⚛ Physics Press Releases

For decades, it has been widely believed that electrons move most efficiently in materials that are clean and highly ordered. Much like water flowing more easily through a smooth pipe, conventional wisdom has held that electrical transport improves as a material’s internal structure becomes more perfectly arranged. However, a recent study shows that the opposite can also be true. A research team at POSTECH in South Korea has discovered that engineered disorder can actually enhance electron transport. The work was conducted by Prof. Hyungyu ...

WASHINGTON, March 24, 2026 — Following the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, lateral flow assays (LFAs) — the category of test strips in which the presence or lack of a pink line indicates whether a specific molecule, like a drug or a virus, has been detected — became household items. Yet despite their ubiquity and decades of development, there has not been a quantitative, physics-grounded method for explaining the sensitivity and limits of LFAs to help guide their design. In Biophysics Reviews, by AIP Publishing, researchers from the University of California, San Diego developed a physics-based ...

By isolating individual cerium atoms inside zeolite pores, researchers converted renewable ethanol into isobutene with dramatically improved efficiency — a step toward replacing petrochemicals in plastics and fuel production.

By shaping a near-infrared laser pulse into a steep-rise, slow-decay waveform, researchers achieved tip-enhanced sum frequency generation spectroscopy that suppresses metallic background noise and detects weak vibrational signals with a 10-million-fold enhancement factor.

Instead of modifying a superconductor's chemistry, Chalmers University researchers engineered nanoscale ridges on the supporting substrate, enabling an ultrathin cuprate film to superconduct at higher temperatures and withstand strong magnetic fields - a new design principle for energy-efficient electronics.

The LHCb collaboration at CERN has discovered the Xi-cc-plus particle - a heavy proton-like baryon containing two charm quarks and one down quark - in 915 events from 2024 proton-proton collisions, resolving a two-decade-old disputed observation and marking the first discovery from the upgraded LHCb detector.

Tokyo Metropolitan University researchers have detected laser-assisted electron scattering using circularly polarized light for the first time - a technical milestone that could reveal how atomic-scale chirality affects electron behavior. The signal matched theoretical predictions from Kroll-Watson theory.

Scientists at KTH Royal Institute of Technology and Kinetic Chemistry Research have made the first direct observation of tetroxides - fleeting, oxygen-rich molecules assumed to exist for 70 years but never seen - finding they survive 0.2 to 200 milliseconds in ordinary air.

Researchers at SASTRA Deemed University have demonstrated a compact fiber-based method for generating clean ultrashort mid-infrared pulses, compressing 5-picosecond pulses to 187 femtoseconds at just 80 watts of input power -- down from the kilowatt range typically required.

Hebrew University researchers demonstrated 3D-printed photonic lanterns that combine light from up to 37 multimode VCSEL lasers into one fiber with losses as low as 0.6 dB, compressing what typically requires large optical systems into a device under 500 micrometers long.

The APS Global Physics Summit in Denver will feature more than 12,000 presentations on astrophysics, particle physics, quantum information science, and more. Highlights include a session with all three 2025 Nobel physics laureates and a virtual tour of the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment.

An international team of 16 physicists argues in a PNAS perspective that room-temperature superconductivity has no fundamental physical barrier, proposes a systematic research agenda combining AI with experiment, and points to a new pressure-quenching record of 151 Kelvin as proof of recent momentum.

By punching hexagonal holes in a magnetic thin film, researchers created a magnonic system whose spin waves obey the same equations as graphene's massless electrons, revealing nine distinct energy bands and potential applications in miniaturized microwave devices.

A meta-analysis of 20 studies covering more than 220,000 infants finds that about one in 20 babies worldwide experiences physical aggression from a caregiver before age two -- rates far higher than official records suggest.

Using a synchrotron particle accelerator, robotics, and AI, researchers scanned 2,000 ant specimens in one week -- a process that would have taken six years with conventional equipment. The resulting Antscan database, covering 800 species, is freely available and reveals internal anatomy at micrometer resolution.

Tracking over 11,000 adults aged 65-plus for up to 12 years, Yale researchers found that 45% improved in cognition, walking speed, or both. Those who held more positive views about aging were significantly more likely to improve -- even after adjusting for health, education, and depression.

Duke engineers built a pyroelectric photodetector that operates at 2.8 GHz, responding to light in just 125 picoseconds. The device uses silver nanocubes on an ultrathin film to trap light energy with near-perfect efficiency, needs no external power, and works across the entire electromagnetic spectrum.

Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics show that face-to-face conversation is a dynamic coordination system distributed across two bodies and minds, where meaning emerges through continuous mutual prediction and real-time adjustment.

Cornell researchers used electron ptychography to image atomic-scale defects - nicknamed 'mouse bites' - in transistor channels just 15 to 18 atoms wide. The capability, developed with TSMC, could transform how chip makers debug next-generation semiconductors.

A study on thin film fluid dynamics in everyday kitchen tasks explains why draining a wok twice prevents rust, how long to wait between dumps, and why honey behaves so differently from water in a tilted jar. The physics is surprisingly practical.

A JAMA study found insufficient sleep rising broadly among U.S. adolescents across all behavioral risk groups, with very short sleep (5 hours or less) increasing most - suggesting structural and environmental causes beyond screen time or other individual behaviors.

A Jilin University probe uses laser-printed optical structures and capillary action to pull just 50 nanoliters of fluid into a sensing cavity, measuring electrical conductivity without metal electrodes and without interference from temperature or pH.

A NIMS Physical Review B study shows that in Mott and Kondo insulators, applying light, magnetic fields, or chemical doping can generate new electronic states within the energy gap - a property absent in ordinary semiconductors that could enable tunable electronic and optoelectronic devices.

Researchers at the University of Basel achieved surgical laser cuts in bone reaching 4.5 centimeters depth by changing the energy distribution profile of the laser beam - more than doubling the previous depth record of 2-3 cm and potentially enabling laser-based cutting for deep joint implant procedures.

A review in the journal Biochar synthesizes advances in modifying biochar through magnetization and mineral impregnation, showing how these upgrades can overcome recovery and selectivity limitations that have blocked real-world deployment.