Physicists have revealed that the unusual decay of an “exotic” subatomic particle could offer new clues to its mysterious structure.

The discovery, reported by a team of physicists in a study published in Physical Review Letters, argues that it provides the first “crucial discrimination” between current theoretical models of a variety of subatomic particles known as the Ds(2317) meson.

Exotic Subatomic Mysteries

The new research has its beginnings more than two decades ago, with the initial detection of an unusual particle known as the Ds(2317) meson. Part of what makes this particle unique is the fact that it possesses one charm quark (or “c quark,” a kind of elementary particle) and one strange antiquark—the third lightest of all the known quarks.

It was deemed a major discovery at the time, and for good reason: it seemed to point at a significant discrepancy between the particle’s measured mass of 2.317 GeV/c2, and predictions based on estimates that placed it significantly higher, at around 2.4 GeV/c2.

Now, in a new study by researchers with the Belle and Belle II Collaboration, observations of previously undetected behaviors that include never-before-seen light-emissions during the particle’s decay have been described for the first time.

Based on their analysis, the team believes their new findings mark not only a significant first in the study of these particles, but that they may also help researchers solve the longstanding mystery involving apparent discrepancies between the observed and expected mass values for the Ds(2317) meson.

The findings, the team says, could also provide physicists with deeper insights into the fundamental forces that currently bind matter.

Unraveling a Baffling Discrepancy

The team approached the problem by first proposing a range of different models that could potentially describe the internal structure of the Ds(2317) meson. Of key importance was the fact that each of the different models allows researchers to predict a specific range of potential values for the particle’s decay.

This was achieved based on the probability that the Ds(2317 meson will decay by emitting a gamma ray, which was then divided by an entirely separate probability: that the particle would emit a pion—a type of meson with a mass roughly 270 times that of an electron—rather than a gamma ray.

Based on these two possibilities, the team determined that measurements indicating a ratio of greater than 8.1% would point to the likelihood that the meson represents a compact state involving quark-antiquark models.

However, if the calculated value turned out to be lower—specifically in the range of between 0.5% and 4.25%—that would instead favor models that describe the particle as functioning closer to being a sort of molecule-like state of two separate mesons.

Well Above Standard Deviations

With such values in mind, the team then went to work to determine which was more likely with help from data collected by the Japanese KEKB and SuperKEKB electron–positron colliders.

Using this information, the particle’s gamma-emitting decay was successfully detected, revealing a statistical significance above ten standard deviations. Next, the Belle and Belle II Collaboration conducted measurements that showed the decay ratio between photons and pions was close to 7%, placing the determined value smaller than the majority of quark-antiquark models, and at a greater value than those in the molecular models.

“This result provides crucial discrimination between theoretical models of the Ds(2317) structure,” the team writes.

Going forward, the researchers believe additional insights that may help to conclusively reveal the mysterious Ds(2317) meson’s structure may be achievable through more complete measurements of the particle’s decay rate.

The recent paper, “Observation of the Radiative Decay 𝐷*𝑠0(2317)+→𝐷*𝑠+𝛾,” appeared in Physical Review Letters.

Micah Hanks is the Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of The Debrief. A longtime reporter on science, defense, and technology with a focus on space and astronomy, he can be reached at micah@thedebrief.org. Follow him on X @MicahHanks, and at micahhanks.com.

It’s not the kind of thing astronomers expect to see while observing the powerful effects of a distant supermassive black hole: an unprecedented UFO sighting.

However, that’s precisely what one group of scientists now reports in a preprint paper, who detail the successful detection of one of the strongest UFOs—a black hole phenomenon otherwise known as “ultra-fast outflows”—that astronomers may have ever seen.

The landmark detection was made possible with the XMM-Newton space observatory and NuSTAR X-ray telescope, which allowed the researchers behind the discovery to observe a luminous quasar with origins that date back to “cosmic noon,” revealing a pair of outflow wind components being blasted from the black hole in question.

Cosmic Monsters with Major Appetites

Black holes have more than just large appetites for cosmic material: they also produce significant gas-driven winds from around their accretion disk.

These winds become known as ultra-fast outflows (UFOs) when their strength propels them to greater than ten percent of light speed, and astronomers currently believe they are an important part of what helps black holes regulate their growth, which may also hold for their host galaxies.

One way this occurs is that UFOs help to heat galactic gases that give rise to star formation, a quenching process that most astronomers believe occurred during a period called “cosmic noon,” which occurred between 1.6 and 3.5 billion years after the birth of the universe.

