physics

Big Tech companies are reportedly assessing physical security risks tied to the escalating conflict with Iran, with the Strait of Hormuz identified as the center of the crisis. The situation is having an immediate impact on global markets and raising concerns about energy supplies, adding infrastructure and personnel risks to the industry's war-related worries.

The Pentagon is requesting $30.3 million over five years to develop an AI-powered lie detector that can read body language remotely without physical contact. The programme, named Polygraph Next, appears in the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency's 2027 budget request. The plan is drawing attention over privacy and accuracy concerns, as AI-based deception detection remains scientifically contested and the technology could be applied to people without their knowledge or consent.

A new report examines how major technology companies are confronting physical security risks tied to the ongoing conflict involving Iran. The analysis also assesses Iran's broader political, economic, and military resilience, and outlines the limits of US military power in the Middle East as the war continues.

New research highlights that people living with severe mental illness die more than 10 years earlier than the general population. Researchers point to contributing factors behind the gap, which is widely attributed in the field to physical health conditions going undertreated, higher rates of smoking and cardiovascular disease, medication side effects, and poorer access to healthcare. The finding has renewed calls to close the life-expectancy gap for this group.

Iraq and the United States have agreed to resume shipments of US dollar cash into Iraq, according to Middle East Monitor. The move matters because Iraq relies heavily on physical dollars for banking and currency exchange, and earlier halts to cash deliveries strained the country's financial system and contributed to pressure on the Iraqi dinar.

A physicist challenged an AI model to solve a nine-loop problem, an extremely demanding calculation in theoretical physics, and reports that Claude succeeded. The claim has drawn attention because such multi-loop computations typically require specialist tools and expertise. Observers are debating how capable frontier AI models have become at real scientific work, and what this means for the future of theoretical physics research.

Niantic Spatial says its spatial AI technology, built on large-scale 3D mapping of the real world, will be used to power robots operating in physical environments. The move marks an expansion of the company's spatial intelligence work beyond its mapping roots. Attention is focused on how spatial AI could give robots better real-world understanding and navigation.

Researchers have used a quantum computer to simulate how matter can emerge from pure energy, a process linked to pair production in which energetic particles such as photons convert into particle-antiparticle pairs. The demonstration shows how quantum hardware can model fundamental physics processes that are extremely difficult to capture with classical computers, offering a new tool for studying high-energy phenomena.

An AI system has reportedly set a record by independently computing a 9-loop physics amplitude, a Feynman diagram calculation far beyond typical human work. Most real-world perturbative calculations in quantum field theory stop at 2 or 3 loops due to their complexity. The result highlights how machine learning is beginning to automate some of the most demanding mathematical tasks in theoretical physics.

Scientists are examining whether detonating a nuclear bomb could be used to deflect or destroy an asteroid on a collision course with Earth, an idea long explored in fiction now under serious study. French science media are discussing how such a planetary defence plan would work, the physics involved, and what testing it would actually entail.

A benchmark called RoboHarm is examining whether frontier AI models driving robots actually refuse unsafe or harmful instructions. The work asks how well safety training carries over from chatbots to physical systems, where a refusal failure could mean real-world damage or injury. It is drawing attention among robotics and AI safety researchers who argue embodied refusal is under-tested compared with text-based harms.

The Albuquerque Journal takes readers inside Sandia National Laboratories' Z machine in New Mexico, the world's most powerful pulsed-power facility. Originally built to study materials under nuclear weapons conditions, the device is now central to research on fusion energy, exploring how the same physics that powers warheads could one day deliver clean, abundant power.

Sellers across the European Union must now display guarantee notices both in physical shops and online, with a compliance deadline of seven days. The requirement stems from EU consumer protection rules on legal guarantees, aimed at making buyers' rights clearer at the point of sale. The brief coverage so far gives no further detail on enforcement or penalties.

A Quanta Magazine article explaining the holographic principle in physics is being discussed on Hacker News. The idea is that gravity in a volume of space can be described by information encoded on that volume's boundary, as in the AdS/CFT correspondence, suggesting three-dimensional reality may emerge from lower-dimensional information. Commenters on the post are debating what this implies about the fundamental nature of space, time and whether reality is a projection.

CERN's Large Hadron Collider is beginning its disconnection process, marking a pause in operations at the world's largest particle accelerator. The shutdown is part of the collider's planned cycle of maintenance and upgrades between experimental runs, allowing scientists to improve the machine before the next round of particle collisions. Observers are watching what the pause means for physics research.

Brazil's CNPEM research centre is working with CERN on magnet technology for a proposed 91-kilometre collider, a scale of machine far beyond today's accelerators. The collaboration ties Brazilian superconducting research into the Future Circular Collider effort, and physicists are watching how magnet development for such a huge ring progresses.

Caleb Flynn's murder trial is proceeding without a confirmed murder weapon, shifting attention to his alleged affair and his claim that an intruder was responsible. Prosecutors and defense lawyers are building their cases around these circumstances instead of physical ballistic or forensic weapon evidence, and the case is drawing attention for its unusual lack of a key piece of evidence.

Quanta Magazine reports that while quantum effects in biology remain unproven, the mathematics used to model biological systems increasingly resembles quantum formalism. Researchers are applying quantum-like mathematical frameworks to describe how living systems behave, bridging physics and biology without claiming organisms actually exploit quantum mechanics. The piece is drawing attention on tech and science discussion forums, where readers are debating whether these tools reveal deep parallels or are just convenient analogies.

Startup Midcentury has raised a $15 million seed round to build training data for physical AI systems such as robots and autonomous machines. The funding signals continued investor appetite for startups supplying high-quality data to the physical AI sector, where collecting real-world sensor and motion data is considered a key bottleneck for training capable models.

India head coach Gautam Gambhir is making player fitness the central priority in the team's buildup to the 2027 ICC Cricket World Cup. The approach signals that selection and workload management will be tied closely to physical readiness, with the tournament in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia seen as the long-term target for the squad's core players.

Sylvester Stallone says he developed bulimia while preparing for the 'Rocky' movies and also used steroids to get in shape for the iconic boxing role. In extreme training for the films, he restricted his eating to dangerous levels, describing a regimen that damaged his health. The candid admission sheds new light on the physical toll behind one of Hollywood's most famous franchises.

The soundtrack compilation 'GTA 6: The Album' will be released physically on vinyl and CD, according to Mashable. Physical editions of video game soundtracks have become popular collector's items, and the Grand Theft Auto series has a long tradition of curated in-game radio music. Fans are discussing the announcement ahead of the game's release.

Reports describe a single photon that traveled roughly 2 billion light-years before reaching Earth, a journey that current physics supposedly says should not have been possible. The claim is circulating widely, but no specific observatory, source event, or research team has been named, so the finding's details and significance remain unverified.

Oregon's Paid Leave program is reminding residents that its benefits cover more than physical health: eligible workers can take up to 12 weeks of paid leave to receive treatment for mental health conditions or substance use. The coverage applies to care at licensed treatment facilities, and officials are highlighting the benefit as awareness grows around mental health needs in the workplace.

Cash hoarding is on the rise in the UK, and commentators argue it shows people still want money they can hold and use without asking permission from banks or authorities. The claim ties the surge in physical banknote holding to broader scepticism about financial institutions and renewed interest in alternative, permissionless forms of money.

Researchers report that a Siberian lake underwent a rare full overturn, a complete mixing of its water layers, and the event offers a natural experiment in how microbial communities recover afterward. The findings shed light on ecosystem resilience and how lake biology responds to sudden physical disturbance, drawing attention from scientists studying climate-sensitive freshwater systems.