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University of Massachusetts Amherst researchers have discovered a surprising “shape-changing” liquid that seems to bend the laws of thermodynamics. The strange compound—made of oil, water, and magnetic nickel particles—was first assembled by a graduate student who was merely curious to see what might happen. To his surprise, when the liquid was shaken, the magnetic particles quickly reformed into a shape resembling a Greek urn. Emulsion and Thermodynamics “Imagine your favorite Italian salad dressing,” says Thomas Russell, Silvio O. Conte Distinguished Professor of Polymer Science and Engineering at UMass Amherst and one of the paper’s senior authors. “It’s made up of...

This image shows examples of galaxies in different shapes, all captured by Euclid during its first observations of the Deep Field areas. Credit: ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA, image processing by M. Walmsley, M. Huertas-Company, J.-C. Cuillandre ****************************************************************************** Euclid is on a quest to unravel one of the universe’s greatest mysteries: why it’s expanding faster and faster. With help from NASA, this space telescope is capturing sweeping views of billions of galaxies, allowing scientists to peer into the deep past. Using light that took billions of years to reach us, researchers are building 3D maps of the cosmos to track the strange force...

A study in Nature finds that black holes in the early Universe go through short periods of ultra-fast growth, followed by long periods of dormancy. (Credit: Jiarong Gu) ******************************************************************************** In a nutshell * Astronomers have discovered a massive black hole from the early universe that’s barely feeding — suggesting these cosmic giants may spend most of their lives in a dormant, low-activity state. * The black hole outweighs its host galaxy’s stars by a factor of about 1,000, a ratio far higher than what we see in galaxies today, challenging our understanding of how black holes and galaxies grow together....

Quantum scientists have shown it’s possible to generate Schrödinger cat states in warmer conditions, challenging the assumption that cold is essential for quantum effects. Credit: SciTechDaily.com *************************************************************************** Researchers have pulled off a quantum feat that defies traditional expectations—they’ve created Schrödinger cat states not from ultra-cold ground states, but from warm, thermally excited ones. Using a superconducting qubit setup, the team demonstrated that quantum superpositions can exist even at higher temperatures, overturning the long-held belief that heat destroys quantum effects. This breakthrough not only validates Schrödinger’s original “hot cat” concept but also paves the way for more practical and accessible quantum...

Some of the objects captured by ASKAP. (Author provided) ******************************************************************************* Radio astronomers see what the naked eye can’t. As we study the sky with telescopes that record radio signals rather than light, we end up seeing a lot of circles. The newest generation of radio telescopes – including the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) and MeerKAT, a telescope in South Africa – is revealing incredibly faint cosmic objects, never before seen. In astronomy, surface brightness is a measure that tells us how easily visible an object is. The extraordinary sensitivity of MeerKAT and ASKAP is now revealing a new...

In a study published on March 26 in Nature Communications, the team showed that certain quantum states can retain their essential information even when exposed to environmental "noise" that would normally disrupt them...Quantum entanglement, the strange connection that allows particles to instantly affect each other regardless of distance, is central to many quantum technologies...But despite its promise, entanglement is extremely fragile. In real-world settings, it can quickly break down due to background light, stray signals, imperfect detectors, or lost photons. These forms of environmental noise can sever the connection between entangled particles, making them useless for transmitting quantum information...To overcome...

Scientists from Princeton University and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) have invented a device that seemingly generates electricity from the Earth’s rotation. Although generally accepted theories show that generating electricity from a uniform field like Earth’s magnetic field is impossible, the team believes they have found a “loophole” that allows their device to generate tiny but measurable amounts of electricity. If independent reviews can confirm the team’s work, they say the next steps to building a practical energy-generating device would involve miniaturization and scaling efforts, as proposed in a new paper detailing their current efforts. Device That Generates Electricity from...

Dark energy, a mysterious force that scientists believe is behind the accelerated expansion of the universe, is weakening — which could result in the universe over the course of billions of years collapsing on itself, according to new research. An international group of more than 900 researchers studying the expansion of the universe presented their findings on Wednesday during the American Physical Society's Global Physics Summit in Anaheim, Calif. The scientists, who are collaborating on something called the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) are studying the history of the universe's expansion out to 11 billion years in the past. They...

The long-awaited Blaze Star could erupt as a visible nova on March 27, 2025, lighting up the night sky in a once-in-a-lifetime cosmic show. ============================================================================== For the first time in nearly a century, Earth’s night sky may soon be lit up by one of nature’s rarest celestial events: a nova visible to the unaided eye. At the heart of this cosmic countdown is the Blaze Star, or T Coronae Borealis—a binary star system nestled within the elegant arc of the Northern Crown. After decades of quiet buildup, astronomers believe it could erupt any night now. If it does, stargazers around...

Breakthrough research has shown that twisting light into spiral patterns like those found in nature dramatically improved the efficiency of OLED screens. The researchers behind the novel approach believe their method for twisting light could revolutionize the efficiency of electronics, including display technologies like OLEDs and night vision. In the nearly 150 years since the invention of the light bulb, the science of light has continued to advance. As the use of electronic devices involving display technologies has rapidly spread in recent decades, scientists have been searching for new and innovative ways to control the chaotic behavior of light or...

