Chemistry & Physics

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 11-Nov-2025 19:11 ET (12-Nov-2025 00:11 GMT/UTC)

10-Sep-2025

Simulations solve centuries-old cosmic mystery – and discover new class of ancient star systems

University of Surrey
Peer-Reviewed Publication

For centuries, astronomers have puzzled over the origins of one of the universe’s oldest and densest stellar systems, known as globular clusters. Now, a University of Surrey-led study published in Nature has finally solved the mystery using detailed simulations – while also uncovering a new class of object that could already be in our own galaxy.  

Journal

Nature

10-Sep-2025

Researchers uncover potential biosignatures on Mars

Texas A&M University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A Texas A&M geologist says recent findings from the Perseverance rover may point to the presence of past microbial life on ancient Mars.

Journal

Nature

10-Sep-2025

Clearest signal yet from colliding black holes yields most precise confirmation of Hawking’s area theorem

American Physical Society
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In a new study published in Physical Review Letters, the LIGO–Virgo–KAGRA Collaboration has used the sharpest to date gravitational wave signal from two merging black holes to precisely test Hawking’s area theorem and the remnant black hole’s nature.

Journal

Physical Review Letters

10-Sep-2025

Rising heat waves tied to fossil fuel and cement production

ETH Zurich
Peer-Reviewed Publication

According to ETH Zurich climate researchers, greenhouse gas emissions from major fossil fuel and cement producers are significant contributors to the occurrence and intensity of heat waves.

Journal

Nature

10-Sep-2025

Hawking and Kerr black hole theories confirmed by gravitational wave

University of Birmingham
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Ten years after detecting the first gravitational wave, the detection of GW250114 – a ripple in spacetime which offers unprecedented insights into the nature of black holes and the fundamental laws of physics.

Journal

Physical Review Letters

10-Sep-2025

Exotic phase of matter realized on a quantum processor

Technical University of Munich (TUM)
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Phases of matter are the basic states that matter can take - like water that can occur in a liquid or ice phase. Traditionally, these phases are defined under equilibrium conditions, where the system is stable over time. But nature allows for stranger possibilities: new phases that emerge only when a system is driven out of equilibrium. In a new study published in Nature, a research team shows that quantum computers offer an unparalleled way to explore those exotic states of matter.

Journal

Nature

10-Sep-2025

Measuring electron pulses for future compact ultrabright X-ray sources

University of Michigan
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In a step toward making ultrabright X-ray sources more widely available, an international collaboration led by the University of Michigan—with experiments at the U.K.'s Central Laser Facility—has mapped key aspects of electron pulses that can go on to generate laser-like X-ray pulses.

Journal

Physical Review X

Funder

U.S. National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, Science and Technology Facilities Council, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, Royal Society, EuPRAXIA, the European Commission's LASERLAB-EUROPE, EuCARD-2, the Swedish Research Council, the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology.