Physics & Astronomy

Dr. Mustapha Ishak-Boushaki is a professor ofphysicsat The University of Texas at Dallas and is co-chair of theDark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument(DESI) collaboration's working group that interprets cosmological survey data gathered by the international collaboration, which includes more than 900 researchers from over 70 institutions around the world. Image Credit: University of Texas at Dallas
Physics & Astronomy

New DESI Results Reveal Insights on Dark Energy Evolution

A new analysis of data collected over three years by the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) collaboration provides even stronger evidence than the group’s previous datasets that dark energy, long thought to be a “cosmological constant,” might be evolving over time in unexpected ways. Dr. Mustapha Ishak-Boushaki, professor of physics at The University of Texas at Dallas, is co-chair of the DESI working group that interprets cosmological survey data gathered by the international collaboration, which includes more than 900 researchers…

The visualisation of a simulated event in the KM3NeT/ORCA detector. Image Credit: CC BY-NC 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licences/by-nc/4.0 Credits KM3NeT
Physics & Astronomy

Exploring Quantum Gravity in the Mediterranean Depths

A study published in JCAP places new limits on quantum gravity using data from the underwater detector KM3NeT Quantum gravity is the missing link between general relativity and quantum mechanics, the yet-to-be-discovered key to a unified theory capable of explaining both the infinitely large and the infinitely small. The solution to this puzzle might lie in the humble neutrino, an elementary particle with no electric charge and almost invisible, as it rarely interacts with matter, passing through everything on our…

Geologic map of the asteroid belt.Circles identify the asteroid families from which our meteorites originate and letters mark the corresponding meteorite type. The horizontal axis ranges from short orbits moving just inside the asteroid belt (left) to longer orbits just outside (right). The vertical axis shows how much the asteroid orbits are tilted relative to the plane of the planets. Blue lines are the delivery resonances. Image Credit: From: Jenniskens & Devillepoix (2025) Meteoritics & Planetary Science.
Physics & Astronomy

Geologic Map Unveils Secrets of the Asteroid Belt Meteorites

Knowing from what debris field in the asteroid belt our meteorites originate is important for planetary defense efforts against Near Earth Asteroids. Where do meteorites of different type come from? In a review paper in the journal Meteoritics & Planetary Science, published online this week, astronomers trace the impact orbit of observed meteorite falls to several previously unidentified source regions in the asteroid belt. “This has been a decade-long detective story, with each recorded meteorite fall providing a new clue,”…

Graduate student Trevor Ollis fills a camera with liquid nitrogen to cool it to -120 degrees Celsius in order to examine monolayer materials developed in the laboratory of Nickolas Vamivakas. Image Credit: University of Rochester photo / J. Adam Fenster
Physics & Astronomy

Twisting Atomically Thin Materials Could Boost Quantum Computing

Placing two layers of special 2D materials together and turning them at large angles creates artificial atoms with intriguing optical properties By taking two flakes of special materials that are just one atom thick and twisting them at high angles, researchers at the University of Rochester have unlocked unique optical properties that could be used in quantum computers and other quantum technologies. In a new study published in Nano Letters, the researchers show that precisely layering nano-thin materials creates excitons—essentially, artificial atoms—that can act…

A thorium-doped calcium fluoride crystal's temperature is continually monitored while a VUV frequency comb is used to directly resolve individual quantum states of the nuclear transition. Image Credit: Steven Burrows/JILA
Physics & Astronomy

Precise Nuclear Timekeeping: The Role of Temperature Control

For decades, atomic clocks have been the pinnacle of precision timekeeping, enabling GPS navigation, cutting-edge physics research, and tests of fundamental theories. But researchers at JILA, led by JILA and NIST Fellow and University of Colorado Boulder physics professor Jun Ye, in collaboration with the Technical University of Vienna, are pushing beyond atomic transitions to something potentially even more stable: a nuclear clock. This clock could revolutionize timekeeping by using a uniquely low-energy transition within the nucleus of a thorium-229…

L-R: Dr Wallace Jaffray, a post-doctoral research associate, Dr Marcello Ferrera, associate professor of nano-photonics, and Sven Stengel, PhD candidate. Image Credit: Heriot-Watt University
Physics & Astronomy

