Electricity News

February 21, 2026

Top Headlines

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 ...

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 breakthrough opens new possibilities for single-molecule ...

New Sodium Ion Battery Stores Twice the Energy and Desalinates Seawater

Feb. 19, 2026 A surprising breakthrough could help sodium-ion batteries rival lithium—and even turn seawater into drinking water. Scientists discovered that keeping water inside a key battery material, instead of removing it as traditionally done, dramatically ...

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 approach: a gyroscopic wave energy converter that ...

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 grids to electric vehicles. By designing a novel ...

New Catalyst Turns Carbon Dioxide Into Clean Fuel Source

Feb. 3, 2026 Researchers have found that manganese, an abundant and inexpensive metal, can be used to efficiently convert carbon dioxide into formate, a potential hydrogen source for fuel cells. The key was a clever redesign that made the catalyst last far ...

Scientists Discover Hidden Geometry That Bends Electrons Like Gravity

Feb. 1, 2026 Researchers have discovered a hidden quantum geometry inside materials that subtly steers electrons, echoing how gravity warps light in space. Once thought to exist only on paper, this effect has now been observed experimentally in a popular quantum ...

A Breakthrough That Could Make Ships Nearly Unsinkable

Jan. 30, 2026 Researchers have found a way to make ordinary aluminum tubes float indefinitely, even when submerged for long periods or punched full of holes. By engineering the metal’s surface to repel water, the tubes trap air inside and refuse to sink, even ...

A Hidden Magnetic Order Could Unlock Superconductivity

Jan. 26, 2026 Physicists have discovered that hidden magnetic order plays a key role in the pseudogap, a puzzling state of matter that appears just before certain materials become superconductors. Using an ultra-cold quantum simulator, the team found that even ...

Scientists Twist Tiny Crystals to Control Electricity

Jan. 25, 2026 Researchers have developed a technique that allows them to carve complex three dimensional nanodevices directly from single crystals. To demonstrate its power, they sculpted microscopic helices from a magnetic material and found that the structures ...

This Tiny Power Module Could Change How the World Uses Energy

Jan. 19, 2026 As global energy demand surges—driven by AI-hungry data centers, advanced manufacturing, and electrified transportation—researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory have unveiled a breakthrough that could help squeeze far more power ...

How Everyday Foam Reveals the Secret Logic of Artificial Intelligence

Jan. 15, 2026 Foams were once thought to behave like glass, with bubbles frozen in place at the microscopic level. But new simulations reveal that foam bubbles are always shifting, even while the foam keeps its overall shape. Remarkably, this restless motion ...

Latest Headlines

updated 10:54am EST

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 ...

The Magnetic Secret Inside Steel Finally Explained

Jan. 26, 2026 For years, scientists noticed that magnetic fields could improve steel, but no one knew exactly why. New simulations reveal that magnetism changes how iron atoms behave, making it harder for carbon ...

A Strange in-Between State of Matter Is Finally Observed

Jan. 26, 2026 When materials become just one atom thick, melting no longer follows the familiar rules. Instead of jumping straight from solid to liquid, an unusual in-between state emerges, where atomic positions ...

A Tiny Spin Change Just Flipped a Famous Quantum Effect

Jan. 21, 2026 When quantum spins interact, they can produce collective behaviors that defy long-standing expectations. Researchers have now shown that the Kondo effect behaves very differently depending on spin ...

Electrons Stop Acting Like Particles—and Physics Still Works

Jan. 15, 2026 Physicists have long relied on the idea that electrons behave like tiny particles zipping through materials, even though quantum physics says their exact position is fundamentally uncertain. Now, ...

Physicists Thought This Mystery Particle Could Explain Everything. See What Happened

Jan. 12, 2026 Scientists at Fermilab’s MicroBooNE experiment have ruled out the existence of the elusive sterile neutrino, a particle proposed for decades to ...

Physicists Built a Perfect Conductor from Ultracold Atoms

Jan. 7, 2026 Researchers at TU Wien have discovered a quantum system where energy and mass move with perfect efficiency. In an ultracold gas of atoms confined to a single line, countless collisions occur—but ...

A Missing Flash of Light Revealed a Molecular Secret

Jan. 5, 2026 Scientists have found a way to see ultrafast molecular interactions inside liquids using an extreme laser technique once thought impossible for fluids. When they mixed nearly identical chemicals, one ...

This Hidden Flaw Has Been Breaking EV Batteries

Dec. 29, 2025 A major breakthrough in battery science reveals why promising single-crystal lithium-ion batteries haven’t lived up to expectations. Researchers found that these batteries crack due to uneven ...

A New Superconductor Breaks Rules Physicists Thought Were Fixed

Dec. 26, 2025 A shiny gray crystal called platinum-bismuth-two hides an electronic world unlike anything scientists have seen before. Researchers discovered that only the crystal’s outer surfaces become ...

Light-Printed Electrodes Turn Skin and Clothing Into Sensors

Dec. 15, 2025 Researchers in Sweden have unveiled a way to create high-performance electronic electrodes using nothing more than visible light and specially designed water-soluble monomers. This gentle, ...

