/ 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. A University of Mississippi ornithologist and researcher is working to make the windows on campus safer for birds. /news/2025-06-bird-friendly-glass-birds.html Plants & Animals Ecology Wed, 18 Jun 2025 08:20:03 EDT news669452120 A new filter for infrared light could see scanning and screening technology tumble in price and size. Built on nanotechnology, the new heat-tunable filter promises hand-held, robust technology to replace current desktop infrared spectroscopy setups that are bulky, heavy and cost from $10,000 up to more than $100,000. /news/2025-06-nano-based-filter-infrared-cheap.html Optics & Photonics Mon, 16 Jun 2025 12:27:53 EDT news669295666 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 At the 2025 IEEE International Interconnect Technology Conference (IITC), imec, a research and innovation hub in nanoelectronics and digital technologies, has presented Ru lines at 16nm pitch with average resistance as low as 656Ω/µm. The 16nm pitch metal lines were fabricated using a semi-damascene integration flow optimized for cost-effective manufacturability, making it an attractive approach for fabricating the first local interconnect metal layer of the A7 and beyond technology nodes. /news/2025-06-semi-damascene-approach-enables-16nm.html Nanomaterials Thu, 05 Jun 2025 04:10:10 EDT news668315403 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 A shard of smooth bone etched with irregular marks dating back 20,000 years puzzled archaeologists until they noticed something unique—the etchings, lines like tally marks, may have represented prime numbers. Similarly, a clay tablet from 1800 B.C.E. inscribed with Babylonian numbers describes a number system built on prime numbers. /news/2025-06-prime-fascinated-mathematicians-centuries-technology.html Mathematics Mon, 02 Jun 2025 14:12:04 EDT news668092321 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 When Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis recently said he'd sign into law a ban on "weather modification activities"—such as spreading tiny particles into the air from aircraft to control sunlight—it raised long-standing controversies over "geoengineering" and "chemtrails." /news/2025-05-florida-bill-chemtrails-geoengineering.html Earth Sciences Environment Mon, 26 May 2025 09:20:04 EDT news667467780 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 For decades, traditional lithography techniques—such as electron beam lithography and nanoimprinting—have struggled to meet the demand for ultra-fine, high-aspect-ratio structures in general. Similar difficulty also applies to metal-based radio-frequency (RF) components. Issues like poor thickness control, uneven sidewalls, and material limitations have constrained performance and scalability. /news/2025-05-deep-trench-3d-enables-gen.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Tue, 06 May 2025 13:22:10 EDT news665756519 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 Looking again through the magnifying lens at the fossil's surface, one of us, Sabrina Curran, took a deep breath. Illuminated by a strong light positioned nearly parallel to the surface of the bone, the V-shaped lines were clearly there on the fossil. There was no mistaking what they meant. /news/2025-04-tiny-animal-bone-fossils-reveal.html Paleontology & Fossils Mon, 14 Apr 2025 11:30:04 EDT news663848570 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 Conventional curved lenses, which direct light by refraction in glass or plastic, are often bulky and heavy, offering only limited control of light waves. Metasurfaces, in contrast, are flat and consist of an array of tiny structures known as meta-atoms. Meta-atoms influence light at a subwavelength scale and thus allow for highly precise control of the phase, amplitude, and polarization of light. /news/2025-03-efficient-meta-optics-conventional-lenses.html Optics & Photonics Fri, 28 Mar 2025 13:34:02 EDT news662387641 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 Nevada's desert landscape is filled with life that is hidden to human eyes. But when conditions are just right, typically following a particularly wet winter, billions of seeds burst to life in vibrant, colorful displays of blooms that can even be seen from space. /news/2025-03-blending-art-science-mojave-seedling.html Plants & Animals Ecology Thu, 20 Mar 2025 07:23:06 EDT news661674182 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 Research shows that children who have books in their home and who talk about stories or learn letters with their families, are more likely to do well at school—not only in literacy but across the board. And these effects are crucial and long-lasting: they can still be seen in secondary school. /news/2025-03-families-library-storytimes-benefits.html Education Thu, 13 Mar 2025 13:10:01 EDT news661086638 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