Unlocking New Dimensions in Light Manipulation for Photonics

Researchers at Heriot-Watt University have made a ground-breaking discovery paving the way for a transformative era in photonic technology. For decades, scientists have theorised the possibility of manipulating the optical properties of light by adding a new dimension—time. This once-elusive concept has now become a reality thanks to nanophotonics experts from the School of Engineering and Physical Sciences in Edinburgh, Scotland. The team’s breakthrough emerged from experiments with nanomaterials known as transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) – a special glass capable…

“We have demonstrated that by using optical vortex beams—light beams that carry angular momentum—we can precisely control how an electron is ejected from an atom”Ravi Bhardwaj— Full Professor at uOttawa’s Department of Physics. Image Credit: University of Ottawa
Physics & Astronomy

uOttawa Scientists Use Light to Reveal Atomic Secrets

A team of researchers from the University of Ottawa has made significant strides in understanding the ionization of atoms and molecules, a fundamental process in physics that has implications for various fields including x-ray generation and plasma physics. Think about atoms – the building blocks of everything around us. Sometimes, they lose their electrons and become charged particles (that’s ionization). It happens in lightning, in plasma TVs, and even in the northern lights. Until now, scientists thought they could only…

From within the Mare Crisium impact basin, the SwRI-led Lunar Magnetotelluric Sounder (LMS) is making the first geophysical measurements representative of the bulk of the Moon. Most of the Apollo missions landed in the region of linked maria to the west (left image), whose crust was later shown to be compositionally distinct (right image) as exemplified by the concentration of the element thorium. Mare Crisium provides a smooth landing site on the near side of the Moon outside of this anomalous region. Image Credit: NASA
Physics & Astronomy

SwRI Deploys Innovative Sounder Instrument on Lunar Surface

Lunar Magnetotelluric Sounder to characterize Moon’s mantle Just hours after touching down on the surface of the Moon on March 2 aboard Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost 1 lander, the Southwest Research Institute-led Lunar Magnetotelluric Sounder (LMS) was activated and deployed its five sensors to study the Moon’s interior by measuring electric and magnetic fields. The LMS instrument is the first extraterrestrial application of magnetotellurics. “For more than 50 years, scientists have used magnetotellurics on Earth for a wide variety of…

Artist's illustration of a potential Hycean world, where methyl halide gases would be detectable in the atmosphere. Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Joseph Olmsted/STScI
Physics & Astronomy

Signs of Alien Life: Discover Hidden Gases in Space

Advancing the search for weird life on weird planets Scientists have identified a promising new way to detect life on faraway planets, hinging on worlds that look nothing like Earth and gases rarely considered in the search for extraterrestrials. In a new Astrophysical Journal Letters paper, researchers from the University of California, Riverside, describe these gases, which could be detected in the atmospheres of exoplanets — planets outside our solar system — with the James Webb Space Telescope, or JWST….

For a century, astronomers have been studyingBarnard’s Starin the hope of finding planets around it. First discovered by E. E. Barnard atYerkes Observatoryin 1916, it is the nearest single star system to Earth. Now, using in part theGemini North telescope, one half of theInternational Gemini Observatory, partly funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and operated by NSF NOIRLab, astronomers have discovered four sub-Earth exoplanets orbiting the star. One of the planets is the least massive exoplanet ever discovered using the radial velocity technique, indicating a new benchmark for discovering smaller planets around nearby stars. Image Credit: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/P. Marenfeld
Physics & Astronomy

New Planetary System Discovered Around Nearest Star

Gemini North’s MAROON-X instrument finds evidence for four mini-Earth exoplanets around our famous cosmic neighbor Barnard’s Star For a century, astronomers have been studying Barnard’s Star in the hope of finding planets around it. First discovered by E. E. Barnard at Yerkes Observatory in 1916, it is the nearest single star system to Earth [1]. Barnard’s Star is classified as a red dwarf — low-mass stars that often host closely-packed planetary systems, often with multiple rocky planets. Red dwarfs are extremely numerous in the Universe, so scientists…

