/ 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. 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 You may not have realized it yet, but the United Nations has declared 2025 the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology. /news/2025-07-year-journey-quantum-science-technology.html Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Tue, 15 Jul 2025 12:30:06 EDT news671800512 EPFL scientists have developed a new technique that lets researchers watch, with unprecedented sensitivity, how materials emit polarized light over time. /news/2025-07-imaging-technique-captures-polarized.html Condensed Matter Optics & Photonics Wed, 02 Jul 2025 09:13:10 EDT news670666387 Scientists have long known that light can sometimes appear to exit a material before entering it—an effect dismissed as an illusion caused by how waves are distorted by matter. /news/2024-12-scientists-negative-quantum.html General Â鶹ÒùÔºics Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Sat, 21 Dec 2024 07:23:37 EST news653988167 A team led by Prof. Dexin Ye and Prof. Hongsheng Chen from Zhejiang University, and Prof. Yu Luo from Nanyang Technological University conducted research on the practical implementation of full-parameter transformation optical devices. Based on the linear transformation optics and the constitution theory of omnidirectionally matched transparent metamaterials, the research team designed and implemented a full-parameter omnidirectional invisibility cloak capable of concealing large-scale objects in free space. /news/2024-04-ideal-omnidirectional-invisibility-cloak-free.html Optics & Photonics Mon, 22 Apr 2024 13:00:22 EDT news633009620 Modern physics suggests time may be an illusion. Einstein's theory of relativity, for example, suggests the universe is a static, four-dimensional block that contains all of space and time simultaneously—with no special "now." /news/2024-04-logic-doesnt.html General Â鶹ÒùÔºics Tue, 16 Apr 2024 12:06:24 EDT news632487982 Winning at the annual AFL tipping competition is a lot of fun at work or the pub, but does that translate to a financially viable option in online sports betting sphere? /news/2023-08-tipster-australian-football-people-gambling.html Social Sciences Economics & Business Thu, 10 Aug 2023 09:01:35 EDT news610876889 Acoustic camouflage, realized by controlling wave propagation, has attracted much attention in recent years. Aided by a reflecting surface, acoustic carpet cloak has become one of the most practically feasible invisibility devices. /news/2022-07-acoustics-underwater-carpet-cloak.html Soft Matter Thu, 28 Jul 2022 09:24:50 EDT news578219088 Researchers from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the University of California, Berkeley, have developed a new photonic device that could get scientists closer to the "holy grail" of finding the global minimum of mathematical formulations at room temperature. Finding that illusive mathematical value would be a major advancement in opening new options for simulations involving quantum materials. /news/2022-06-device-scientists-closer-quantum-materials.html General Â鶹ÒùÔºics Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Fri, 17 Jun 2022 10:28:04 EDT news574680482 In recent years, physicists have discovered materials that are able to switch their electrical character from a metal to an insulator, and even to a superconductor, which is a material in a friction-free state that allows electrons to flow with zero resistance. These materials, which include "magic-angle" graphene and other synthesized two-dimensional materials, can shift electrical states depending on the voltage, or current of electrons, that is applied. /news/2022-03-physicists-evidence-strong-electron-2d.html Superconductivity Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Thu, 17 Mar 2022 15:46:15 EDT news566750769 Although I have been sewing as a hobby for many years, making and wearing historical clothing was not something I imagined myself doing when I first began researching the history of corsets and hooped skirts. /news/2022-02-remaking-history-hand-making-year-old-corset.html Social Sciences Mon, 21 Feb 2022 07:50:02 EST news564651918 Invisibility devices may soon no longer be the stuff of science fiction. A new study published in the De Gruyter journal Nanophotonics by lead authors Huanyang Chen at Xiamen University, China, and Qiaoliang Bao, suggests the use of the material Molybdenum Trioxide (α-MoO3) to replace expensive and difficult to produce metamaterials in the emerging technology of novel optical devices. /news/2021-12-invisibility-superconducting-materials.html Optics & Photonics Superconductivity Tue, 21 Dec 2021 12:26:19 EST news559311975 Whether chatting with friends at a dinner party or managing a high-stakes meeting at work, communicating with others in a group requires a complex set of mental tasks. Our brains must track who is speaking and what is being said, as well as what our relationship to that person may be—because, after all, we probably give the opinion of our best friend more weight than that of a complete stranger. /news/2021-10-reveals-secrets-social-brain.html Plants & Animals Evolution Thu, 21 Oct 2021 17:00:04 EDT news554054398 For much of human history, animals and plants were perceived to follow a different set of rules than the rest of the universe. In the 18th and 19th centuries, this culminated in a belief that living organisms were infused by a non-physical energy or "life force" that allowed them to perform remarkable transformations that couldn't be explained by conventional chemistry or physics alone. /news/2021-07-tool-drastically-enzymes.html Molecular & Computational biology Thu, 22 Jul 2021 15:13:48 EDT news546185545 Entering an invisible doorway to catch a train at King's Cross station in London is a renowned fictional scene from the Harry Potter series. In recent decades, physicists have been trying to produce a similar effect by focusing their research efforts on illusion devices. /news/2021-06-superscattering-effect-metamaterials.html General Â鶹ÒùÔºics Condensed Matter Wed, 23 Jun 2021 09:30:02 EDT news543486605 Despite years of hype, virtual reality headsets have yet to topple TV or computer screens as the go-to devices for video viewing. One reason: VR can make users feel sick. Nausea and eye strain can result because VR creates an illusion of 3D viewing although the user is in fact staring at a fixed-distance 2D display. The solution for better 3D visualization could lie in a 60-year-old technology remade for the digital world: holograms. /news/2021-03-artificial-intelligence-3d-holograms-real-time.html General Â鶹ÒùÔºics Optics & Photonics Wed, 10 Mar 2021 11:00:05 EST news534583647 Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have found a new way to harness properties of light waves that can radically increase the amount of data they carry. They demonstrated the emission of discrete twisting laser beams from antennas made up of concentric rings roughly equal to the diameter of a human hair, small enough to be placed on computer chips. /news/2021-02-unbound-limits-optical-antennas.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 25 Feb 2021 12:06:28 EST news533477183 Raising kids can be tough, and sometimes you need all the help you can get. Biologists at the University of Bristol argue that some animals might be able to blackmail reluctant relatives into assisting with the rearing of young. The study is published today [2 February] in The American Naturalist. /news/2021-02-blackmail-family.html Plants & Animals Evolution Tue, 02 Feb 2021 12:58:14 EST news531493091 Holographic movies, like the one R2D2 projected of Princess Leia in "Star Wars: A New Hope," have long been the province of science fiction, but for most of us, the extent of our experience with holograms may be the dime-sized stamps on our passports and credit cards. By using 'metasurface' materials that can manipulate light in ways that natural materials cannot, researchers reckon they have finally seen the light at the end of the tunnel for creating true holographic movies. /news/2020-08-true-holographic-movies-grasp.html Optics & Photonics Mon, 31 Aug 2020 12:40:36 EDT news518096431 Graphene, an extremely thin two-dimensional layer of the graphite used in pencils, buckles when cooled while attached to a flat surface, resulting in beautiful pucker patterns that could benefit the search for novel quantum materials and superconductors, according to Rutgers-led research in the journal Nature. /news/2020-08-quantum-materials-quest-benefit-graphene.