Artificial intelligence and machine learning are rapidly transforming scientific research, with researchers across multiple areas of physics leading the development and application of these tools. To meet the needs of this fast-growing research community, the American Physical Society is launching PRX Intelligence, a highly selective open access journal that will welcome manuscripts on AI and machine learning methods and their application to advance scientific understanding. The journal will accept submissions starting February 2026.

When cells face a lack of oxygen, they switch to energy-saving mode: A team at Bielefeld University shows how they deliberately slow down their secretory transport pathway to do so.

Move over, colonoscopies — researchers report in ACS Sensors that they’ve developed a sensor made of tiny microspheres packed with blood-sensing bacteria that detect markers of gastrointestinal disease. Taken orally, the miniature “pills” also contain magnetic particles that make them easy to collect from stool. Once excreted from mouse models with colitis, the bacterial sensor detected gastrointestinal bleeding within minutes. The researchers say the bacteria in the sensor could be adapted to detect other gut diseases.

Wiley announces the release of additional data to its IR, Raman, LC-MS, and SmartSpectra libraries, significantly broadening compound coverage.

Electronics traditionally rely on harnessing the electron’s charge, but researchers are now exploring the possibility of harnessing its other intrinsic properties. In a recent study, scientists from Japan demonstrated that sound waves in certain solids can generate orbital currents—flow of electron orbital angular momentum. Their findings establish a foundation realizing next-generation ‘orbitronic’ devices using existing acoustic technology.

Researchers discovered that the magnetic component of light plays a direct role in the Faraday Effect, overturning a 180-year-old assumption that only its electric field mattered. Their findings show that light can magnetically influence matter, not just illuminate it. The discovery opens new possibilities in optics, spintronics, and quantum technologies.

Researchers from the SNI network have discovered a novel way to fuse lipid vesicles at neutral pH. By harnessing a fragment of the diphtheria toxin, the team achieved vesicle membrane fusion without the need for pre-treatment or harsh conditions. Their work, recently published in Communications Chemistry, opens the door to new applications in lab-on-a-chip technologies, biosensors, and artificial cell prototypes.

Producing this critical item consumes vast amounts of electricity, with current electrodes relying on noble metals that are costly and limited. However, a research group has used “volcano” modeling to identify new catalyst candidates that do not require scarce metals.