This infrared image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope was taken by the onboard Near-Infrared Camera for the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey, or JADES, program. The NIRCam data was used to determine which galaxies to study further with spectroscopic observations. One such galaxy, JADES-GS-z14-0 (shown in the pullout), was determined to be at a redshift of 14.3, making it the current record-holder for most distant known galaxy. This corresponds to a time less than 300 million years after the big bang. Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Brant Robertson (UC Santa Cruz), Ben Johnson (CfA), Sandro Tacchella (Cambridge), Marcia Rieke (University of Arizona), Daniel Eisenstein (CfA), Phill Cargile (CfA)
Physics & Astronomy

James Webb Telescope Uncovers Complex Chemistry in Primordial Galaxy

University of Arizona astronomers have learned more about a surprisingly mature galaxy that existed when the universe was just less than 300 million years old – just 2% of its current age. Observed by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, the galaxy – designated JADES-GS-z14-0 – is unexpectedly bright and chemically complex for an object from this primordial era, the researchers said. This provides a rare glimpse into the universe’s earliest chapter. The findings, published in the journal Nature Astronomy, build…

simulation of the molecular dynamics of supercooled water. Image Credit: Pasesani group./ UC San Diego
Physics & Astronomy

Exploring The Two Distinct Faces of Liquid Water

Computer simulations reveal how water separates into high-density and low-density liquids Water is unique. It is one of the only substances that can exist in nature as a solid, liquid and gas at the same time under ambient conditions (think of solid ice over a pond, which is liquid underneath while storm clouds float overhead). It is also one of the only substances whose solid form is less dense than its liquid — this is why ice floats. Now scientists…

Artist’s impression of the center of the Centaurus Cluster.Blue shows a vast flow of hot gas, white shows galaxies, and reddish brown shows cool gas. Image Credit: JAXA
Physics & Astronomy

Celestial Collisions Reveal How Galactic Clusters Stay Hot

Cutting-edge observations of Centaurus Cluster shine new light on evolving universe The XRISM collaboration have discovered flows of hot gas in the core of the Centaurus Cluster. By comparing state-of-the-art X-ray measurements from the XRISM satellite with numerical simulations, they showed this is evidence for collisions between galaxy clusters, causing gas inside to “slosh”. This solves the longstanding mystery of how cluster cores stay hot, and sheds light on how our universe continues to evolve. Astronomers have long envisioned how…

The cover features an artist's visualization of the EP satellite in orbit, alongside an artistic interpretation of the first light X-ray sky image procured by the Wide-field X-ray Telescope onboard EP. This image highlights the cruciform X-ray sources identified in the Galactic center region, as detailed in the article by Weimin Yuan et al. Image Credit: ©Science China Press
Physics & Astronomy

Einstein Probe Unveils Science White Paper Insights

EP’s cutting-edge instruments and international collaboration drive new discoveries in transient and multi-messenger astronomy The Science White Paper for the Einstein Probe (EP) mission has been published in Science China: Physics, Mechanics & Astronomy. This mission, spearheaded by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA), the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE), and the French National Centre for Space Studies (CNES), is poised to advance the field of time-domain and X-ray astronomy…

Photos and outputs from instruments used for O-PTIR. Researchers can interpret the images on the left, made using different optical sensors, to produce graphs like those on the right, which show the presence of microbial life. Image Credit: ©2025 Suzuki et al. CC-BY-ND
Physics & Astronomy

Exploring Mars: New Insights into Its Potential for Life

New method to detect life makes Mars sample return protocols rock solid Within the next decade, space agencies plan to bring samples of rock from Mars to Earth for study. Of concern is the possibility these samples contain life, which could have unforeseen consequences. Therefore, researchers in this field strive to create methods to detect life. For the first time, researchers, including those from the University of Tokyo and NASA, successfully demonstrated a method to detect life in ancient rocks…

This illustration shows a lower mass star surrounded by its planet-forming disk of gas and dust. The planet formation process would cause gaps, not shown in this illustration, to appear in the disk. The streams near the center show how matter from the disk is still falling onto the star. Image Credit: NASA/CXC/M. Weiss
Physics & Astronomy

James Webb Telescope Finds Longer-Lasting Planet-Forming Disks

The discovery of a planet-forming disk much older than expected provides new insights into planet formation and the habitability of planets outside our solar system If there were such a thing as a photo album of the universe, it might include snapshots of pancake-like disks of gas and dust, swirling around newly formed stars across the Milky Way. Known as planet-forming disks, they are believed to be a short-lived feature around most, if not all, young stars, providing the raw…

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