Department of Physics and Astronomy Archives - News Center

Solifluction-formed wave patterns on an Alaskan hillslope with a house a pickup truck at the base.

Science & Technology

Why icy landscapes can behave like oobleck

September 25, 2026

URochester researchers use mathematical modeling to explore how wave-like soil patterns form—and what they could reveal about landscape stability.

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope suspended inside a large clean room at Goddard Space Flight Center as technicians work nearby.

Science & Technology

Helping NASA see the universe in a new light

August 28, 2026

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will let scientists survey the cosmos like never before, thanks in part to dozens of URochester alumni.

An advanced robotic arm with its finger outstretched reaches toward a human arm. The point where they almost connect shows AI and symbols representing mathematical models

Science & Technology

Can AI want something? URochester awarded Templeton Foundation grant to find out

The funding launches a new institute to investigate one of science’s biggest mysteries: the difference between life and machines.

Young woman deeply engaged with her smartphone, seen through a distorted, swirling blur effect to illustrate the concept of social media echo chambers.

Society & Culture

Your social media feed is built to agree with you. What if it didn’t?

February 10, 2026

A new study points to algorithm design as a potential way to reduce echo chambers—and polarization—online.

Five unsinkable metal tubes bound together and seen from above floating in water with bubbles nearby and an overall blue cast.

Science & Technology

Scientists engineer unsinkable metal tubes

January 27, 2026

The superhydrophobic design could lead to resilient ships, floating platforms, and renewable energy innovations.

Illustration of Earth, the sun, and the moon, with atmospheric particles flying about them to illustrate how lunar soil ended up with particles from Earth.

Science & Technology

Earth’s atmosphere may help support human life on the moon

December 11, 2025

New research shows that Earth’s magnetic field has helped deliver atmospheric particles to the lunar surface over billions of years.

Adam Frank against a white background an a thought bubble that reads: "ever wonder do aliens exist"?

Science & Technology

Are aliens real? Do aliens exist? Technosignatures may hold new clues

November 23, 2025

URochester astrophysicist Adam Frank searches for traces of advanced technology—and, by extension, alien life—on exoplanets.

Inside a grating compressor chamber.

Science & Technology

URochester researcher joins global effort to advance quantum electrodynamics

November 10, 2025

Antonino Di Piazza leads on theory for a multimillion-dollar project exploring the limits of light–matter interaction.

Machiel Blok, whose research builds on the fundamentals of quantum tunneling, in front of a BlueFors dilution refrigerator smiles and looks at the camera.

Science & Technology

Quantum tunneling: URochester physicist explains a Nobel Prize–winning discovery

October 7, 2025

Machiel Blok’s research in superconducting circuits builds on the same quantum effects recognized by the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics.

John Nichol smiling against a white background next to a thought bubble that says "what is quantum" near text that reads "ever wonder" for an explainer about quantum computing.

Science & Technology

Why the future of computing is quantum

September 24, 2025

The strengths and limitations of computing advances are pushing the boundaries of what quantum machines can do.