A novel discovery has introduced “time crystals” and “time quasicrystals,” which operate on perpetual motion and could potentially transform quantum computing and precision measurements. Credit: SciTechDaily.com Physicists at Washington University have forged ahead in the field of quantum mechanics by creating a new phase of matter known as “time crystals” and the even more advanced “time quasicrystals.” These groundbreaking materials defy traditional physics by maintaining perpetual motion and could revolutionize quantum computing and precision timekeeping by providing a stable, energy-conserving method of measuring time and storing quantum information. Time Crystals Physicists at Washington University in St. Louis (WashU) have created...

"I think that the simplest explanation of the rotating universe is the universe was born in a rotating black hole." ...Black hole cosmology, also known as "Schwarzschild cosmology," suggests that our observable universe might be the interior of a black hole itself within a larger parent universe. The idea was first introduced by theoretical physicist Raj Kumar Pathria and by mathematician I. J. Good. It presents the idea that the "Schwarzchild radius," better known as the "event horizon," (the boundary from within which nothing can escape a black hole, not even light) is also the horizon of the visible universe.

Galaxies observed by the JWST with those rotating one way circled in red, those rotating the other wat circled in blue (Image credit: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (2025)) ==================================================================================== Without a doubt, since its launch, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has revolutionized our view of the early universe, but its new findings could put astronomers in a spin. In fact, it could tell us something profound about the birth of the universe by possibly hinting that everything we see around us is sealed within a black hole. The $10 billion telescope, which began observing the cosmos...

Scientists have discovered that lead-208, once thought to be spherical, is actually elongated. This challenges nuclear theory and sparks fresh questions about atomic structure and stability. Credit: SciTechDaily.com ==================================================================================== For decades, scientists believed that lead-208, a “doubly magic” and highly stable atomic nucleus, was perfectly spherical. However, groundbreaking new research has shattered this assumption, revealing that its nucleus is actually elongated, much like a rugby ball. By using an advanced gamma-ray spectrometer and high-speed particle collisions, researchers uncovered unexpected quantum behavior that contradicts long-standing nuclear theory. This revelation forces physicists to rethink fundamental principles of nuclear structure, potentially reshaping our...

A radical new theory suggests that black holes could transition into white holes, creating a location in space where time begins by ejecting material back into the cosmos. The theory also suggests a quantum mechanics link between black and white holes, including an aspect of enigmatic dark matter. The research team behind the new theory believes their work could represent a critical step toward reconciling quantum mechanics and gravity, potentially leading to new theories about the universe’s very nature. Black Holes (and White Holes) Have Long Fascinated Scientists First proposed by Albert Einstein, black holes have long fascinated scientists. Still,...

Mathematicians have proven that Henry Dudeney’s 1907 four-piece dissection of an equilateral triangle into a square is optimal. Using matching diagrams, researchers from JAIST and MIT showed that no three-piece solution exists, marking the first formal proof of optimality in dissection problems. Their work has applications in mathematics, engineering, and material sciences. ======================================================================================= Researchers have demonstrated, using a novel approach, that the original solution to Dudeney’s famous dissection problem is indeed the optimal one. In 1907, English author and mathematician Henry Ernest Dudeney posed a fascinating puzzle: Can an equilateral triangle be cut into the fewest possible pieces that can...

A new record for maintaining plasma burning inside a fusion reactor has been set in France, beating China's previous benchmark by 25%.France's WEST fusion reactor has shattered a nuclear fusion record set by China just a few weeks ago, marking yet another small but significant step on the road toward near-limitless clean energy.The CEA's (Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives) WEST tokamak nuclear fusion reactor maintained a steady loop of burning plasma for a record 1,337 seconds, according to a Feb. 18 announcement -- beating China's previous 1,066-second benchmark, set on Jan. 20, by 25%...Scientists have been trying...

A supersolid is a paradox of physics — a material that is both solid and liquid at the same time. This contradictory form of matter was first proposed more than 60 years ago, and, for a long time, people thought it was too nuts to actually exist. But we’re talking about the realm of quantum mechanics, and normal expectations should be thrown out the window. In 2007, researchers at ETH Zurich and MIT unveiled the world’s first supersolids, starting with superflooding sodium and rubidium, respectively. Now, an international team of researchers has unveiled an entirely new route to supersolidity, harnessing...

Elements heavier than iron are thought to be born in some of the most violent explosions in the cosmos, like the cataclysmic mergers of neutron stars. The coalescence of these ultradense remnants -- which are forged when once-massive stars collapse -- creates superheavy atomic nuclei packed with neutrons in less than a second. In a flash, the jam-packed nucleus seems to go through internal changes and forms elements such as silver and gold.Now, an analysis of the chemical makeup of 42 very old stars scattered in the halo of the Milky Way reveals for the first time that nuclear fission...

In a remarkable development, researchers have successfully turned light into a supersolid for the first time, paving the way for new insights into the unusual quantum states of matter. This achievement marks a significant milestone in the field of condensed matter physics. Dimitrios Trypogeorgos from Italy’s National Research Council (CNR) reportedly said, “We actually made light into a solid. That’s pretty awesome.” This feat builds on earlier work by fellow CNR scientist Danielle Sanvitto, who demonstrated over a decade ago that light could behave like a fluid. However, Trypogeorgos, Sanvitto, and their team have taken it further by creating what...