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Wed, 12 Aug 2020 11:00:09 EDT news516432558 A breakthrough in fertility science by researchers from Bristol and Mexico has shattered the universally accepted view of how sperm 'swim'. /news/2020-07-human-sperm-centuries-old-assumption.html Cell & Microbiology Molecular & Computational biology Fri, 31 Jul 2020 14:00:03 EDT news515384175 To get on the good side of a new boss, colleague or acquaintance in a business meeting, leave your cell phone stashed in your pocket or purse. /news/2020-06-good-cell.html Social Sciences Wed, 17 Jun 2020 15:33:17 EDT news511626794 Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill made a one-way street for electrons that may unlock the ability for devices to process ultra-high-speed wireless data and simultaneously harvest energy for power. The researchers did this by shaping silicon on a microscopic scale to create a funnel, or "ratchet," for electrons. /news/2020-04-one-way-street-electrons.html General Â鶹ÒùÔºics Thu, 09 Apr 2020 14:00:06 EDT news505643488 Researchers have created a unique device which will unlock the elusive terahertz wavelengths and make revolutionary new technologies possible. /news/2020-02-graphene-amplifier-hidden-frequencies-electromagnetic.html Nanophysics Mon, 03 Feb 2020 09:46:38 EST news499945591 Materials scientists aim to engineer intelligence into the fabric of materials or metamaterials for programmable functions. Engineering efforts can vary from passive to active forms to develop programmable metasurfaces using dynamic and arbitrary electromagnetic (EM) wavefields. Such metasurfaces, however, require manual control to switch between functions. In a new study now published on Light: Science & Applications, Qian Ma and an interdisciplinary research team in the State Key Laboratory, Cyberspace Science and Technology, and the Department of Electronics in China engineered a smart metasurface for self-adaptive programmability. /news/2019-11-smart-metamaterials-reprogram.html Optics & Photonics Mon, 11 Nov 2019 09:30:03 EST news492681095 Camera performance on mobile devices has proven to be one of the features that most end-users aim for. The importance of optical image quality improvement, and the trend to have thinner and thinner smartphones have pushed manufactures to increase the number of cameras in order to provide phones with better zoom, low-light exposure high quality photography, and portrait settings, to name a few. But adding additional lenses to a miniaturized optical configuration and driving light focusing with an electronic device is not as easy as it seems, particularly at small scales or in confined spaces. /news/2019-07-smartlens.html Optics & Photonics Fri, 26 Jul 2019 11:29:41 EDT news483359369 Leslie Van Gelder, a well-known American-born archeologist has been working with Dr. Harald Schwefel, and other physicists at Otago University to develop a lamp that mimics the flickering torch light that paleolithic cave artists worked by many thousands of years ago. The lamps will help Leslie and other archeologists reveal intimate details of these ancient people. /news/2019-05-quantum-physicists-cave-art.html Archaeology Wed, 15 May 2019 09:26:56 EDT news477131197 Microsoft has announced that it will close the books category of its digital store. While other software and apps will still be available via the virtual shop front, and on purchasers' consoles and devices, the closure of the eBook store takes with it customers' eBook libraries. Any digital books bought through the service – even those bought many years ago – will no longer be readable after July 2019. While the company has promised to provide a full refund for all eBook purchases, this decision raises important questions of ownership. /news/2019-04-digital.html Consumer & Gadgets Business Mon, 08 Apr 2019 10:20:01 EDT news473935002 While exploring hydrothermal vent and cold seep environments, Dr. Mandy Joye (University of Georgia), and her interdisciplinary research team discovered large venting mineral towers that reach up to 23 meters in height and 10 meters across. These towers featured numerous volcanic flanges that create the illusion of looking at a mirror when observing the superheated (366ºC) hydrothermal fluids beneath them. The minerals across the features were laden with metals and the fluids were highly sulfidic, yet these sites were teeming with biodiversity and potentially novel fauna. /news/2019-04-otherworldly-mirror-pools-mesmerizing-landscapes.html Earth Sciences Environment Wed, 03 Apr 2019 12:34:55 EDT news473513689 The ability to hide an arbitrary object with a cloak at a distance from the object is a unique task in photonics research, although the phenomenon is yet to be realized in practice. In a recent study now published in Light: Science & Applications, Tianhang Chen and co-workers at the Key laboratory of Micro-Nano Electronics and Smart Systems, and the State Key Laboratory of Modern Optical Instrumentation in China proposed the first experimental realization of a remote cloaking device. The device can make any object located at a specific distance invisible using a direct current (DC) frequency. /news/2019-03-current-dc-remote-cloak-arbitrary.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 27 Mar 2019 09:30:03 EDT news472894146