https://phys.org/physics-news/physics en-us The latest news on physics, materials, nanotech, science and technology. If you mix cornstarch and water in the right proportions, you get something that seems not-quite-liquid but also not-quite-solid. Oobleck flows and settles like a liquid when untouched but stiffens when you try to pick it up or stir it with a spoon. The properties of oobleck and other non-Newtonian fluids—including Silly Putty, quicksand, paint, and yogurt—change under stress or pressure, and scientists have long struggled to prove exactly why. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-oobleck-like-fluids-contributes-smart-material.html General Physics Soft Matter Fri, 01 Dec 2023 12:06:37 EST news620654793 Friction is hard to predict and control, especially since surfaces that come in contact are rarely perfectly flat. New experiments demonstrate that the amount of friction between two silicon surfaces, even at large scales, is determined by the forming and rupturing of microscopic chemical bonds between them. This makes it possible to control the amount of friction using surface chemistry techniques. This research has been published in Physical Review Letters. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-friction-small-large-scales.html General Physics Condensed Matter Fri, 01 Dec 2023 08:14:32 EST news620640870 The world's biggest experimental nuclear fusion reactor in operation was inaugurated in Japan on Friday, a technology in its infancy but billed by some as the answer to humanity's future energy needs. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-japanese-experimental-nuclear-fusion-reactor.html General Physics Plasma Physics Fri, 01 Dec 2023 02:41:20 EST news620620871 Long before researchers discovered the electron and its role in generating electrical current, they knew about electricity and were exploring its potential. One thing they learned early on was that metals were great conductors of both electricity and heat. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-law-quirky-quantum-materials.html General Physics Quantum Physics Thu, 30 Nov 2023 14:00:02 EST news620568352 An international team of researchers including Prof. Badri Krishnan at Radboud University has verified an important property of black holes known as the no-hair theorem using gravitational wave observations. Their research is published in the journal Physical Review Letters. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-gravitational-binary-black-hole-merger.html General Physics Thu, 30 Nov 2023 10:27:35 EST news620562452 A trio of experimental physicists and applied mathematicians at New York University has found evidence that Egypt's Great Sphinx of Giza may have originated as a natural formation. For their study, published in the journal Physical Review Fluids, Samuel Boury, Scott Weady and Leif Ristroph, looked into natural erosion processes and tested the idea that the Sphinx got its start naturally via strong winds. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-nature-great-sphinx-giza.html General Physics Soft Matter Thu, 30 Nov 2023 10:00:01 EST news620560710 From precise inkjet printing to clear vision through spectacle lenses—the influence of droplets and their movement shapes numerous areas of our daily lives. While droplets should remain precisely in place on inkjet prints, it is desirable that they move quickly across the surface of spectacle lenses. Research into wetting processes, therefore, plays a crucial role in further improving technological applications. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-electricity-effects-droplets.html General Physics Soft Matter Wed, 29 Nov 2023 11:40:02 EST news620480401 Scientists have developed a new way to study the shapes of atomic nuclei and their internal building blocks. The method relies on modeling the production of certain particles from high-energy collisions of electrons with nuclear targets. Such collisions will take place at the future Electron Ion Collider (EIC). The findings are published in the journal Physical Review Letters. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-theoretical-future-electron-ion-collider.html General Physics Quantum Physics Wed, 29 Nov 2023 10:27:29 EST news620476047 In the search for new particles and forces in nature, physicists are on the hunt for behaviors within atoms and molecules that are forbidden by the tried-and-true Standard Model of particle physics. Any deviations from this model could indicate what physicists affectionately refer to as "new physics." https://phys.org/news/2023-11-scientists-method-deviations-standard-physics.html General Physics Quantum Physics Wed, 29 Nov 2023 10:26:53 EST news620476011 Scientists from the Institute of Modern Physics (IMP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), along with their collaborators, have recently discovered a molecular-type structure in the ground state of atomic nuclei. The study was published in Physical Review Letters. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-physicists-molecule-like-nuclear-ground-state.html General Physics Tue, 28 Nov 2023 10:23:02 EST news620389381 Experiments at CERN and the Accelerator Laboratory in Jyväskylä, Finland, have revealed that the radius of an exotic nucleus of aluminum, 26mAl, is much larger than previously thought. The result, described in a paper just published in Physical Review Letters, sheds light on the effects of the weak force on quarks—the elementary particles that make up protons, neutrons and other composite particles. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-exotic-atomic-nucleus-world-quarks.html General Physics Tue, 28 Nov 2023 10:10:05 EST news620388601 High-energy ion collisions at the Large Hadron Collider are capable of producing a quark-gluon plasma. But are heavy atomic nuclei really necessary for its formation? And above all: how are secondary particles later born from this plasma? Further clues in the search for answers to these questions are provided by the latest analysis of collisions between protons and protons or ions, observed in the LHCb experiment. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-lhcb-nuances-particle-birth.html General Physics Quantum Physics Tue, 28 Nov 2023 09:37:20 EST news620386637 Physicists from the Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) have been conducting research on the matter constituting the atomic nucleus utilizing the world's three most powerful particle accelerators. Their focus has been on mapping the "primordial soup" that filled the universe in the first millionth of a second following its inception. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-world-powerful-particle-reveal-space-time.html General Physics Mon, 27 Nov 2023 15:32:29 EST news620321543 New research from North Carolina State University and Michigan State University opens a new avenue for modeling low-energy nuclear reactions, which are key to the formation of elements within stars. The research lays the groundwork for calculating how nucleons interact when the particles are electrically charged. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-particles-physicists-simulate-element-creation.html General Physics Mon, 27 Nov 2023 14:29:03 EST news620317741 A combined team of materials scientists and engineers from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and Yale University, has shown via lab experiment, how water-filled channels crisscrossing multi-crystal ice can lead to fractures in materials such as cement and asphalt. In their paper published in the journal Physical Review Letters, the group describes the experiments they conducted with transparent objects, water and silicone, to show how liquid channels in ice can lead to fractures in porous materials. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-water-filled-channels-crisscrossing-multi-crystal-ice.html General Physics Soft Matter Mon, 27 Nov 2023 10:10:01 EST news620301543 In a new study published in Physical Review Letters, scientists explore how small water jets can create stable periodic oscillations on a solid disk, uncovering a connection between these movements and the waves they generate and providing insights into the dynamic interplay of fluid behavior. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-stillness-scientists-oscillations-circular-hydraulic.html General Physics Soft Matter Fri, 24 Nov 2023 09:00:02 EST news619696513 Human chromosomes are long polymer chains that store genetic information. The nucleus of each cell contains the entire human genome (DNA) encoded on 46 chromosomes with a total length of about 2 meters. To fit into the microscopic cell nucleus and at the same time provide constant access to genetic information, chromosomes are folded in the nucleus in a special, predetermined way. DNA folding is an urgent task at the intersection of polymer physics and systems biology. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-physicists-chromosome-reveal-loops-affect.html General Physics Soft Matter Wed, 22 Nov 2023 11:18:19 EST news619874297 Biological materials are made of individual components, including tiny motors that convert fuel into motion. This creates patterns of movement, and the material shapes itself with coherent flows by constant consumption of energy. Such continuously driven materials are called active matter. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-code-mechanics-tissues-cells-dimensions.html General Physics Soft Matter Mon, 20 Nov 2023 10:48:12 EST news619699688 Lead-208 has an intriguing nucleus. It is neutron rich, containing 82 protons and 126 neutrons. One of its more interesting properties is its structure: its center is composed of both protons and neutrons, but at its edge, there is a diffuse shell of mostly neutrons. Scientists call this the neutron "skin." https://phys.org/news/2023-11-heavy-ion-collisions-lhc-scientists-thickness.html General Physics Wed, 15 Nov 2023 11:58:04 EST news619271881 A little like humans, the nuclei of atoms tend to shrink as they lose weight. But atomic nuclei are complex quantum systems formed from neutrons and protons that are themselves composite particles made of quarks. As such, their usually spherical or nearly spherical shapes do not always simply shrink as particles are removed from their interior. In fact, exotic, neutron-deficient mercury and bismuth nuclei have been seen to alternate dramatically from football (soccer) shapes to rugby ball shapes as single neutrons are removed from the nucleus. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-cern-shifting-gold-nuclei.html General Physics Wed, 15 Nov 2023 10:52:36 EST news619267954 Black holes are regions in space where the gravitational pull is so strong that nothing can escape them, not even light. These fascinating regions have been the focus of countless studies, yet some of the physics underlying their formation is not yet fully understood. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-puzzles-gravitational-collapse.html General Physics Wed, 15 Nov 2023 09:28:16 EST news619262889 The risk of hearing loss does not come just from loud machinery or other obvious noise. It can also affect people in public environments like theaters and concert halls. Absorbing this excess sound to make public environments safer for hearing and using the unwanted sound waves to create electricity is the aim of a paper, entitled "Piezoelectric system on harnessing sound energy in closed environment," published in Physics of Fluids. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-safer-spaces.html General Physics Soft Matter Tue, 14 Nov 2023 11:00:01 EST news619178346 The CMS experiment has presented its first search for new physics using data from Run 3 of the Large Hadron Collider. The new study looks at the possibility of "dark photon" production in the decay of Higgs bosons in the detector. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-cms-collaboration-cern-latest-dark.html General Physics Mon, 13 Nov 2023 11:44:21 EST news619098255 We often crumple a scrap piece of paper into a ball before throwing it. This mundane action, however, creates a unique complex system with surprising mechanical properties. Take a thin plastic sheet such as cellophane and try it yourself. While a regular flat sheet will simply bend under the influence of gravity, a crumpled sheet is stiffer and can hold its own weight. It also has shape memory—it has many stable configurations and thus will tend to keep the shape it is deformed to. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-crumpled-sheets-reveal-mechanism-glassy.html General Physics Wed, 08 Nov 2023 10:52:30 EST news618663147 The Muon g-2 Collaboration is a large group of researchers at different institutes worldwide collaborating on the Muon g-2 experiment. This is a research effort aimed at exploring the interactions of muons, short-lived particles that are essentially heavy electrons, using powerful accelerators at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab). https://phys.org/news/2023-11-muon-g-positive-anomalous-magnetic.html General Physics Quantum Physics Wed, 08 Nov 2023 07:30:01 EST news618597026 A new mathematical model predicts that mammalian sperm cells have two distinct swimming modes. This prediction opens new questions about potential connections between sperm cells' motor activity and their transitions to hyperactivation phases that may play an important role in fertilization. The finding is part of a larger effort to use math and fluid dynamics to describe how mammalian sperm move https://phys.org/news/2023-11-mammalian-sperm-cells-modes.html General Physics Soft Matter Mon, 06 Nov 2023 15:40:48 EST news618507639 Researchers from Tohoku University have developed a model that simulates the motion of fish tail fins. The model uncovers the underlying mechanisms behind a commonly observed phenomenon in fish: how they synchronize the movement of their tail fins, riding the resultant vortices created, thereby saving energy. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-fish-synchronize-tail-fins-energy.html General Physics Soft Matter Mon, 06 Nov 2023 13:00:03 EST news618498001 Anyone who's ever done a belly flop into a swimming pool knows it ends with a blunt-sounding splat, a big splash and a searing red sting. What most people don't know is why. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-secret-painful-belly-flops.html General Physics Soft Matter Mon, 06 Nov 2023 00:00:01 EST news618224733 Ever since the discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012, physicists have wanted to build new particle colliders to better understand the properties of that elusive particle and probe elementary particle physics at ever-higher energy scales. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-physicists-particle-collider-energy-efficient.html General Physics Fri, 03 Nov 2023 14:08:04 EDT news618239281 Optical tweezers manipulate tiny things like cells and nanoparticles using lasers. While they might sound like tractor beams from science fiction, the fact is their development garnered scientists a Nobel Prize in 2018. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-scientists-supercomputers-optical-tweezers-safer.html General Physics Wed, 01 Nov 2023 13:16:35 EDT news618063390