Matter & Energy News

March 13, 2026

Top Headlines

Scientists Turn Scrap Car Aluminum Into High-performance Metal for New Vehicles

Mar. 10, 2026 Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have created a new aluminum alloy called RidgeAlloy that can turn contaminated car-body scrap into strong structural vehicle parts. Normally, impurities ...

Scientists Create Slippery Nanopores That Supercharge Blue Energy

Mar. 9, 2026 Scientists have found a way to significantly boost “blue energy,” which generates electricity from the mixing of saltwater and freshwater. By coating nanopores with lipid molecules that create a friction-reducing water layer, they enabled ions ...

Engineers Make Magnets Behave Like Graphene

Mar. 8, 2026 Engineers have discovered an unexpected link between two very different realms of physics: the behavior of electrons in graphene and magnetic waves in specially engineered materials. By designing a thin magnetic film with a hexagonal pattern of ...

AI Discovers the Hidden Signal of Liquid-like Ion Flow in Solid-state Batteries

Mar. 7, 2026 Solid-state batteries could be safer and more energy-dense than today’s lithium-ion technology, but finding materials that allow ions to move quickly through solid electrolytes has been difficult. ...

Physicists Finally See Strange Magnetic Vortices Predicted 50 Years Ago

Mar. 7, 2026 A team of physicists has experimentally confirmed a long-predicted sequence of exotic magnetic phases in an atomically thin material. When cooled, the material forms tiny magnetic vortices before transitioning into a second ordered magnetic ...

Record-breaking Photodetector Captures Light in Just 125 Picoseconds

Mar. 4, 2026 A new ultrathin photodetector from Duke University can sense light across the entire electromagnetic spectrum and generate a signal in just 125 picoseconds, making it the fastest pyroelectric detector ever built. The breakthrough could power ...

Scientists Capture a Magnetic Flip in 140 Trillionths of a Second

Mar. 4, 2026 Scientists at the University of Tokyo have captured something never seen before: a frame-by-frame view of how electron spins flip inside an antiferromagnet, a material once thought to be magnetically “invisible.” By firing ultrafast electrical ...

A Flash of Laser Light Flips a Magnet in Major Light-control Breakthrough

Mar. 3, 2026 Researchers at the University of Basel and the ETH in Zurich have succeeded in changing the polarity of a special ferromagnet using a laser beam. In the future, this method could be used to create adaptable electronic circuits with ...

The Hidden Technology That Could Unlock Commercial Fusion Power

Mar. 3, 2026 Fusion energy may be one of the most promising clean power sources of the future—but only if scientists can precisely measure the extreme, fast-moving plasmas that make it possible. A new U.S. Department of Energy–sponsored report urges major ...

A Tiny Twist Creates Giant Magnetic Skyrmions in 2D Crystals

Mar. 2, 2026 Twisting atomically thin magnetic layers does more than reshape their electronics—it can create giant, topological magnetic textures. In chromium triiodide, researchers observed skyrmion-like patterns stretching far beyond the expected moiré ...

Scientists Just Turned Light Into a Remote Control for Crystals

Mar. 2, 2026 NYU researchers have found a way to use light to control how microscopic particles assemble into crystals, effectively turning illumination into a tool for shaping matter. By adding light-sensitive molecules to a liquid filled with tiny particles, ...

New Crystal Seeding Method Boosts Perovskite Solar Cell Efficiency to 23%

Mar. 1, 2026 Inverted perovskite solar cells offer strong potential for scalable, low-cost solar power, but a hidden interface inside the device has limited their performance and durability. Researchers have now introduced crystal-solvate nanoseeds that guide ...

Latest Headlines

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Scientists Crack a 20-Year Nuclear Mystery Behind the Creation of Gold

Mar. 13, 2026 Gold and other heavy elements are born in some of the universe’s most violent events—but scientists still struggle to understand the nuclear steps that create them. Now, nuclear physicists have ...

The 19th-Century Mathematical Clue That Led to Quantum Mechanics

Mar. 10, 2026 More than a century before quantum mechanics was born, Irish mathematician William Rowan Hamilton stumbled onto an idea that would quietly foreshadow one of the deepest truths in physics. While ...

Cosmic Voids Look Empty but They May Be Tearing the Universe Apart

Mar. 10, 2026 Cosmic voids may seem like the emptiest places in the universe, stripped of matter, radiation, and even dark matter. But they’re far from nothing. Even in these vast empty regions, the fundamental ...

Particles May Not Follow Einstein’s Paths After All

Mar. 9, 2026 Physicists have long struggled to unite quantum mechanics—the theory governing tiny particles—with Einstein’s theory of gravity, which explains the behavior of stars, planets, and the structure ...

A Perfectly Balanced Atom Just Broke One of Nuclear Physics’ Biggest Rules

Mar. 8, 2026 Physicists have discovered a surprising new “Island of Inversion” in a place no one expected: among nuclei where the number of protons equals the ...

Antarctica Has a Strange Gravity Hole and Scientists Finally Know Why

Mar. 7, 2026 Gravity may seem constant, but it actually varies across the planet—and one of the strangest places is Antarctica, where gravity is slightly weaker than expected. Scientists have traced this ...

Electrons Catapult Across Solar Materials in Just 18 Femtoseconds

Mar. 6, 2026 Electrons in solar materials can be launched across molecules almost as fast as nature allows, thanks to tiny atomic vibrations acting like a “molecular catapult.” In experiments lasting just 18 ...

Neutrinos Could Explain Why Matter Survived the Big Bang

Mar. 3, 2026 An international team combining two major neutrino experiments has uncovered stronger evidence that neutrinos and antimatter don’t behave as perfect mirror images. That subtle difference may hold ...