Cosmic Fingerprints of Powerful UFOs

Astronomers can detect ultra-fast outflows based on the “dips” they create in their powerful gusts, which are caused by ionized iron present in their outflow gases. These gases also absorb X-rays along their path away from their black hole originators, which leave “fingerprints” in the form of absorption features that are detectable using X-ray telescopes.

Significantly, these “dips” manifest as a blueshift since they are shifted to higher energies as they move at such high speeds (again, roughly 10% of the speed of light). From the blueshifted energy signatures they comprise, astronomers can determine not only the presence of UFOs, but also the wind speed of their gusty outflows.

In the past, most detections of these high-powered cosmic phenomena have relied on gravitationally lensed quasars. These celestial objects occur when a galaxy or similar feature closer to Earth appears in front of them, magnifying the quasar’s light and significantly brightening its luminosity from our Earthly perspective.

However, lensing of this variety can also present problems, and so astronomers led by Giorgio Lanzuisi of INAF Bologna designed a special system to target more than a dozen hyper-luminous quasars at cosmic noon, as a means of getting a better feel for the dynamics of non-lensed quasars.

“WISSHFUL” Thinking

WISSHFUL is an XMM-Newton multi-year heritage program that Lanzuisi and his colleagues designed for this purpose, whose initial target became a quasar designated WISSH13, whose redshift at 3.294 marks the object’s existence as it appeared approximately 2 billion years after the Big Bang.

WISH13’s black hole also weighs in at close to 2 billion times that of our Sun, which causes it to shine far brighter than normally expected for an object of its estimated mass.

Their work began in the autumn of 2024 by combining observations from XMM-Newton and NuSTAR initially obtained in 2017. From these X-ray images of WISSH12, a pair of distinctive absorption features became evident, which the team determined to have been generated by two separate sources from within the same ultra-fast outflow.

These components were found to travel at different speeds: one moving at close to 30% of the speed of light, while the other at only about 10% of light speed. The slower of these two appears to have been an enduring component of the UFO, while the faster one showed signatures that indicated a more recent appearance. This could mean that it emanates from events that are shorter in duration.

By matching theoretical predictions of a layered wind structure surrounding the black hole, the researchers say their observations align with models that indicate a fast-moving inner “spine” launched from the accretion disk’s innermost regions. Meanwhile, a slower outer “sheath” is also believed to emanate farther from the black hole. The combined outflow components produce an estimated 21 to 24 solar masses of material annually.

The Most Massive UFO Ever Observed? 

Such figures, the team says, represent what is believed to be among the most massive and energetic ultrafast outflows ever observed, a discovery which also marks the highest-redshift ultrafast outflow yet detected in a non-lensed quasar.

Despite their remarkable energetic output, the team says these outflow winds seem to conform to the same essential relationships observed in active galaxies much closer to Earth, suggesting that the processes driving these outflows have remained remarkably consistent across cosmic time.

Going forward, the team says they hope to make additional observations of these powerful cosmic phenomena with help from the new Athena X-ray mission, which they say could help uncover similar winds in even more distant quasars.

The team’s discoveries were detailed in a recent paper, “The WISSHFUL program: the highest redshift UFO discovered in a non-lensed QSO,” which appeared at the preprint arXiv.org server.

Micah Hanks is the Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of The Debrief. A longtime reporter on science, defense, and technology with a focus on space and astronomy, he can be reached at micah@thedebrief.org. Follow him on X @MicahHanks, and at micahhanks.com.

Scientists from Asia Pacific’s largest paint and coating manufacturer have developed a new “ultra-black” automotive coating using carbon nanotubes that absorbs over 99% of the light it receives, resulting in the darkest black of any currently available paint or coating.

The NIPSEA Group’s research team said its new ultra-black coating, which they describe as “deep, jet black,” meets stringent automotive standards, a critical requirement in markets like China, where trendy, luxury vehicles in the darkest colors are in high demand.

Carbon Nanotubes Absorb Light to Create Darkest Black “Ultra-Black” Coating

According to a statement announcing the new ultra-black coating, BMW first introduced a concept car in 2019 with a vertically aligned carbon nanotube (VACNT) array outer coating. Due to the unique material properties of carbon nanotubes, including the ability to bend or absorb light, the researchers said that its introduction “set off a race” among auto manufacturers to create a similar, ‘black hole’ effect with a pronounced dark appearance. 