Researchers Catch Atoms Standing Still Inside Molten Metal

Dec. 11, 2025 Scientists have uncovered that some atoms in liquids don't move at all—even at extreme temperatures—and these anchored atoms dramatically alter the way materials freeze. Using advanced ...

Paper Mill Waste Could Unlock Cheaper Clean Energy

Dec. 11, 2025 Scientists developed a high-performance hydrogen-production catalyst using lignin, a common waste product from paper and biorefinery processes. The nickel–iron oxide nanoparticles embedded in ...

Physicists Found a Way to Make Thermodynamics Work in the Quantum World

Dec. 23, 2025 More than 200 years ago, Count Rumford showed that heat isn’t a mysterious substance but something you can generate endlessly through motion. That insight laid the foundation for thermodynamics, ...

A 1950s Material Just Set a Modern Record for Lightning-Fast Chips

Dec. 5, 2025 Researchers engineered a strained germanium layer on silicon that allows charge to move faster than in any silicon-compatible material to date. This record mobility could lead to chips that run ...

X-Ray Movies Reveal How Intense Lasers Tear a Buckyball Apart

Nov. 28, 2025 Using intense X-rays, researchers captured a buckyball as it expanded, split and shed electrons under strong laser fields. Detailed scattering measurements showed how the molecule behaves at low, ...

The “impossible” LED Breakthrough That Changes Everything

Dec. 5, 2025 Scientists have discovered how to electrically power insulating nanoparticles using organic molecules that act like tiny antennas. These hybrids generate extremely pure near-infrared light, ideal for ...

This Glowing Particle in a Laser Trap May Reveal How Lightning Begins

Nov. 24, 2025 Using a precisely aligned pair of laser beams, scientists can now hold a single aerosol particle in place and monitor how it charges up. The particle’s glow signals each step in its changing ...

A Compact Fusion Machine Just Hit Gigapascal Pressures

Nov. 20, 2025 Operating a new device named the Fusion Z-pinch Experiment 3, or FuZE-3, Zap Energy has now achieved plasmas with electron pressures as high as 830 megapascals (MPa), or 1.6 gigapascals (GPa) total, ...

Nearly 47 Million Americans Live Near Hidden Fossil Fuel Sites

Nov. 20, 2025 A nationwide analysis has uncovered how sprawling fossil fuel infrastructure sits surprisingly close to millions of American homes. The research shows that 46.6 million people live within about a ...

Physicists Reveal a New Quantum State Where Electrons Run Wild

Nov. 16, 2025 Electrons can freeze into strange geometric crystals and then melt back into liquid-like motion under the right quantum conditions. Researchers identified how to tune these transitions and even ...

Breakthrough Shows Light Can Move Atoms in 2D Semiconductors

Nov. 14, 2025 Laser light can physically distort Janus TMD materials, revealing how their asymmetrical structure amplifies light-driven forces. These effects could power breakthroughs in photonic chips, sensors, ...

Turning CO2 Into Clean Fuel Faster and Cheaper

Nov. 5, 2025 A new copper-magnesium-iron catalyst transforms CO2 into CO at low temperatures with record-breaking efficiency and stability. The discovery paves the way for affordable, scalable production of ...

CERN Creates Cosmic “fireballs” That Could Reveal the Universe’s Hidden Magnetism

Nov. 7, 2025 Using CERN’s Super Proton Synchrotron, researchers generated plasma fireballs to simulate blazar jets. The beams stayed stable, suggesting plasma instabilities aren’t responsible for missing ...

Floating Device Turns Raindrops Into Electricity

Nov. 15, 2025 A new floating droplet electricity generator is redefining how rain can be harvested as a clean power source by using water itself as both structural support and an electrode. This nature-integrated ...

This Smart Catalyst Cracks a Challenge That Stumped Chemists for Decades

Nov. 26, 2025 Using a smart computational search, scientists discovered a catalyst ingredient that finally makes tough alkyl ketones behave the way chemists want. The reaction now runs cleanly and reliably, ...

MIT Physicists Just Found a Way to See Inside Atoms

Oct. 26, 2025 MIT researchers have devised a new molecular technique that lets electrons probe inside atomic nuclei, replacing massive particle accelerators with a tabletop setup. By studying radium monofluoride, ...

How Algae Learned to Harness the Sun Without Getting Burned

Oct. 22, 2025 Under the sea, green algae have evolved a clever way to handle too much sunlight. Scientists found that a special pigment called siphonein acts like a natural sun shield, protecting the algae’s ...

Physicists Uncover Hidden “doorways” That Let Electrons Escape

Nov. 4, 2025 Scientists at TU Wien found that electrons need specific “doorway states” to escape solids, not just energy. The insight explains long-standing anomalies in experiments and unlocks new ways to ...

Quantum Crystals Could Spark the Next Tech Revolution

Oct. 16, 2025 Auburn scientists have designed new materials that manipulate free electrons to unlock groundbreaking applications. These “Surface Immobilized Electrides” could power future quantum computers or ...