physics

Used bookstores across Japan are reporting a fivefold surge in sales as bulk buyers purchase books by the ton, including one order of 50 tons shipped to the United States. The buyers are believed to be feeding the books into scanning facilities for AI training data, after which the physical copies are destroyed.

Apple Music is set to open a new concert venue at Battersea Power Station in London. The venue would give the tech giant a physical space for live performances and events, adding to the landmark building's growing mix of shops, offices and entertainment. Details on capacity and opening date were not immediately given, and reaction is still forming.

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.

Researchers have used a quantum computer to simulate particles of matter effectively appearing out of nothing, modelling a phenomenon where virtual particles become real in rapidly changing fields. The demonstration offers a new way to study extreme quantum physics that was previously out of reach of experiments, though detailed findings have not yet been widely reported.

A new study suggests a widely used dietary supplement can increase muscle strength even in people who do not exercise, according to a report by ScienceAlert. The finding is drawing attention because it challenges the usual assumption that strength gains require physical training, though details of which supplement, how the study was run, and how large the effect is have not been spelled out.

The Pentagon is requesting $30.3 million over five years to develop an AI-powered lie detector capable of reading body language remotely, without physical contact. The programme, called Polygraph Next, is included in the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency's 2027 budget request. The plan is drawing attention over privacy and reliability concerns, as critics question whether AI systems can accurately judge deception from a distance.

A project called Roboharm is asking whether frontier robot policies, the AI models now being wired into embodied machines, actually refuse unsafe instructions. It examines how large models behave when given harmful physical commands, a question that matters as robots move into homes and workplaces. The work is drawing attention among AI safety and robotics researchers discussing whether current safeguards transfer to the physical world.

Researchers have reported a key early-universe measurement determined with record-breaking precision. The result refines scientists' understanding of conditions shortly after the Big Bang, though details of which quantity was measured and by which team were not provided. Such precision advances are closely watched in physics because they can confirm the standard cosmological model or expose gaps where new physics might be hiding.

Big technology companies are assessing physical security risks as the conflict involving Iran escalates, with the Strait of Hormuz identified as the center of the crisis. Analysts point to immediate impacts on global markets and growing concerns over energy supply, as the strait remains a critical route for oil shipments and infrastructure tied to the tech industry's operations and data centers in the region.

Brazil's CNPEM research centre is collaborating with CERN on superconducting magnet technology for a proposed 91km particle collider. The partnership would connect Brazilian scientists to the world's leading high-energy physics laboratory as CERN develops advanced magnets for a future circular collider larger than the LHC. Details of funding and scope remain limited, but the announcement signals growing international participation in next-generation collider research.

Quanta Magazine reports that although biology itself may not rely on quantum effects, the mathematics used to describe biological systems closely resembles quantum formalism. Researchers are applying quantum-like mathematical frameworks to model biological processes, suggesting deep structural parallels between the two fields even where physical quantum effects are absent.

Financial advisers are being urged to treat climate as a systemic risk that touches every client holding, rather than a standalone thematic investment. The argument is that climate exposure now affects valuations, insurance costs and regulation across whole portfolios, so it should be built into standard asset allocation and risk analysis instead of being handled through separate ESG or sustainability sleeves.

Researchers studying a Siberian lake report new insights into how microbial communities rebuild after the lake underwent a rare full overturn, an event in which the entire water column mixes and disrupts layered habitats. The findings shed light on ecosystem resilience in extreme environments and how microscopic life re-establishes itself after major physical disturbance.

Skild AI reports that its robot was trained with only the score as a reward, and that dribbling and tackling behaviours emerged on their own rather than being explicitly programmed. The claim highlights how reinforcement learning can produce complex motor skills without step-by-step instruction. It is drawing attention as an example of emergent behaviour in robotics and physical AI systems.

Claude has reportedly computed a nine-loop scattering amplitude in physics, surpassing a long-standing record associated with Lance Dixon. The result concerns perturbative quantum field theory, where multi-loop amplitude calculations are notoriously difficult. Physicists are discussing whether an AI system genuinely produced a correct result at this complexity level, or whether the claim requires independent verification before it can be accepted by the community.

Robotics startup Midcentury has come out of stealth with a $15 million seed round aimed at solving one of the field's biggest constraints: the shortage of usable training data for physical AI systems. The funding, reported by Ventureburn, positions the young company among a growing wave of startups betting that better data infrastructure will unlock progress in real-world robotics.

A man accused of attacking a murder suspect during a brawl inside an Arizona courtroom has been released. The incident involved a physical altercation during what was presumably a court proceeding, and authorities have since let the man go without further action being reported. Details about injuries or whether the murder suspect was affected have not been disclosed.