For the First Time, Light Mimics a Nobel Prize Quantum Effect

Mar. 1, 2026 Scientists have pulled off a feat long considered out of reach: getting light to mimic the famous quantum Hall effect. In their experiment, photons drift sideways in perfectly defined, quantized ...

This Plastic Is Made from Milk and It Vanishes in 13 Weeks

Feb. 28, 2026 Scientists racing to tackle plastic pollution have created a surprising new contender: a biodegradable packaging film made partly from milk protein. Researchers at Flinders University blended calcium ...

Green Hydrogen Has a Hidden Problem and Scientists May Have Fixed It

Feb. 26, 2026 Green hydrogen could be a game-changer for the clean energy transition—but right now, it’s too expensive and still relies on harmful “forever chemicals.” A new EU-backed project called ...

Iron Outperforms Rare Metals in Stunning Chemistry Advance

Feb. 27, 2026 Researchers at Nagoya University have created a more efficient iron-based photocatalyst that could reduce the need for rare and expensive metals in advanced chemistry. Unlike earlier designs, the new ...

Scientists Create Ultra-Low Loss Optical Device That Traps Light on a Chip

Feb. 24, 2026 CU Boulder researchers have designed microscopic “racetracks” that trap and amplify light with exceptional efficiency. By using smooth curves inspired by highway engineering, they reduced energy ...

Massive US Study Finds Higher Cancer Death Rates Near Nuclear Power Plants

Feb. 24, 2026 A sweeping nationwide study has found that U.S. counties located closer to operating nuclear power plants have higher cancer death rates than those farther away. Researchers analyzed data from every ...

Scientists May Have Found the Holy Grail of Quantum Computing

Feb. 21, 2026 Scientists may have spotted a long-sought triplet superconductor — a material that can transmit both electricity and electron spin with zero resistance. That ability could dramatically stabilize ...

NASA’s Hubble Spots Nearly Invisible “ghost Galaxy” Made of 99% Dark Matter

Feb. 21, 2026 Astronomers have uncovered one of the most mysterious galaxies ever found — a dim, ghostly object called CDG-2 that is almost entirely made of dark matter. Located 300 million light-years away in ...

Atom-Sized Gates Could Transform DNA Sequencing and Neuromorphic Computing

Feb. 19, 2026 Scientists have taken a major step toward mimicking nature’s tiniest gateways by creating ultra-small pores that rival the dimensions of biological ion channels—just a few atoms wide. The ...

Quantum Computer Breakthrough Tracks Qubit Fluctuations in Real Time

Feb. 20, 2026 Qubits, the heart of quantum computers, can change performance in fractions of a second — but until now, scientists couldn’t see it happening. Researchers at NBI have built a real-time monitoring ...

Oxford Breakthrough Could Make Lithium-Ion Batteries Charge Faster and Last Much Longer

Feb. 20, 2026 Oxford researchers have found a way to visualize one of the most hidden — yet critical — components inside lithium-ion batteries. By tagging polymer binders with traceable markers, they revealed ...

A Spinning Gyroscope Could Finally Unlock Ocean Wave Energy

Feb. 18, 2026 Ocean waves are a vast and steady source of renewable energy, but capturing their power efficiently has long frustrated engineers. A researcher at The University of Osaka has now explored a bold new ...

New Calcium-Ion Battery Design Delivers High Performance Without Lithium

Feb. 13, 2026 Scientists at HKUST have unveiled a major leap forward in calcium-ion battery technology, potentially opening the door to safer, more sustainable energy storage for everything from renewable power ...

Majorana Qubits Decoded in Quantum Computing Breakthrough

Feb. 16, 2026 Scientists have developed a new way to read the hidden states of Majorana qubits, which store information in paired quantum modes that resist noise. The results confirm their protected nature and ...

50 Year Quest Ends With Creation of Silicon Aromatic Once Thought Impossible

Feb. 24, 2026 After nearly 50 years of failed attempts and scientific speculation, chemists at Saarland University have achieved what many thought might be impossible: creating a long-sought silicon-based aromatic ...

Physicists Discover What Controls the Speed of Quantum Time

Feb. 9, 2026 Time may feel smooth and continuous, but at the quantum level it behaves very differently. Physicists have now found a way to measure how long ultrafast quantum events actually last, without relying ...

A Simple Chemical Tweak Could Supercharge Quantum Computers

Feb. 25, 2026 Quantum computers need special materials called topological superconductors—but they’ve been notoriously difficult to create. Researchers have now shown they can trigger this exotic state by ...

Twisted 2D Magnet Creates Skyrmions for Ultra Dense Data Storage

Feb. 13, 2026 As data keeps exploding worldwide, scientists are racing to pack more information into smaller and smaller spaces — and a team at the University of Stuttgart may have just unlocked a powerful new ...

Scientists Create Smart Synthetic Skin That Can Hide Images and Change Shape

Feb. 6, 2026 Inspired by the shape-shifting skin of octopuses, Penn State researchers developed a smart hydrogel that can change appearance, texture, and shape on command. The material is programmed using a ...

This Tiny Molecular Trick Makes Spider Silk Almost Unbreakable

Feb. 6, 2026 Scientists have cracked a key mystery behind spider silk’s legendary strength and flexibility. They discovered that tiny molecular interactions act like natural glue, holding silk proteins together ...

A Clever Quantum Trick Brings Practical Quantum Computers Closer

Feb. 6, 2026 Quantum computers struggle because their qubits are incredibly easy to disrupt, especially during calculations. A new experiment shows how to perform quantum operations while continuously fixing ...

Dark Matter Could Be Masquerading as a Black Hole at the Milky Way’s Core

Feb. 7, 2026 Astronomers propose that an ultra-dense clump of exotic dark matter could be masquerading as the powerful object thought to anchor our galaxy, explaining both the blistering speeds of stars near the ...