9 D Universe

A faint flash of infrared light in the Andromeda galaxy was emitted at the birth of a stellar-mass black hole – according to a team of astronomers in the US. Kishalay De at Columbia University and the Flatiron Institute, and colleagues, noticed that the flash was followed by the rapid [...]

Researchers from the Yunnan Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have conducted a new study on the temporal evolution of the afterglow from gamma-ray burst GRB 240825A. The study offers new evidence to better understand the physical environment surrounding gamma-ray bursts and provides insights into the mechanisms that govern [...]

The International Year of Quantum Science and Technology (IYQ) has officially closed following a two-day event in Accra, Ghana. The year has seen hundreds of events worldwide celebrating the science and applications of quantum physics. Officially launched in February at the headquarters of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) [...]

Science fiction became science fact in 2022 when NASA’s DART mission took the first steps towards creating a planetary defence system that could someday protect Earth from a catastrophic asteroid collision. However, much more work on asteroid deflection is needed from the latest generation of researchers – including Rahil Makadia, [...]

Flowing fluids that act like the interlocking teeth of mechanical gears offer a possible route to novel machines that suffer less wear-and-tear than traditional devices. This is the finding of researchers at New York University (NYU) in the US, who have been studying how fluids transmit motion and force between [...]

Author(s): Ryan WilkinsonSmall rotations of a graphene layer relative to its neighboring layer expose previously unseen topological phases.[Physics 19, s19] Published Thu Feb 12, 2026 [...]

A new class of biomolecules called magneto-sensitive fluorescent proteins, or MFPs, could improve imaging of biological processes inside living cells and potentially underpin innovative therapies. The fluorescent proteins commonly used in biological studies respond solely to light being shone at them. But because that light gets scattered by tissues there are [...]

Royal approval (Clockwise from top left) The Duke of Edinburgh with IOP group chief executive Tom Grinyer; talking to Selina Ambrose from Promethean Particles; the exhibition he toured; and speaking after the panel debate. (Courtesy: Carmen Valino) The Duke of Edinburgh visited the headquarters of the Institute of Physics (IOP) in [...]

Re-entry of space debris. Courtesy: S Economon and B Fernando When chunks of space debris make their fiery descent through the Earth’s atmosphere, they leave a trail of shock waves in their wake. Geophysicists have now found a way to exploit this phenomenon, using open-source seismic data from a network of [...]

Author(s): Chuankun Zhang and Tian OoiResearchers have designed and demonstrated an ultraviolet laser that removes a major bottleneck in the development of a nuclear clock.[Physics 19, 19] Published Wed Feb 11, 2026 [...]

Author(s): Charles DayA statistical approach yields a fast, flexible model for how particles in a powder acquire electric charge from each other and their surroundings.[Physics 19, s15] Published Wed Feb 11, 2026 [...]

Researchers from Columbia University and Breakthrough Listen, a scientific research program aimed at finding evidence of civilizations beyond Earth, have published new results from the Breakthrough Listen Galactic Center Survey, one of the most sensitive radio searches ever conducted for pulsars in the dynamically complex central region of the Milky [...]

The existence of massive, elliptical galaxies in the early universe has puzzled astronomers for two decades. An international team led by Nikolaus Sulzenauer and Axel Weiß from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (MPIfR) used data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) to shed light on this open [...]

Vol. 7065. Galactic structure, stellar clusters and populations The superclouds of the local Milky Way by Lilly A. Kormann, João Alves, Michelangelo Pantaleoni González, Cameren Swiggum, Torsten A. Enßlin, Gordian Edenhofer 2026, A&A, 706, A161 Superclouds are the largest structures identified so far in the interstellar medium. With typical sizes of a [...]

Author(s): Rachel BerkowitzResearchers have used an artificial-intelligence tool to reveal long-sought equations that describe small-scale features in 2D turbulent systems.[Physics 19, s16] Published Tue Feb 10, 2026 [...]

Author(s): Philip BallBefore determining the correct quantum theory of gravity, researchers need to know if gravity is actually quantized. Experiments testing that assumption are now being developed.[Physics 19, 18] Published Tue Feb 10, 2026 [...]

Two African journalists have won the IYQ Quantum Pitch Competition held at the 2025 World Conference of Science Journalists in South Africa.[Physics 19, 16] Published Mon Feb 09, 2026 [...]

Author(s): Paul AdepojuGalaxies can collect in large filamentary structures that have—until now—been considered rigid. A new study suggests one filament may be rotating.[Physics 19, 17] Published Mon Feb 09, 2026 [...]