All News

Tech Xplore / 'Like liquid metal': Entangled, staple-like particles could inspire new generation of materials

A tightly packed ball of office staples can be surprisingly strong. Try to pull it apart and the tangled metal resists like a solid object. But with the right movement or vibration, that same bundle can quickly fall back ...

Apr 16, 2026
Phys.org / Study finds park design affects cooling differently by day and night

Urban parks are often seen as natural refuges from summer heat, but new Concordia research shows that, depending on the time of day, the way trees are arranged within parks can influence whether those spaces cool people down ...

Apr 17, 2026
Phys.org / Cyanobacteria surprise scientists with evolutionary shift

Photosynthetic bacteria helped shape planet Earth. Among them are cyanobacteria that produced the oxygen in the atmosphere and made complex life possible, captivating scientists for decades. Now, researchers at the Institute ...

Apr 16, 2026
Phys.org / Confirming altermagnetism in an abundant mineral

Also known as magnetoelectronics, spintronics rely on electron spin rather than electron charge, as found in traditional electronics. Although spintronics is still an emerging field, spintronic technologies are already found ...

Apr 16, 2026
Phys.org / Quantum Fourier transform reaches 52 qubits, shattering the previous 27-qubit record

The spin-off company ParityQC has implemented the largest quantum Fourier transform ever reported using an IBM quantum computer, thereby setting a new milestone on the path toward the industrial application of quantum computers. ...

Apr 16, 2026
Phys.org / Relocating Venice among the options explored to protect the city against sea-level rise

Relocating the city of Venice is among four potential options—including movable barriers, ring dikes and closing the Venetian Lagoon—that could help it adapt to future sea-level rise over the next 200 years, according to ...

Apr 16, 2026
Phys.org / Electric double layer emerges in new electrocatalyst interface model

Hydrogen is at the heart of the transition to carbon neutrality, as both an energy carrier and a reagent for green chemistry. However, large-scale production of hydrogen via electrolysis, as well as the production of many ...

Apr 16, 2026
Phys.org / Laser method unlocks 3,000-Kelvin thin-film synthesis for quantum materials

Thin films might not come up in conversation every day, but they are all around us. Take the metallic plastic films of chip bags, for example, or the anti-reflective coatings on eyeglasses. Even the coatings on pills that ...

Apr 16, 2026
Phys.org / 'Ghost tunnels' guide sound waves in one direction while staying invisible to others

Acoustic metamaterials are a fast-evolving family of materials which manipulate sound waves in ever more advanced ways. Now, a team led by Changqing Xu at Nanjing Normal University in China has engineered an acoustic metamaterial, ...

Apr 13, 2026
Phys.org / Uranus's two outer rings show starkly different origins

Astronomers using the W. M. Keck Observatory on Maunakea, Hawaiʻi Island are revealing new insight into the composition and origins of Uranus's two outer rings. Using data from the Keck Observatory Archive (KOA), combined ...

Apr 16, 2026
Phys.org / In Arizona's desert, tiny ants turn into living hygienists, climbing inside bigger ants' mandibles and cleaning them

Ants are known for many things. They fight, bite and sometimes compete for every crumb. We can now possibly add cleaning services to that list, according to a study published in the journal Ecology and Evolution.

Apr 13, 2026
Phys.org / Examining the impact of sanctioned elites on authoritarian realignment

In recent years, many observers have noted parallels between the current international environment and the 1930s, including rising geopolitical tensions, political polarization, trade conflicts, and regional wars. This raised ...

Apr 17, 2026