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Polymers that crawl like worms: How materials can develop direction without being told where to go

Researchers at the University of Vienna have uncovered a surprising phenomenon: polymer chains with segments that simply fluctuate at different intensities can spontaneously develop directional, persistent motion when densely packed—even though nothing in the system points them in any particular direction. This “entropic tug of war,” driven by fundamental physical constraints, could help explain how DNA organizes and moves inside living cells and may lead to new materials. The study is published in Physical Review X.

“Think of a chain threaded through a dense forest of trees, which represent obstacles posed by the other chains in the system. One end of the chain is being shaken much more vigorously than the other,” explains lead author Jan Smrek from the Faculty of Physics at the University of Vienna. “You might expect it to just wiggle randomly in place. But we found that because the chain has to find its way by going in-between the trees, the difference in shaking intensity creates an imbalance that actually propels the entire chain forward through the forest.”

This analogy can be conferred to a polymer, a large molecule consisting of many units linked together in a long chain, such as DNA. The Viennese research team—Adam Höfler, Iurii Chubak, Christos Likos and Jan Smrek—used computer simulations and analytical theory to show that this directed motion arises purely from topological constraints. When polymer chains are entangled and cannot pass through each other, segments with stronger fluctuations generate larger entropic forces. This creates an imbalance that pushes the entire chain forward along its own contour, with the stronger fluctuating part acting as the “head of the snake” moving through the forest of obstacles.

Molecular ‘catapult’ fires electrons at the limits of physics

Electrons can be “kicked across” solar materials at almost the fastest speed nature allows, scientists have discovered, challenging long-held theories about how solar energy systems work. The finding could help researchers design more efficient ways of harvesting sunlight and converting it into electricity. The research is published in Nature Communications.

In experiments capturing events lasting just 18 femtoseconds —less than 20 quadrillionths of a second—researchers at the University of Cambridge observed charge separation happening within a single molecular vibration.

“We deliberately designed a system that—according to conventional theory—should not have transferred charge this fast,” said Dr. Pratyush Ghosh, Research Fellow, at St John’s College, Cambridge, and first author of the study. “By conventional design rules, this system should have been slow, and that’s what makes the result so striking.

AI-designed diffractive optical processors pave the way for low-power structural health monitoring

A team of researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) has introduced a novel framework for monitoring structural vibrations using diffractive optical processors. This new technology uses artificial intelligence to co-optimize a passive diffractive layer and a shallow neural network, allowing the system to encode time-varying mechanical vibrations into distinct spatiotemporal optical patterns.

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) systems are vital for assessing the condition of civil infrastructure, such as buildings and bridges, particularly after exposure to natural hazards like earthquakes. Traditional vibration-based methods rely on sensor networks of accelerometers and strain gauges, which demand significant power, generate large datasets requiring complex digital signal processing, and can be expensive to install and maintain.

Furthermore, achieving high spatial resolution for accurate damage localization often requires a costly, dense sensor deployment.

Making mini-lightning in a block of plastic

Lightning formation and the conditions triggering it have long been shrouded in a cloud of mystery, but new research led by Penn State scientists is lifting the fog. Using mathematical calculations, the researchers have discovered that lightning-like discharge doesn’t require a storm cloud—it could be made inside everyday material on a lab bench. The study is published in the journal Physical Review Letters.

“We applied the same exact models that we use for lightning research but shrank down the scale to slightly larger than a deck of cards,” said Victor Pasko, professor of electrical engineering at Penn State and lead author on the paper. “We calculated that when supplied with a high-powered electron source, lightning can be triggered in everyday insulating materials like glass, acrylic and quartz.”

The team used detailed numerical simulations to show that lightning-like radiation bursts could form inside small solid blocks, under conditions achievable in the lab. The work, if proven experimentally, could have implications for more compact and potentially safer X-ray sources in doctors’ offices and security checkpoints, the researchers said. The primary benefit, however, would be to enable the study of a powerful natural phenomenon on a lab bench.

Quantum Memory Isn’t What We Thought: Physicists Reveal a Hidden Duality

An international team of scientists has taken a closer look at how memory functions in quantum systems and their time evolution. Their study reveals that whether a quantum process appears to have memory depends on how it is examined. From one angle, the process may seem completely memoryless. From another, traces of past behavior remain visible. The findings open new paths for research in quantum science and emerging technologies.

In classical physics, memory is defined in a straightforward way. If a system’s future behavior depends only on its current condition, it is considered memoryless. If earlier states continue to influence what happens next, the system is said to have memory.

Quantum physics complicates this picture. Quantum systems can store and transmit information in ways that have no counterpart in classical science. In addition, measurement is not just a passive observation. It plays an active and fundamental role in how quantum systems evolve.

Google says 90 zero-days were exploited in attacks last year

Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) tracked 90 zero-day vulnerabilities actively exploited throughout 2025, almost half of them in enterprise software and appliances.

The figure is a 15% increase compared to 2024, when 78 zero-days were exploited in the wild, but lower than the record 100 zero days tracked in 2023.

Zero-day vulnerabilities are security issues in software products that attackers exploit, usually before the vendor learns about them and develops a patch. They are highly valued by threat actors because they often enable initial access, remote code execution, or privilege escalation.

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