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106 stories from Planck Standard. Latest: September 16, 2026.
It is the first experimental realization of ideal Amontons-Coulomb friction. Electron microscopes traced the speed dependence to wave-like crystal flaws called ripplocations, which disappear at high temperature.
BioPykrete revives a World War II idea at the molecular level: a protein with one end that grips ice and another that grips cellulose stops cracks from racing through the material. The team says it could one day be a building material for the Arctic and Antarctic.
Hebrew University physicists filmed fracture from its first appearance to explosive rupture and found the slow stage can take up 75% of the process. The same geometry may explain how earthquakes begin.
Davyne started as an unwanted byproduct in a University of Turku lab. It switches color in the near-infrared, invisible to the eye and readable only by a camera or a spectrometer.
Above 21 gigapascals, copper phthalocyanine crystals rearranged into single-atom copper chains over 4,000 atoms long, each sealed inside its own carbon sheath. Previous attempts topped out below 10 atoms.
The problem with bonding anything submerged is the thin film of water coating every surface. A Chinese team solved it by making an adhesive that pushes the water out of its own way.
LuCo6Ge6 conducts as if it were positive along one axis and negative along another, delivering 18.4 microvolts per kelvin of transverse thermopower at room temperature in zero magnetic field.
In a potassium-tantalate-niobate crystal, electric dipoles turned out to be interlacing over and under each other in three dimensions — a structure nobody had ever seen form spontaneously in a solid.
Niobium diselenide is a promising two-dimensional superconductor that starts corroding the instant it meets oxygen. Researchers solved it by growing the crystal inside a gap less than a nanometer wide — under the protective layer instead of beneath it.
A Hiroshima University team used a preheated wire and a laser to lay down tungsten carbide-cobalt harder than 1400 HV without the cracks that have blocked 3D printing of the material for years.
Manufacturers routinely bake moisture out of sodium vanadium oxide. A University of Surrey team skipped that step and got a cathode that stores twice the charge, survives 400 cycles — and pulls salt out of seawater while it runs.
A Purdue team built cobalt-aluminum out of vapor instead of casting it, packing in atomic defects and soft glassy boundaries. The result hit 6 gigapascals of yield strength and still deformed instead of shattering.
Twistronics has been stuck at flake-sized samples of graphene-like materials. NC State's method chemically bonds sodium niobate membranes at a chosen angle, across areas big enough for real devices.
Inside fallout debris from the 1945 atomic blast, researchers found a silicon-rich iron alloy with an atomic order never seen in any industrial material — condensed from vapor and frozen in the expanding fireball.
Instead of forcing local ore to fit existing formulas, an Uppsala University team is cataloging everything inside Sweden's deposits at Kiruna, Bergslagen and Norra Kärr, then designing magnets to match.
A protein-based gel inspired by how enamel forms in infancy pulls minerals from saliva to rebuild the body's hardest tissue — something teeth cannot naturally repair once it is lost.
Tulane researchers found that atoms on certain gold surfaces shift into a protective 'herringbone' pattern that leaves oxygen molecules no room to split apart — suppressing the reactions that corrode ordinary metals by up to a trillion times.
Tulane researchers found that atoms on gold surfaces reorganize into protective patterns that cut oxidation by a factor of up to a trillion, explaining the metal's centuries-long luster.
Researchers at Oak Ridge, Ohio State and Amphenol found that switching on an electric field in a relaxor ferroelectric ceramic can steer and triple its heat conduction, a tunable effect that could reshape how chips and devices stay cool.
A Max Planck team says soft lithium 'dendrites' pierce hard ceramic electrolytes like a waterjet cutting through rock. Solving the puzzle could unlock safer, longer-lasting solid-state batteries for phones and EVs.
Osaka researchers paired a magneto-optical layer with a phase-change material to steer, switch and store thermal radiation, a step toward circuits that manage heat the way electronics manage current.
An international team used machine learning to pinpoint two never-before-seen superconductors, YRu₃B₂ and LuRu₃B₂, opening a path that could screen billions of materials in the hunt for a room-temperature version.
University of Auckland researchers found that the strange metal's covalent bonds don't vanish for good when it melts — they re-form at higher temperatures, rewriting how we explain why gallium melts in your hand.
Physicists paired machine learning with quantum theory to find and confirm two new materials — a recipe that could speed the long hunt for a room-temperature superconductor.
An Aalto University-led team used AI to sift a near-infinite space of material combinations and pinpoint the kagome-lattice compounds YRu3B2 and LuRu3B2, whose superconductivity springs from flat electronic bands.
The new TES detector at Germany's BESSY II synchrotron, cooled to near absolute zero, can probe atom-thin materials and ultra-dilute samples that were previously impossible to study.
After a 14-year effort, chemists in Japan built a stable solid that upconverts visible light into UV, opening the door to sunlight-powered air purification, 3D printing and photocatalysis.
Chalmers University researchers etched nanoscale ridges into a substrate to keep an ultrathin superconducting film stable at higher temperatures and under stronger magnetic fields.
A South Korean team recreated the legendary fabric using waste fibers from a farmed clam, decoding why its golden glow never fades.
University of Minnesota researchers show that changing metal film thickness by just a few nanometers can dramatically alter electronic behavior.
A Brown University team stabilized a long-theorized transitional crystal structure — captured directly for the first time — opening a new route to engineering advanced materials.
University of Minnesota discovery shows how tiny thickness adjustments can alter metal properties by more than one electron volt.
Physicists in India and Japan watched electrons abandon their particle-like behavior and move as a near-perfect 'Dirac fluid,' breaking the Wiedemann-Franz law by more than 200 times.
By arranging custom-designed silver nanoparticles like LEGO blocks, scientists stabilized a mysterious crystal phase that had never been observed before and exhibits promising quantum properties.
By stacking silver nanoparticles like LEGO bricks, researchers created a mysterious crystal phase never observed before with promising room-temperature quantum properties.
Researchers stabilized an elusive intermediate crystal phase by stacking engineered silver particles like nanoscale LEGO bricks, revealing promising quantum properties at room temperature.
Scientists solved a longstanding materials science puzzle by creating quantum materials that work at room temperature.
By stacking custom-designed silver particles like nanoscale LEGO bricks, researchers stabilized a mysterious crystal phase never observed before, opening new possibilities for quantum technology.
Scientists adapted centuries-old glassmaking methods to create customizable porous materials for gas storage and separation.
Scientists adapt centuries-old glassmaking techniques to improve revolutionary porous materials for clean energy and gas storage applications.
Researchers adapt centuries-old glassmaking techniques to create advanced materials for clean energy and gas storage applications.
Scientists adapt centuries-old glassmaking techniques to develop advanced materials that could revolutionize clean energy and gas storage.
Scientists discover how to fine-tune futuristic porous glass using centuries-old techniques, potentially accelerating clean energy development.
Breakthrough method simulates complex quasicrystals that conventional supercomputers cannot handle, opening doors to advanced quantum devices and ultra-efficient electronics.
University of South Florida researchers discover carbon black particles force rubber to 'fight against itself' when stretched, explaining the secret behind tire durability.
Breakthrough could unlock powerful topological qubits and ultra-efficient electronics for quantum computers.
Massive computer simulations reveal how carbon black forces rubber to 'fight against itself' when stretched.
Massive computer simulations reveal why adding carbon black particles makes rubber so tough, solving a puzzle that has baffled researchers for nearly 100 years.
New quantum-inspired approach simulates complex quasicrystals with over 268 million sites, potentially revolutionizing quantum device design and energy-efficient electronics.
Massive computer simulations reveal why carbon black makes rubber dramatically stronger, solving puzzle that stumped researchers for decades.
Researchers use quantum-inspired methods to simulate complex quasicrystals that could power next-generation quantum devices.
New ultra-stainless steel uses double-protection mechanism to resist harsh seawater electrolysis conditions while cutting structural costs by 40 times compared to titanium.
Multi-slice electron ptychography reveals the polar-domain structure inside lead magnesium niobate, the workhorse of medical ultrasound and sonar.
Researchers use quantum system of fleeting light-matter particles to prove 40-year-old physics theory applies across wildly different processes.
Three-dimensional atomic mapping reveals unexpected charge patterns in relaxor ferroelectrics used in ultrasound and sonar systems for decades.
Researchers used quantum light-matter particles to prove the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang theory works in two dimensions, strengthening ideas about hidden rules governing everything from crystals to living systems.
Relaxor ferroelectrics power ultrasounds and sonar for decades, but their atomic structure remained unknown until breakthrough 3D mapping.
Breakthrough quantum physics research reveals entirely new forms of matter that don't exist under normal conditions, potentially revolutionizing quantum computing.
Breakthrough imaging reveals three-dimensional structure of relaxor ferroelectrics, materials that power ultrasound machines and sonar systems worldwide.
Researchers finally reveal the three-dimensional structure of relaxor ferroelectrics, materials that power ultrasound machines and sonar systems worldwide.
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