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Sam Jarman

Sam Jarman

Author

Sam is a freelance science writer who spends most of the year juggling between writing and travelling the world. He has a lifelong interest in astrophysics, but is also fascinated by fast-growing fields in physics including novel materials, medical imaging, and bio-inspired technologies. He also contributes to outlets including Physics World and APS Physics Magazine.

Articles by Sam Jarman

Phys.org / Metallic rutile oxides break the rules of cooling

Physicists have long puzzled over a strange contradiction inside a family of minerals called rutile oxides. These materials all share the same crystal structure—but while some of them, like titanium dioxide, are firmly insulating, ...

Jul 7, 2026
Phys.org / Scientists just measured the smallest possible contacts for future computer chips

The rise of AI has created an almost insatiable appetite for computing power. Training and running AI systems requires vast numbers of transistors, and engineers are now racing to pack more of them onto every chip. With their ...

Jul 7, 2026
Phys.org / 400-year-old painting reveals a bat's secret diet

Natural historians have many observational techniques in their toolkit for learning about the natural world: tagging animals with tracking devices, recording sounds, analyzing droppings or simply watching and counting. As ...

Jul 1, 2026
Phys.org / Solar storms leave their mark on cosmic rays that reach Earth

A new study has revealed an unexpected link between solar storms and the flux of high-energy cosmic rays arriving at Earth. The findings, made using one of the world's largest cosmic ray detectors, could open up a new way ...

Jun 29, 2026
Phys.org / Giant exoplanet may hold a magnetic grip on its host star

Within their planetary systems, stars are continuously shaping their orbiting planets through gravity, radiation and magnetic forces. So far, this relationship has appeared to be a one-way street.

Jun 29, 2026
Phys.org / A single origin story for the Milky Way's most mysterious stars

Lurking at the heart of the Milky Way, Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*) is a supermassive black hole four million times the mass of the sun, surrounded by a puzzling collection of young, massive stars whose orbits have long defied ...

Jun 26, 2026
Phys.org / Quantum squeezing sidesteps the limits on mechanical transducers

From detecting the ripples of colliding black holes to imaging individual chemical bonds, mechanical transducers have repeatedly transformed our understanding of the universe. So far, however, the sensitivity of these devices ...

Jun 24, 2026
Phys.org / Broken time-reversal symmetry phase in kagome metals may establish conditions for superconductivity

Physicists have long suspected that a peculiar quantum state lurks inside a class of materials known as kagome metals, but proving its existence has been elusive. Now, a team led by Yeongkwan Kim at the Korea Advanced Institute ...

Jun 22, 2026
Tech Xplore / Light-controlled microgripper bridges the gap between precision and force

For some time, researchers have used optical tweezers to manipulate tiny objects with incredible precision, using carefully controlled beams of laser light. So far, however, this technique has always come with strict limits ...

Jun 21, 2026
Phys.org / Five phases of localization physics observed in a single quantum system

Physicists in China have observed five phases in localization physics within a single quantum system. Using an advanced photonic platform, the team, led by Yucheng Wang and Jingyun Fan at the Southern University of Science ...

Jun 19, 2026
Phys.org / Ripple-like rings of the 'Bullseye galaxy' could be explained by dark matter

Two U.S. physicists have suggested that the nine concentric rings surrounding the galaxy LEDA 1313424, also known as the Bullseye galaxy, could have emerged through the quantum behavior of particles of dark matter. Through ...

Jun 18, 2026
Phys.org / Quantum Hall effect gains a new twist in graphene moiré systems

Physicists have long been drawn to the nonlinear Hall effect: a subtle variant of the classical Hall effect, in which an electric voltage appears perpendicular to a current flowing through a material. Unlike its classical ...

Jun 17, 2026
Phys.org / Passive quantum error correction doubles qubit lifetime, reaching break-even point

A team of U.S. researchers has designed a passive quantum error correction technique that enables qubits to correct their own errors. Demonstrated by Shruti Shirol and colleagues at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, ...

Jun 15, 2026
Phys.org / Fusion reactors could be monitored for covert plutonium production

In the next few decades, many physicists are hopeful that nuclear fusion could become a realistic source of practically limitless energy. But before this can happen, it will be critical to ensure that reactors cannot be covertly ...

Jun 13, 2026
Phys.org / Nuclear clocks tick for the first time

Two independent research teams have achieved a longstanding goal in physics: building a working nuclear clock. The devices, developed by Beichen Huang and colleagues at Tsinghua University and by Luca Toscani De Col and colleagues ...

Jun 12, 2026