Reference Terms
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Weapons of mass destruction
Weapon of mass destruction (WMD) is a term used to describe a munition with the capacity to indiscriminately kill large numbers of living beings. The phrase broadly encompasses several areas of weapon synthesis, including nuclear, biological, chemical and, increasingly, radiological weapons.
The term first arose in 1937 in reference to the mass destruction of Guernica, Spain, by aerial bombardment. Following the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and progressing through the Cold War, the term came to refer more to non-conventional weapons. The phrase entered popular usage in relation to the U.S.-led 2003 invasion of Iraq. Terms used in a military context include atomic, biological, and chemical warfare (ABC warfare), nuclear, biological, and chemical (NBC) after the invention of the hydrogen bomb, and chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN), recognizing the threat of non-explosive radiological weapons.
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Matter & Energy News
May 22, 2026
May 22, 2026 Researchers have discovered how to fine-tune a futuristic type of porous glass that can trap gases like CO2 and hydrogen. Inspired by centuries-old glassmaking techniques, the team added sodium and ...
May 21, 2026 Scientists have finally figured out how mysterious “breather” laser pulses work, solving a puzzle that has frustrated laser physicists for years. These unusual ultrafast lasers produce light pulses that rhythmically grow and shrink instead of ...
May 20, 2026 Researchers have built an ultra-sensitive sensor capable of detecting unimaginably small amounts of energy — below one zeptojoule. The breakthrough relies on fragile superconducting materials that react to even the slightest temperature change. ...
May 20, 2026 Scientists in Canada have discovered that ancient underground rocks are naturally producing hydrogen gas — and lots of it. Measurements from mine boreholes in Ontario show the gas can flow continuously for years, offering a potential new source of ...
May 20, 2026 Researchers have developed a light-driven method for creating tiny, high-energy “housane” molecules that are valuable for drug development and materials science. These compact ring-shaped structures are difficult to produce because of the ...
May 19, 2026 Scientists spent decades chasing signs of a mysterious new force hidden inside the muon, one of nature’s strangest particles. But after years of supercomputer calculations, researchers discovered the apparent anomaly was likely a calculation error ...
May 18, 2026 Scientists at the University of Cambridge have achieved what was once considered impossible by electrically powering insulating nanoparticles to create a completely new kind of LED. Using tiny organic “molecular antennas,” the team found a way ...
May 18, 2026 Researchers have developed a durable new catalyst that produces clean hydrogen without relying on expensive platinum metals. The breakthrough could make renewable hydrogen fuel cheaper, more efficient, and easier to scale for real-world energy ...
May 18, 2026 Electric vehicles are pushing scientists to tackle one of the biggest hidden energy drains inside electric motors: magnetic energy loss. Now, researchers in Japan have developed a powerful AI-driven ...
May 17, 2026 Scientists have achieved something that once sounded almost impossible: using ordinary sunlight to create quantum-linked photon pairs, a phenomenon normally dependent on precise laboratory lasers. By building a sun-tracking system that funnels ...
May 14, 2026 Scientists at UC Santa Barbara have created a remarkable new material that works like a “rechargeable solar battery,” storing sunlight inside tiny molecules and releasing it later as heat — ...
May 13, 2026 Scientists in Japan have developed a new way to instantly detect elusive quantum “W states,” a major milestone for quantum technology. The breakthrough could help unlock faster quantum communication, teleportation, and powerful new computing ...
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May 22, 2026 Scientists have uncovered a strange hidden structure formed during the creation of metallocenes, a class of sandwich-like molecules used in everything from catalysis to medicine. The newly ...
May 21, 2026 Physicists at Peking University have uncovered a new way to confine light far beyond conventional limits — without relying on metals and their ...
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May 19, 2026 Physicists may have uncovered a surprising new clue that string theory—the idea that the universe is built from unimaginably tiny vibrating strings—could be more than just a mathematical fantasy. ...
May 18, 2026 For more than 200 years, scientists have struggled to pin down the exact strength of gravity — and one physicist spent a decade chasing the answer ...
May 14, 2026 Scientists studying mysterious ultra-powerful cosmic rays have uncovered a surprising hidden pattern that could finally help explain where these particles come from. Using the DAMPE space telescope, ...
May 13, 2026 For nearly 100 years, reinforced rubber has powered everything from car tires to airplanes, yet scientists never fully understood why adding tiny particles of carbon black made rubber so incredibly ...
May 13, 2026 A new quantum-inspired algorithm has cracked a problem so massive that conventional supercomputers struggle to even approach it. Researchers used the method to simulate extraordinarily complex ...
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