Thermometer uses Rydberg atoms to make calibration-free measurements
A new way to measure the temperatures of objects by studying the effect of their black-body radiation on Rydberg atoms has been demonstrated by researchers at the US National Institute of Standards and...
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Elastic response explains why cordierite has ultra-low thermal expansion
Hot material The crystal structure of cordierite gives the material its unique thermal properties. (Courtesy: M Dove and L Li/Matter) The anomalous and ultra-low thermal expansion of cordierite results...
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Tissue-like hydrogel semiconductors show promise for next-generation...
Researchers at the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering have created a groundbreaking hydrogel that doubles as a semiconductor. The material combines the soft, flexible...
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Asteroid Bennu contains the stuff of life, sample analysis reveals
A sample of asteroid dirt brought back to Earth by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission contains amino acids and the nucleobases of RNA and DNA, plus brines that could have facilitated the formation of organic...
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Two-faced graphene nanoribbons could make the first purely carbon-based...
A new graphene nanostructure could become the basis for the first ferromagnets made purely from carbon. Known as an asymmetric or “Janus” graphene nanoribbon after the two-faced god in Roman mythology,...
View ArticleSupermassive black hole displays ‘unprecedented’ X-ray outbursts
An international team of researchers has detected a series of significant X-ray oscillations near the innermost orbit of a supermassive black hole – an unprecedented discovery that could indicate the...
View ArticleQuantum simulators deliver surprising insights into magnetic phase transitions
Unexpected behaviour at phase transitions between classical and quantum magnetism has been observed in different quantum simulators operated by two independent groups. One investigation was led by...
View ArticleNew class of quasiparticle appears in bilayer graphene
A newly-discovered class of quasiparticles known as fractional excitons offers fresh opportunities for condensed-matter research and could reveal unprecedented quantum phases, say physicists at Brown...
View ArticleThousands of nuclear spins are entangled to create a quantum-dot qubit
A new type of quantum bit (qubit) that stores information in a quantum dot with the help of an ensemble of nuclear spin states has been unveiled by physicists in the UK and Austria. Led by Dorian...
View ArticleOrganic photovoltaic solar cells could withstand harsh space environments
Carbon-based organic photovoltaics (OPVs) may be much better than previously thought at withstanding the high-energy radiation and sub-atomic particle bombardments of space environments. This finding,...
View ArticleNanoparticles demonstrate new and unexpected mechanism of coronavirus...
The COVID-19 pandemic provided a driving force for researchers to seek out new disinfection methods that could tackle future viral outbreaks. One promising approach relies on the use of nanoparticles,...
View ArticleBacterial ‘cables’ form a living gel in mucus
Bacterial cells in solutions of polymers such as mucus grow into long cable-like structures that buckle and twist on each other, forming a “living gel” made of intertwined cells. This behaviour is very...
View ArticleSchrödinger’s cat states appear in the nuclear spin state of antimony
Physicists at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) are the first to succeed in creating and manipulating quantum superpositions of a single, large nuclear spin. The superposition involves spin...
View ArticleModelling the motion of confined crowds could help prevent crushing incidents
Researchers led by Denis Bartolo, a physicist at the École Normale Supérieure (ENS) of Lyon, France, have constructed a theoretical model that forecasts the movements of confined, densely packed...
View ArticleUltra-high-energy neutrino detection opens a new window on the universe
Using an observatory located deep beneath the Mediterranean Sea, an international team has detected an ultra-high-energy cosmic neutrino with an energy greater than 100 PeV, which is well above the...
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Low-temperature plasma halves cancer recurrence in mice
Treatment with low-temperature plasma is emerging as a novel cancer therapy. Previous studies have shown that plasma can deactivate cancer cells in vitro, suppress tumour growth in vivo and potentially...
View ArticleInverse design configures magnon-based signal processor
For the first time, inverse design has been used to engineer specific functionalities into a universal spin-wave-based device. It was created by Andrii Chumak and colleagues at Austria’s University of...
View ArticleScientists discover secret of ice-free polar-bear fur
In the teeth of the Arctic winter, polar-bear fur always remains free of ice – but how? Researchers in Ireland and Norway say they now have the answer, and it could have applications far beyond...
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Wireless deep brain stimulation reverses Parkinson’s disease in mice
Nanoparticle-mediated DBS (I) Pulsed NIR irradiation triggers the thermal activation of TRPV1 channels. (II, III) NIR-induced β-syn peptide release into neurons disaggregates α-syn fibrils and...
View ArticleMemory of previous contacts affects static electricity on materials
Physicists in Austria have shown that the static electricity acquired by identical material samples can evolve differently over time, based on each samples’ history of contact with other samples. Led...
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‘Sneeze simulator’ could improve predictions of pathogen spread
A new “sneeze simulator” could help scientists understand how respiratory illnesses such as COVID-19 and influenza spread. Built by researchers at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV) in Spain, the...
View ArticleAstronomers create a ‘weather map’ for a gas giant exoplanet
Astronomers have constructed the first “weather map” of the exoplanet WASP-127b, and the forecast there is brutal. Winds roar around its equator at speeds as high as 33 000 km/hr, far exceeding...
View ArticleWorld’s first patient treatments delivered with proton arc therapy
A team at the Trento Proton Therapy Centre in Italy has delivered the first clinical treatments using proton arc therapy, an emerging proton delivery technique. Following successful dosimetric...
View ArticleQuantum-inspired technique simulates turbulence with high speed
Quantum-inspired “tensor networks” can simulate the behaviour of turbulent fluids in just a few hours rather than the several days required for a classical algorithm. The new technique, developed by...
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A model stretch: explaining the rheology of developing tissue
While the biology of how an entire organism develops from a single cell has long been a source of fascination, recent research has increasingly highlighted the role of mechanical forces. “If we want to...
