Phys.org news

Phys.org / Water-window X-rays without a synchrotron: How graphite flakes could shrink bioimaging tools

Researchers from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) have found a new way to produce X-rays with wavelengths in what is called the "water window." This new method holds promise in making bioimaging ...

Mar 6, 2026
Phys.org / A new 'molecular switch' for inborn immunity identified

Innate immune sensors—known as pattern recognition receptors (PRRs)—detect specific molecular components of bacterial or viral intruders. The PRRs forward the signals which results in the production of interferons, which ...

Mar 6, 2026
Phys.org / Large area MoS₂ reduces energy loss in magnetic memory films

Scientists at the University of Manchester have discovered that placing magnetic films on atomically thin molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂) fundamentally changes how they lose energy, a finding that could bring 2D‑material ...

Mar 6, 2026
Phys.org / Overshoot reshapes climate strategies—but the path to net zero remains unchanged

Temporary overshoot of global temperature targets—particularly the 1.5°C goal of the Paris Agreement—is no longer just a modeling concept. New research, published in Nature Climate Change and led by the Euro-Mediterranean ...

Mar 6, 2026
Phys.org / X-raying rocks reveals their carbon-storing capacity

To avoid the worst effects of climate change, many billions of metric tons of industrially generated carbon dioxide will have to be captured and stored away by the end of this century. One place to store such an enormous ...

Mar 6, 2026
Phys.org / Recreating the forms and sounds of historical musical instruments

What if there were a way to create accurate replicas of ancient and historical instruments that could be played and heard?In late 2024, senior MIT postdoc Benjamin Sabatini wrote MIT Professor Eran Egozy to ask just that, ...

Mar 6, 2026
Phys.org / Light-guided 'optovolution' evolves proteins that switch states on schedule

EPFL researchers have developed a light-based method that can produce proteins that switch states, respond to signals, and even compute, using light and the cell cycle.

Mar 6, 2026
Phys.org / Scientists create a hexagonal diamond that could be even harder than the real thing

To misquote a famous song, "Diamonds are industry's best friend." Cubic diamond is the hardest mineral on Earth and is used in everything from precision cutting tools to high-performance semiconductors as well as expensive ...

Mar 5, 2026
Phys.org / Researchers create a never-before-seen molecule and prove its exotic nature with quantum computing

An international team of scientists from IBM, The University of Manchester, Oxford University, ETH Zurich, EPFL and the University of Regensburg have created and characterized a molecule unlike any previously known—one ...

Mar 5, 2026
Phys.org / New species of ancient mollusk found in South Korean waters

Scientists have discovered a new species of chiton, an ancient marine mollusk that has remained virtually unchanged for the last 300 million years. Chitons have an elongated oval shape with a shell composed of eight interlocking ...

Mar 5, 2026
Phys.org / Neutrons reveal magnetic signatures of chiral phonons

Physicists in China have uncovered new evidence that chiral phonons and magnons can interact strongly inside magnetic crystals. Using neutron spectroscopy, a team led by Song Bao at Nanjing University mapped magnetic signatures ...

Mar 5, 2026
Phys.org / New LVK catalog adds 128 gravitational-wave candidates, more than doubling detections

When the densest objects in the universe collide and merge, the violence sets off ripples, in the form of gravitational waves, that reverberate across space and time, over hundreds of millions and even billions of years. ...

Mar 5, 2026