Phys.org news

Phys.org / Carbon nanotube foams reveal a new kind of mechanical memory

In their earliest years of development, computers used mechanical gears and levers to store information. Today, researchers are exploring whether a material itself can hold onto information, storing memory in how it bends ...

Sep 22, 2026
Phys.org / Physicists crack the math connecting ultraslow quantum magnetism to ultrafast black-hole physics

A team led by University at Buffalo physicists has found a mathematical solution that shows how a frustrated quantum magnet can transition from ultraslow behavior to ultrafast, highly entangled behavior resembling that of ...

Sep 22, 2026
Phys.org / Hot spring amoeba breaks record for heat tolerance of complex life

A tiny, single-celled organism can thrive at temperatures that would kill all other known complex life. In a study published in Cell, scientists describe a new species of amoeba that can eat and reproduce in hot spring water ...

Sep 22, 2026
Phys.org / Milky Way's first microblazar may produce fastest particles in the galaxy

An international team of astronomers from ASTRON, JIVE, the University of Amsterdam and other institutions has found the first so-called "microblazar" in the Milky Way. This stellar system is composed of a massive star and ...

Sep 22, 2026
Phys.org / Queasy plesiosaurs swam to shore to vomit, Jurassic fossils reveal

Plesiosaurs swam into river deltas to vomit up shells and other indigestible elements of their marine meals, suggests new research published by Cambridge University Press. The behavior resembles that of today's fur seals ...

Sep 22, 2026
Phys.org / From swarming bacteria to tissue cells, living matter defies classic physical models of motion

A new study led by researchers from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) reveals that living matter violates previously known physical principles of symmetry when cellular flows form and break down collective patterns. ...

Sep 22, 2026
Phys.org / The secret to a perfect crystal may be a precisely calibrated extra turn

Creating a perfect crystal sounds straightforward: Arrange identical building blocks into a repeating, orderly structure. At the microscopic scale, though, even subtle biases in how particles interact can push them in preferred ...

Sep 22, 2026
Phys.org / Briny 'death pools' hold clues to early life

The origins of the earliest life on Earth, prior to the rise of oxygen and photosynthesis, remain a mystery. Graveyards in brine pools at the bottom of the Red Sea may hold some answers.

Sep 22, 2026
Phys.org / Tiny quantum nanostructures could make AI less of an energy hog

Engineers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison have designed a new type of quantum nanostructure that could enable optical neural networks. This emerging technology has the potential to make artificial intelligence systems, ...

Sep 22, 2026
Phys.org / Largest dataset of its kind could clarify how massive stars shaped early galaxies

The more astronomers learn about the universe's earliest galaxies, the stranger they seem. Many of their surprising properties may be explained by differences between their massive stars and those in galaxies like our own ...

Sep 22, 2026
Phys.org / Corals show 'vaccine-like' responses after pathogen exposure

To boost corals' resilience amid rising sea temperatures and the spread of disease, KAUST researchers have found that controlled, low-level exposure to dead pathogenic cells can help corals resist future infection.

Sep 22, 2026
Phys.org / A single temporary stimulus may redirect cell fate without permanently altering genes

Which genes need to be controlled to guide a stem cell toward a desired cell type or modulate an immune cell's inflammatory response? A Korean research team has developed a general-purpose computational framework that identifies ...

Sep 22, 2026