“Automotive coating companies have been actively pursuing innovations in color technology to develop mass-processable ultra-black coating solutions with extreme blackness,” explained Zhiwei Liu, a research chemist with the company’s Color Technology Group, Core R&D, and an author on the study outlining the new coating.

The researchers note that ultra-black coatings are in unusually high demand in Asian countries, where having the darkest vehicle can represent a status symbol. has become a “key selling point” in China.

“Deep black finishes have long been the premium choice and signature color for luxury cars due to their elegant appearance, powerful visual impact, and luxurious undertone,” the researcher explained.

Although scientists have explored more practical ways to achieve the desired ultra-black effect, the new research once again leverages the unusual properties of carbon nanotubes to create an ultra-black coating that is darker than even the darkest commercially available alternative.

Creating a Stable Composite That Meets Automotive Standards

According to the team’s statement, they began by exploring methods to combine the benefits of carbon nanotubes with a black pigment that would serve as the coating’s color base. Critically, the team needed to create a nano-sized carbon black pigment-carbon nanotube composite that was also stable at a wide range of temperatures. and moisture conditions.

After exploring several formulations, Liu and colleagues succeeded in a stable nanotube-pigment composite. Next, the team incorporated the new carbon nanotube-based mixture into a coating binder and sprayed it onto a model car.

Because the new ultra-black coating uses structural absorption of light rather than the carbon black dispersion method used in current approaches, tests revealed an average absorption of 99.90% across all visible wavelengths. The team said its new coating also displayed “excellent long-term stability” during water and humidity tests.

Although the light absorption levels set a new standard for the darkest achievable automotive coating, Liu said advancements in dispersing technology and equipment leave his team “room for improvements.” The researcher highlighted potential advancements in “practical processability of carbon-nanotube-containing nanomaterials.”

Liu and colleagues also noted that increasing the proportion of carbon nanotubes in the material could further increase its light-absorbing capacity. However, they conceded, this approach “would also bring difficulties in industrial-grade processability.”

Future Improvements Include Even Darker Multi-Layer Options

When discussing potential future improvements, the team said scientists could fabricate multilayered ultra-black coatings. In theory, they note that this approach could result in a “gradient refractive index that reduces interface reflection and further enhances light absorption efficiency,” producing an even darker look than their single-layer version.

Although the ultra-black automotive coating is not yet commercially available, the team said they have already completed a “proof of concept” manufacturing design. Still, they conceded, given technical and regulatory challenges that remain, “it may still be a while before ultra-black cars made with this film will be able to hit the road.”

“Further efforts will focus on the verification of coating application window and the comprehensive film performance validations of carbon black pigment-carbon nanotube composite-based ultra-black automotive coating,” Liu concluded.

The study “Robust ultra-black automotive coating with structural absorption and high absorption efficiency based on waterborne carbon black/CNT composite” was published in Matter & Light.

Christopher Plain is a Science Fiction and Fantasy novelist and Head Science Writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his books at plainfiction.com, or email him directly at christopher@thedebrief.org.

A new material, inspired by the frustratingly powerful strength of a tangled ball of staples, could represent the future of flexible, adaptable design.

Published in the Journal of Applied Physics, material scientists and engineers from the University of Colorado Boulder’s Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering revealed an interlocking particle design that can be shaped into rigid structures, and then return to a pile of loose pieces with only a targeted movement or vibration.

The particles, the team says, could potentially be used as a building material with high strength and flexibility, capable of reshaping into new forms on command.

Staple Ball Strength

The difficulty of separating tangled metal, such as a cluster of standard office staples, intrigued the researchers enough to investigate how interlocking particles could be used in recyclable construction. Such techniques are found in nature, as birds weave together found objects to create strong structures to protect their young.

On the level of particles, interlocking such elements is called “entanglement,” and is a relatively new focus for material scientists.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

“We’ve been playing around with the idea of building blocks and geometry for many years, but we started looking at interlocking, entangled particles only recently,” said Professor Francois Barthelat, the leader of the Laboratory for Advanced Materials & Bioinspiration.

“We are excited about the combination of properties we can get out of these systems, and we believe this technology has the potential to go in many directions,” Barthelat said.

Manufacturing Entanglement

While entanglement occurs naturally, as in the combination of soft protein and hard minerals that interlock to form bones, producing it artificially requires a careful understanding of how these interactions work. According to the team, particle shape is the most foundational element to natural entanglement.

