Spontaneous magnons synchronize with external signals at room temperature
Signals ride on waves of one kind or another: light, sound, radio. But new carriers are needed to relay information in next-generation devices. Disturbances or waves in magnetic m…
Quantum advantage reassessed: More realistic benchmarks for quantum algorithms
Quantum advantage refers to the point at which a quantum computer solves a clearly defined task faster or more efficiently than any classical computer—or makes it solvable in the …
Recyclable glue bonds underwater in seconds and holds for years
Most glues need a dry surface to stick properly. Bonding materials underwater is challenging because water forms a thin film on any surface, so instead of an adhesive touching a m…
Long-sought Zhang-Rice singlet visualized directly in cuprate superconductor
Superconductors are materials that conduct electricity with zero electrical resistance below specific temperatures. Most of these materials become superconducting at very low temp…
Porous material can arrange disordered gas molecules into a crystal-like structure, study predicts
Capturing carbon or storing hydrogen to combat global warming requires compressing gases into sponge-like porous materials. Until now, gas molecules were thought to adsorb in a di…
New CERN measurement challenges conventional models of how gluons behave inside atomic nuclei
A University of Kansas physicist played a leading role in a CERN study showing that two rival explanations for how gluons behave inside atomic nuclei can now be experimentally dis…
New contactless method reveals how mirror-image materials respond differently to light
New research introduces a contactless way to see how mirror-image materials respond differently to circularly polarized light, without first building them into a complete electron…
X-rays: Beyond the Nobel Prize limit
When certain atoms are irradiated with laser light, they can produce a very different kind of laser light: laser pulses with extremely high frequencies in the X-ray range. These l…
New optical method reveals internal dynamics of elusive Wigner crystals
Researchers at the University of Basel and the Technical University of Munich have developed a new method to reveal the collective motion of electrons in one of the most elusive s…
Engineered enzymes forge carbon-carbon and carbon-nitrogen bonds with high selectivity
Researchers from the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology, including Dr. Zachary Birch-Price and professor Anthony Green, have developed a new family of engineered enzymes that c…
Quantum heat circuits learn electronics' oldest trick: Sharing a power supply
Every electronic and optoelectronic device generates heat, and today that heat is managed almost entirely from the outside. Heatsinks, fans, cold plates and refrigerators are bulk…
Distant time crystals oscillate in unison, paving the way for spin networks
In January 2024, physicists at TU Dortmund University demonstrated a continuous time crystal in a semiconductor whose oscillations remained stable for hours. In a new study publis…
Self-healing composite retains 92% sensing response after 10,000 strain cycles
Researchers have developed a polymer composite that combines vibration damping with reliable strain sensing. The material uses a thermoplastic polyurethane matrix containing UPy (…
Discovery of 'slow' electrons in 2D material could lead to new memory device
Over the last decade, researchers have developed two-dimensional materials with fascinating quantum effects that could be harnessed for next-generation technologies.
Real-time measurements reveal antiferromagnetic skyrmions move in line with an applied current
Skyrmions—essentially magnetic vortices—represent a promising approach in spintronics; in the future, they could serve as components in storage media or computers, potentially com…
Using salt to drive drug-carrying particles deeper into difficult-to-treat biofilms
Biofilms—bacterial communities encased in a sticky, polymer-rich matrix—can be difficult to treat because that matrix slows antibiotics and drug-carrying particles. With help from…
'Lying mirror' uses structured surfaces to conceal optical information
Mirrors normally reveal what is placed in front of them, even when their curvature distorts a reflection. Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) have intr…
New catalyst with 75% less platinum promises to reduce the cost of hydrogen fuel cells
The high cost of platinum is one of the main barriers to the wider adoption of hydrogen fuel cells. Now, researchers at IMDEA Materials Institute have developed a catalyst that de…
Tiny particles defy action-reaction symmetry to stay in motion
From schools of fish and flocks of birds to microscopic synthetic particles, many systems in nature and the laboratory consist of individual units or agents that move by consuming…
'Flying focus' laser overcomes key limitation in plasma-based particle accelerators
In a new Nature Physics study, researchers accelerated electrons to more than twice the energy predicted by the traditional dephasing limit for laser-plasma accelerators operating…
Silver nanocatalysts switch reaction sites between power generation and hydrogen production
For the first time, researchers have discovered that the same silver (Ag) nanocatalyst operates at different reaction sites depending on whether a solid oxide cell is generating e…
Creating cleaner chemical reactions that run on oxygen and produce only water as waste
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 relea…
Laser spectroscopy helps reveal hidden nuclear properties in fermium
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.
New 'shape-shifting' architecture brings versatility to photonic quantum computing
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 …