9 D Universe

Here at Physics World we are always on the look out for physicists with extraordinary talents outside of science. In 2023, for example we were in awe of Harvard University’s Jenny Hoffman who ran across the US in 47 days, 12 hours and 35 minutes – shattering the previous record [...]

A new way of extracting energy from ocean waves has been proposed by a researcher in Japan. The system couples a gyroscope to an electrical generator and could be fine tuned to extract energy from a wide range of wave conditions. A prototype of the design is currently being built [...]

Author(s): Philip BallIn response to changes in illumination, a swimming microorganism reverses the direction of its circular trajectory by tilting its flagella’s planes of motion.[Physics 19, 25] Published Fri Feb 20, 2026 [...]

A team headed up at TU Wien in Austria has set the Guinness World Record for creating the world’s smallest QR code. Working with industry partner Cerabyte, the researchers produced a stable and repeatedly readable QR code with an area of just 1.977 µm2. When read out – using an [...]

Annual award honors early-career researchers for creativity, innovation, and research accomplishments. Eight MIT faculty and 22 additional MIT alumni are among 126 early-career researchers honored with 2026 Sloan Research Fellowships by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The fellowships honor exceptional researchers at U.S. and Canadian educational institutions, whose creativity, innovation, and research accomplishments [...]

New research by Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) and the National Science Foundation's National Center for Atmospheric Research (NSF-NCAR) has developed a new tool providing a first step toward the ability to forecast space weather weeks in advance, instead of just hours. This advance warning could allow agencies and industries to [...]

Developing practical technologies for quantum information systems requires the cooperation of academic researchers, national laboratories and industry. That is the mission of the  Quantum Systems Accelerator (QSA), which is based at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in the US. The QSA’s director Bert de Jong is my guest in this episode of [...]

A newly identified metallic material that conducts heat nearly three times better than copper could redefine thermal management in electronics. The material, which is known as theta-phase tantalum nitride (θ-TaN), has a thermal conductivity comparable to low-grade diamond, and its discoverers at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), US [...]

Author(s): Rachel BerkowitzNew modeling explains why smoke-filled vortices in the upper atmosphere have all been observed rotating in a single direction.[Physics 19, 23] Published Thu Feb 19, 2026 [...]

Researchers at the University of Hawaiʻi have uncovered new clues about how energy moves through the sun's outer atmosphere, using one of nature's rarest events as their window: total solar eclipses. Drawing on more than a decade of eclipse observations, a team led by Shadia Habbal at the Institute for [...]

Synthetic materials such as plastics are designed to be durable and water resistant. But the processing required to achieve these properties results in a lack of biodegradability, leading to an accumulation of plastic pollution that affects both the environment and human health. Researchers at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia [...]

Electronics made from certain atomically thin materials can survive harsh radiation environments up to 100 times longer than traditional silicon-based devices. This finding, which comes from researchers at Fudan University in Shanghai, China, could bring significant benefits for satellites and other spacecraft, which are prone to damage from intense cosmic [...]

Author(s): Ryan WilkinsonAn apparent shift in the value of an important inflation parameter may be an artifact of differences between cosmological datasets.[Physics 19, s23] Published Wed Feb 18, 2026 [...]

This Student Spotlight interweaves two diverse perspectives on both physics and the broader MIT experience Trigger warning: mention of suicide   Hello! The Student Spotlight column is back — with an alumni twist this time. Instead of just one student, we’re putting two Course 8s in conversation with each other. Patrick Mang ’98 is [...]

Astrophysicists from the University of Waterloo have observed a new jellyfish galaxy, the most distant one of its kind ever captured. Jellyfish galaxies are named for the long, tentacle-like streams that trail behind them. They move quickly through their hot, dense galaxy cluster, and the gas within the cluster acts [...]

Vol. 7066. Interstellar and circumstellar matter Interaction of the central jet with the surrounding gas in the protostellar outflow from IRAS 04166+2706 by M. Tafalla, D. Johnstone, J. Santiago-García, Q. Zhang, H. Shang, C.-F. Lee 2026, A&A, 706, A248 How protostellar jets structure and interact with their surroundings is a major challenge [...]

Author(s): Julian SchmidtAn optical clock based on a pair of calcium ions achieves a given precision more quickly when the ions are entangled.[Physics 19, 20] Published Tue Feb 17, 2026 [...]

Author(s): Marric StephensResearchers have used molecular dynamics simulations to study changes in the charge-transport properties of a room-temperature ionic liquid under a strong electric field.[Physics 19, s21] Published Tue Feb 17, 2026 [...]

Author(s): Matteo RiniScientists and policymakers gathered in Ghana to close out the 2025 International Year of Quantum Science and Technology, calling for stronger global collaboration and a more inclusive quantum future.[Physics 19, 22] Published Tue Feb 17, 2026 [...]

Vol. 7064. Extragalactic astronomy Search and analysis of giant radio galaxies with associated nuclei (SAGAN). VI. When jets meet filaments -- Environmental imprints on the growth of giant radio galaxies by Mousumi Mahato, Elmo Tempel, Shishir Sankhyayan, Pratik Dabhade, Kshitij Chavan 2026, A&A, 706, A310 Galaxy formation relies on a number of [...]