news

A radical theory that consistently unifies gravity and quantum mechanics while preserving Einstein's classical concept of spacetime is announced today in two papers published simultaneously by UCL physicists. Modern physics is founded upon two pillars: quantum theory on the one hand, which governs the smallest particles in the universe, and Einstein's theory of general relativity on the other, which explains gravity through the bending of spacetime.

A radical theory that consistently unifies gravity and quantum mechanics while preserving Einstein's classical concept of spacetime is announced today in two papers published simultaneously by UCL physicists. Modern physics is founded upon two pillars: quantum theory on the one hand, which governs the smallest particles in the universe, and Einstein's theory of general relativity on the other, which explains gravity through the bending of spacetime.

An entirely new way to probe how active black holes behave when they eat has been discovered by an international team of astronomers. A sample of active black holes at the centre of 136 galaxies were found to shine in microwave and X-ray light in the same way, no matter their appetite for the surrounding galactic matter like clouds of gas and dust.

Luminous fast blue optical transients are characterized by their intense blue light and are amongst the brightest known optical phenomena in the universe. They evolve rapidly, reaching peak brightness and fading again in a matter of days, unlike supernovae which take weeks or months. Image credit: NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/M.

A form of brain-inspired computing that exploits the intrinsic physical properties of a material to dramatically reduce energy use is now a step closer to reality, thanks to a new study led by UCL and Imperial College London researchers. Such an approach, known as physical reservoir computing, has until now been limited due to its lack of reconfigurability.

The European Space Agency (ESA) mission Euclid, whose massive optical camera was built by an international team led by UCL researchers, has released its first full-colour images of the cosmos. This is the first time a telescope has been able to create such razor-sharp astronomical images across such a large patch of the sky, and looking so far into the distant Universe.

"Understanding the connection between electronic and ion transport properties in electrode-electrolyte interfaces at the molecular scale could enable new strategies to accelerate processes central to many renewable energy technologies, including hydrogen generation and utilisation." Researchers from the National Graphene Institute at the University of Manchester have discovered a way to use light to accelerate proton transport through graphene , which could revolutionise the way we generate hydrogen.

With bonfire night on the horizon, scientists reveal just why fireworks are differently coloured and what this can teach us about stars in space. Elements commonly found in salts are used to make the colours in fireworks. The colours are caused when the elements are heated, causing them to release light in different colours, from bright blues to deep reds.

Planetary scientists including UCL's Professor Steve Miller have detected the infrared aurorae of the ice giant Uranus after searching for more than 30 years, in a new study published in Nature Astronomy. On Earth, the Northern and Southern Lights (aurorae) occur as a result of the interaction between the stream of charged particles known as the solar wind and our magnetic field, which funnels the particles in our atmosphere around the poles.

· Scientists will develop a universal code for computer simulations which improve our understanding of the quantum world · This will help researchers across the world collaborate on experiments to make use of quantum effects · Many important new technologies - like quantum computing and generating clean energy - are based on understanding and controlling the dynamics of electrons, atoms and molecules For the first time, scientists will develop a universal software framework for simulations, removing many barriers that exist to achieving a deeper understanding across the quantum world.

The Moon is 40 million years older than scientists thought, new research reveals Published: 23 October 2023 New research on crystals brought back from the Moon by Apollo astronauts in 1972 has helped pinpoint the time of the Moon's formation to at least 4.46 billion years ago. More than 4 billion years ago, when the Solar System was still young and the Earth was still growing, a giant object the size of Mars crashed into the Earth.

Researchers from the University of Southampton, together with colleagues from the universities of Cambridge and Barcelona, have shown it's theoretically possible for black holes to exist in perfectly balanced pairs - held in equilibrium by a cosmological force - mimicking a single black hole. Black holes are massive astronomical objects that have such a strong gravitational pull that nothing, not even light, can escape.

Researchers have shown how the principles of rogue waves - huge 30-metre waves that arise unexpectedly in the ocean - can be applied on a nano scale, with dozens of applications from medicine to manufacturing. Long considered to be a myth, rogue waves strike from comparably calm surroundings, smashing oil rigs and ships in their path.

Astronomers have for the first time observed the collision of two ice-giant planets in a distant solar system, a process they believe planet Earth underwent when it was just a few million years old leading to the creation of our moon. The international team, which included an expert from Cardiff University's School of Physics and Astronomy, says the collision has revealed the signature of a new type of astronomical object - a synestia, which is composed of a cloud of molten and vapourised rock and shaped like a doughnut.

Physicists have shown that simulating models of hypothetical time travel can solve experimental problems that appear impossible to solve using standard physics. We are not proposing a time travel machine, but rather a deep dive into the fundamentals of quantum mechanics David Arvidsson-Shukur If gamblers, investors and quantum experimentalists could bend the arrow of time, their advantage would be significantly higher, leading to significantly better outcomes.

An international team of researchers has developed a new theoretical framework that bridges physics and biology to provide a unified approach for understanding how complexity and evolution emerge in nature. An international team of researchers has developed a new theoretical framework that bridges physics and biology to provide a unified approach for understanding how complexity and evolution emerge in nature.

Scientists have demonstrated the existence of gravity between antimatter and Earth, reaffirming Albert Einstein's General Theory of Relativity. It is thought that Isaac Newton's historic work on gravity was inspired by watching an apple fall to Earth from a tree. But for decades, scientists have wondered what would happen to an "anti-apple" made of antimatter - would it fall in the same way if it existed? Until now, the question has left scientists with an incomplete picture of the Universe's gravitating content.

Astronomers have for the first time discovered carbon-based molecules in the atmosphere of an exoplanet in the habitable zone. The international team, which includes Cardiff University astrophysicist Dr Subi Sarkar, used data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to detect methane and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of K2-18 b. Orbiting a red-dwarf star 124 light years away in the constellation of Leo, K2-18 b is a 'sub-Neptune' exoplanet 2.6 times the size of Earth and 8.6 times the mass of Earth.

Storing renewable energy as hydrogen could soon become much easier thanks to a new catalyst based on single atoms of platinum. The new catalyst, designed by researchers at City University Hong Kong (CityU) and tested by colleagues at Imperial College London, could be cheaply scaled up for mass use. The new electrocatalyst could be a major contributor to ultimately helping the UK meet its net-zero goals by 2050.

New research by the University of Liverpool's Chemistry Department represents an important breakthrough in the field of polymer science. In a paper published in the journal Nature Chemistry, and featuring on the front cover, Liverpool researchers use mechanochemistry to characterise how a polymer chain in solution responds to a sudden acceleration of the solvent flow around it.