Phys.org news

Oxygen provides the driving force for many vital chemical reactions. Two well-known examples include respiration, the process that allows living things to break down food to release its energy, and combustion, reactions that ...

Using light to process quantum information is one of the most promising approaches to building future quantum computers. Light particles, known as photons, are excellent carriers of quantum information, but their lack of ...

By rapidly twisting a microscopically small tip back and forth, researchers at the University of Maryland (UMD) have unlocked a new way to detect subtle changes on the surface of a material flexing in response to infrared ...

For the first time, researchers have determined the shape of the actinide nucleus of fermium-255 and measured its structure with high precision and resolution.

The initiation of rain in clouds without ice remains one of the largest unsolved mysteries in atmospheric science.

Using a detector filled with nearly 9 metric tons of liquid xenon, researchers have delivered some of the most sensitive dark matter results ever recorded. In the latest analysis from the XENON collaboration, working at the ...

The origin of spin in spiral and elliptical galaxies has posed a long-standing puzzle for astronomers. One idea, known as tidal torque theory, proposes that galaxies' spins are an imprinted record of the early universe, imparted ...

A tall glass of ice water isn't just a thirst quencher; it's also an everyday example of coexisting phases. Water can exist simultaneously in both liquid and solid phases. As it turns out, this phase duality can also exist ...

Measuring faint magnetic fields is useful in a number of areas, including mapping brain activity, monitoring hearts and probing fundamental physics. Typically, picking up such weak signals requires expensive or bulky equipment, ...

Scientists in China predict that stacking two microscopic layers of boron could set a new record for superconductivity. Superconductors are materials that conduct electricity with zero resistance. Traditional types need temperatures ...

In Goethe's ballad "Erlkönig," immortalized in Schubert's fevered 1815 setting, a dying boy riding through the night sees a spectral king beckoning from the darkness. His father calms him: "Mein Sohn, es ist ein Nebelstreif"—my ...

Astronomers have found evidence that one of the most massive white dwarfs known has an oxygen-neon core instead of the more common carbon-oxygen core. The finding is important because the composition of a white dwarf's core ...