news 2024

Physicists are getting closer to controlling single-molecule chemical reactions - could this shape the future of pharmaceutical research? Controlling matter at the atomic level has taken a major step forward, thanks to groundbreaking nanotechnology research by an international team of scientists led by physicists at the University of Bath.

Scientists are calling for changes to chemistry textbooks after discovering a fundamental aspect of structural organic chemistry has been incorrectly described for almost 100 years. The team from Cardiff University's School of Chemistry, dispute the long-held belief that alkyl groups - a chemical group consisting of carbon and hydrogen atoms arranged in a chain - donate electrons to other parts of a molecule.

People with photosensitive epilepsy could benefit from a prototype pair of glasses with lenses that block out wavelengths that are known to cause seizures in some people. In a study published in Cell Reports Physical Science , researchers from the University of Glasgow and University of Birmingham have developed a prototype of a liquid crystal lens that they believe could help photosensitive epilepsy sufferers.

An elusive particle that first formed in the hot, dense early universe has puzzled physicists for decades. Following its discovery in 2003, scientists began observing a slew of other strange objects tied to the millionths of a second after the Big Bang. Appearing as 'bumps' in the data from high-energy experiments, these signals came to be known as short-lived 'XYZ states.' They defy the standard picture of particle behaviour and are a problem in contemporary physics, sparking several attempts to understand their mysterious nature.

Uranus's upper atmosphere has been cooling for decades - and now scientists have shown why. Observations from Earth have shown Uranus' upper atmosphere has been cooling for decades, with no clear explanation. Now, a team led by Imperial College London scientists has determined that unpredictable long-term changes in the solar wind - the stream of particles and energy coming from the Sun - are behind the drop.

An international team that includes the University of Bath has discovered three ultra-massive galaxies in the early Universe forming at unexpected speeds. An international team that was led by the University of Geneva (UNIGE) and includes Professor Stijn Wuyts from the University of Bath has identified three ultra-massive galaxies - each nearly as massive as the Milky Way - that had already assembled within the first billion years after the Big Bang.

Mysteries about Uranus that have baffled scientists for decades may have been the result of an unusually powerful solar storm that happened to occur as a spacecraft visited the planet, a new study involving UCL researchers has found. NASA's Voyager 2, which flew by Uranus in 1986, provided scientists' first, and so far only, close glimpse of the planet, shaping their understanding of it in the decades since.

Scientists have taken inspiration from the way sunlight passes through clouds to discover an entirely new way of controlling and guiding light. The breakthrough research, led by physicists from the University of Glasgow, allows light waves to be guided around curved paths tunnelled through opaque materials which would normally scatter them in all directions.

Researchers from the University of Glasgow have played a vital role in the very first observation of an ultra-rare particle decay process. The finding - the first experimental observation of the ultra-rare decay of the charged kaon into a charged pion and a neutrino-antineutrino pair - will open a new path to find physics beyond the Standard Model of particle physics.

Sophisticated analysis of tiny bubbles of ancient gas trapped in volcanic rocks combined with new geophysical modelling has cast new light on long-held assumptions about the deep Earth. An international team of scientists led by researchers from SUERC and the University of Glasgow's School of Geographical & Earth Sciences, have uncovered surprising results in a new study of volcanic lavas which erupted in the Red Sea from the Afar mantle plume.

The precise distances from Earth of more than 1.8 million galaxies have been revealed in a sky survey involving UCL researchers. The Physics of the Accelerating Universe Survey (PAUS), an international collaboration across 14 institutions, covered a sky area of 50 square degrees, similar to approximately 250 full moons.

Here's a batch of fresh news and announcements from across Imperial. From ultrafast probing pulses to a free AI algorithm that could find new medicines more efficiently, here is some quick-read news from across Imperial. W-boson mass measurement   The Standard Model of particle physics - which describes all the subatomic particles and forces we know about - has triumphed again.

Researchers from the University of Glasgow's School of Physics & Astronomy have played a leading role in an experiment which has opened up a new perspective on the complex world of quantum physics using data from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). ATLAS is a general-purpose particle detector at CERN's LHC in Geneva.

A breakthrough in quantum technology research could help realise a new generation of precise quantum sensors that can operate at room temperature. The research-carried out by an international team of researchers from the University of Glasgow, Imperial College London, and UNSW Sydney-shows how the quantum states of molecules can be controlled and sensitively detected under ambient conditions.

Scientists have developed a new way of searching for elusive dark matter, which makes up 85% of all matter in the Universe, using detectors that are meant to observe gravitational waves. The researchers, who were looking for a specific ultra-low-mass form of dark matter, reached a factor 10,000 improvement over previous world-leading results using Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) data from 2019-2020.

The first crystal structure of an alternative DNA shape from the insulin gene has been revealed by a UCL-led research team. DNA is widely accepted to be formed of two strands that wind around one another, known as a double helix, but it is possible for DNA to change shape and structure. The new study, published in Nature Communications , reveals the detail in the structure of a type of DNA called i-motif, by crystallising it for the first time.

A team of scientists from the University of Manchester has achieved a significant breakthrough in understanding lithium-ion storage within the thinnest possible battery anode - composed of just two layers of carbon atoms. Their research, published in Nature Communications , shows an unexpected 'in-plane staging' process during lithium intercalation in bilayer graphene, which could pave the way for advancements in energy storage technologies.

Here's a batch of fresh news and announcements from across Imperial. From brain fluid surgery to a lunar-Earth flyby from the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE), here is some quick-read news from across Imperial. Spacecraft slingshot success The European Space Agency (ESA) Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE), with Imperial kit on board , has successfully completed a world-first lunar-Earth flyby.

New results from the world's most sensitive dark matter detector narrow down the possibilities for what makes up our universe's invisible mass. Figuring out the nature of dark matter, the invisible substance that makes up most of the mass in our universe, is one of the greatest puzzles in physics. New results from the world's most sensitive dark matter detector, LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ), have put new limits on the potential properties of one of the leading dark matter candidates: weakly interacting massive particles, or WIMPs.

New research using neural networks, a form of brain-inspired AI, proposes a solution to the tough challenge of modelling the states of molecules. The research shows how the technique can help solve fundamental equations in complex molecular systems. This could lead to practical uses in the future, helping researchers to prototype new materials and chemical syntheses using computer simulation before trying to make them in the lab.