View ArticleRadioactive anomaly appears in the deep ocean
Something extraordinary happened on Earth around 10 million years ago, and whatever it was, it left behind a “signature” of radioactive beryllium-10. This finding, which is based on studies of rocks...
View ArticleFrequency-comb detection of gas molecules achieves parts-per-trillion...
A new technique for using frequency combs to measure trace concentrations of gas molecules has been developed by researchers in the US. The team reports single-digit parts-per-trillion detection...
View ArticleBlack hole’s shadow changes from one year to the next
New statistical analyses of the supermassive black hole M87* may explain changes observed since it was first imaged. The findings, from the same Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) that produced the iconic...
View ArticleOptical sensors could improve the comfort of indoor temperatures
The internal temperature of a building is important – particularly in offices and work environments –for maximizing comfort and productivity. Managing the temperature is also essential for reducing the...
View Article‘Phononic shield’ protects mantis shrimp from its own shock waves
When a mantis shrimp uses shock waves to strike and kill its prey, how does it prevent those shock waves from damaging its own tissues? Researchers at Northwestern University in the US have answered...
View ArticleCurious consequence of special relativity observed for the first time in the lab
A counterintuitive result from Einstein’s special theory of relativity has finally been verified more than 65 years after it was predicted. The prediction states that objects moving near the speed of...
View ArticleNanosensor predicts risk of complications in early pregnancy
Researchers in Australia have developed a nanosensor that can detect the onset of gestational diabetes with 95% accuracy. Demonstrated by a team led by Carlos Salomon at the University of Queensland,...
View ArticleCat qubits open a faster track to fault-tolerant quantum computing
Researchers from the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Center for Quantum Computing have announced what they describe as a “breakthrough” in quantum error correction. Their method uses so-called cat qubits to...
View ArticlePerovskite solar cells can be completely recycled
A research team headed up at Linköping University in Sweden and Cornell University in the US has succeeded in recycling almost all of the components of perovskite solar cells using simple, non-toxic,...
View ArticleEarth’s core could contain lots of primordial helium, experiments suggest
Helium deep with the Earth could bond with iron to form stable compounds – according to experiments done by scientists in Japan and Taiwan. The work was done by Haruki Takezawa and Kei Hirose at the...
View ArticleHow would an asteroid strike affect life on Earth?
How would the climate and the environment on our planet change if an asteroid struck? Researchers at the IBS Center for Climate Physics (ICCP) at Pusan National University in South Korea have now tried...
View ArticleMagnetically launched atoms sense motion
Researchers in France have devised a new technique in quantum sensing that uses trapped ultracold atoms to detect acceleration and rotation. They then combined their quantum sensor with a conventional,...
View ArticleQuantum behaviour in brain neurons looks theoretically possible
A new study probing quantum phenomena in neurons as they transmit messages in the brain could provide fresh insight into how our brains function. In this project, described in the Computational and...
View ArticleCO2 laser enables long-range detection of radioactive material
Researchers have demonstrated that they can remotely detect radioactive material from 10 m away using short-pulse CO2 lasers – a distance over ten times farther than achieved via previous methods....
View ArticleD-Wave Systems claims quantum advantage, but some physicists are not convinced
D-Wave Systems has used quantum annealing to do simulations of quantum magnetic phase transitions. The company claims that some of their calculations would be beyond the capabilities of the most...
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Cell sorting device could detect circulating tumour cells
Cell separation Illustration of the fabricated optimal acousto-microfluidic chip. (Courtesy: Afshin Kouhkord and Naserifar Naser) Analysing circulating tumour cells (CTCs) in the blood could help...
View ArticleQuantum computers extend lead over classical machines in random circuit sampling
Researchers in China have unveiled a 105-qubit quantum processor that can solve in minutes a quantum computation problem that would take billions of years using the world’s most powerful classical...
View ArticleNovel zinc alloys could make bone screws biodegradable
Orthopaedic implants that bear loads while bones heal, then disappear once they’re no longer needed, could become a reality thanks to a new technique for enhancing the mechanical properties of zinc...
View ArticleThe enigma of Trappist-1 b: a thick atmosphere or airless rock?
Located about 40 light years from us, the exoplanet Trappist-1 b, orbiting an ultracool dwarf star, has perplexed astronomers with its atmospheric mysteries. Recent observations made by the James Webb...
View ArticleAtomic anomaly explained without recourse to hypothetical ‘dark force’
Physicists in Germany have found an alternative explanation for an anomaly that had previously been interpreted as potential evidence for a mysterious “dark force”. Originally spotted in ytterbium...
View ArticleSterile neutrinos are a no-show (again)
New data from the NOvA experiment at Fermilab in the US contain no evidence for so-called “sterile” neutrinos, in line with results from most – though not all – other neutrino detectors to date. As...
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Electron and proton FLASH deliver similar skin-sparing in radiotherapy of mice
FLASH irradiation, an emerging cancer treatment that delivers radiation at ultrahigh dose rates, has been shown to significantly reduce acute skin toxicity in laboratory mice compared with conventional...
View ArticleBrillouin microscopy speeds up by a factor of 1000
Researchers at the EMBL in Germany have dramatically reduced the time required to create images using Brillouin microscopy, making it possible to study the viscoelastic properties of biological samples...
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Radioactive gold nanoparticles could track drug distribution in the body
Neutron-activated gold Novel activation imaging technique enables real-time visualization of gold nanoparticles in the body without the use of external tracers. (Courtesy: Nanase Koshikawa from Waseda...
View ArticleAI speeds up detection of neutron star mergers
A new artificial intelligence/machine learning method rapidly and accurately characterizes binary neutron star mergers based on the gravitational wave signature they produce. Though the method has not...
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