Jan 2024 06:50:02 EST news624620590 Optothermal nanotweezers are an innovative optical design method that has revolutionized classical optical techniques to capture a broad range of nanoparticles. While the optothermal temperature field can be employed for in situ regulation of nanoparticles, challenges remain in identifying their potential for regulating bionanoparticles. /news/2023-11-crispr-powered-optothermal-nanotweezers.html Bio & Medicine Nanophysics Mon, 27 Nov 2023 09:59:01 EST news620301538 Active matter systems feature unique behaviors that include collective self-assembly structures and collective migration. However, the efforts to realize collective entities in spaces without wall-adhered support, in order to conduct three-dimensional locomotion without dispersion, are challenging. /news/2023-11-bioinspired-self-assembled-colloidal.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Thu, 23 Nov 2023 11:00:01 EST news619696437 Polymers are large molecules that are made by linking a series of identical building blocks. They are attractive for manufacturing because they are inexpensive and easy to process and modify. /news/2023-10-polymers-next-generation-sustainability.html Polymers Materials Science Tue, 31 Oct 2023 10:41:26 EDT news617967682 Innovation Center of NanoMedicine has announced with The University of Tokyo that a group led by Prof. Takanori Ichiki, Research Director of iCONM, proposed a new property evaluation method of nanoparticles' shape anisotropy that solves long-standing issues in nanoparticle evaluation that date back to Einstein's time. /news/2023-10-deep-long-standing-identification-nanoparticle.html Bio & Medicine Nanophysics Tue, 24 Oct 2023 17:00:01 EDT news617371528 Stirring can allow the dispersion of substances evenly in liquid. Einstein's tea leaf paradox is a concept that shows how tea leaves can concentrate in a doughnut shape through a secondary flow effect during stirring. In a new study published in Science Advances, Zehui Zhang and colleagues in physics and engineering in China, demonstrated the Einstein's tea leaf paradox (abbreviated as ETLP) induced concentration in nanofluids. /news/2023-09-einstein-tea-leaf-paradox-nanofluids.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Thu, 28 Sep 2023 09:55:55 EDT news615113749 Soft materials are ubiquitous in our daily lives, from the food we eat to the products we use to the materials that make up our bodies. Some examples of soft materials include cream, toothpaste, and blood. Most soft materials are complex fluids, which means that they contain a macroscopically uniform mixture of two or more phases. /news/2023-08-self-driving-synchrotron-coherent-x-ray-complex.html Optics & Photonics Soft Matter Wed, 23 Aug 2023 11:36:01 EDT news612009345 Obtaining useful work from random fluctuations in a system at thermal equilibrium has long been considered impossible. In fact, in the 1960s eminent American physicist Richard Feynman effectively shut down further inquiry after he argued in a series of lectures that Brownian motion, or the thermal motion of atoms, cannot perform useful work. /news/2023-08-scientists-nonlinear-circuit-harvest-power.html Nanomaterials Fri, 18 Aug 2023 05:12:25 EDT news611554336 A hot bath is a place to relax. For scientists, it is also where molecules or tiny building blocks meet to form materials. Researchers at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) take it to the next level and use the energy of swimming bacteria to forge materials. A study published in Nature Â鶹ÒùÔºics shows how this works and the potential sustainability benefits that may arise from this innovative approach. /news/2023-07-scientists-bacteria-unconventional-materials.html General Â鶹ÒùÔºics Thu, 27 Jul 2023 11:00:01 EDT news609672906