“Let’s take sand as an example,” says PhD student Youhan Sohn. “Sand is smooth and convex-shaped, meaning it cannot interlock from grain to grain.”

“However, we found that if we change the shape of a grain of sand, we can drastically affect its behavior and mechanical properties, including the particle’s ability to link with other particles,” Sohn adds.

With shape decided as the researcher’s primary focus, they began running computer models, called Monte Carlo simulations, to observe how various potential shapes would interact, aiming to identify the optimal entanglement geometry. The shape their research settled on was remarkably similar to that of a staple: a particle with two legs.

Laboratory Material Experiments

After achieving success in the digital realm, the researchers fabricated the shape in the real world to test its behavior under practical conditions. During these tests, the team discovered that their optimized shape contained even more beneficial qualities than they had initially understood.

Conventional materials typically experience a trade-off between toughness and tensile strength. Typically, materials that are extremely tough and can absorb large amounts of energy are also quite brittle, lacking the ability to stretch or bend. However, this staple-like particle design exhibits an unusually high amount of both properties simultaneously.

“Our entangled granular material using the staple-like particle demonstrates both high strength and toughness at the same time,” said PhD student Saeed Pezeshki.

Additionally, they discovered that applying different vibrational patterns would change the particles’ degree of entanglement, allowing the team to assemble and disassemble a shape instantly. Applying a light vibration caused the pieces to interlock, whereas a heavy vibration untangled them as a pile of loose particles.

Material Applications

“No binder is required, so particles can be rapidly assembled in an infinite number of shapes, which can be reconfigured with appropriate mechanical stimuli, making them attractive for lightweight and reversible materials and structures and aggregate architectures,” the authors recently wrote.

“The fundamental understanding of entanglement gained in this project is also relevant to other physical systems, including biological structures, ‘living’ entangled matter, robotic materials, as well as colloidal assemblies,” the authors add.

“It’s a strange material because it’s obviously not a liquid. However, it’s also not quite solid,” Barthelat said. “This opens new and intriguing engineering possibilities.”

“Handling a bundle of these entangled particles feels very remote and exotic,” he added.

The paper, “Combined Effects of Particle Geometry and Applied Vibrations on the Mechanics and Strength of Entangled Materials,” appeared in the Journal of Applied Physics on April 14, 2026.

Ryan Whalen covers science and technology for The Debrief. He holds an MA in History and a Master of Library and Information Science with a certificate in Data Science. He can be contacted at ryan@thedebrief.org, and follow him on Twitter @mdntwvlf.

A new 3D image projection system from researchers at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering and the California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) marks a major step toward overcoming a longstanding problem for holographic technology.

Professor Aydogan Ozcan led the work reported in a recent paper published in Light Science and Applications, which describes the team’s new snapshot 3D image projection system, solving one of the technology’s most daunting issues.

“These results establish the diffractive 3D display system as a compact and scalable framework for depth-resolved snapshot 3D image projection, with potential applications in holographic displays, AR/VR interfaces, and volumetric optical computing,” the authors write.

3D Image Challenges

While 3D films viewed wearing special glasses were popular a decade ago, this type of 3D image projection is something more akin to the holodeck on Star Trek, projecting sophisticated, real-time images. While advances have been made in bringing such technology to life, many obstacles remain to creating convincing three-dimensional projections.

The snapshot 3D image projection system described in the paper combines a digital encoder with a passive optical decoder and uses a deep learning algorithm that operates end-to-end to overcome one of holography’s greatest challenges. 

Interplane cross-talk is one of the main issues associated with 3D image projection. As 3D objects are sliced up and images projected at various depths, elements from one image can leak through to the image in front of it, destroying the illusion of a solid object existing in three-dimensional space. 

Improving Holographic Technology

In the new system, an image first enters the encoder, which uses a Fourier-based neural network to separate spatial and frequency features into a stack of images. It then analyzes the positions where the images will be projected to simultaneously generate a 3D visual. Then the images are decoded and projected onto structurally optimized surfaces, where the depth-dependent field programming occurs as the light propagates.

The deep learning algorithm, building on recent advances in combining machine learning and 3D projection, optically routes the image slice to its correct depth while adjusting for in-plane leakage.

Together, this system creates a compact, high-fidelity display in a single shot, combining closely spaced axial planes to create the illusion of a three-dimensional object from projected light. These improvements provide for a more natural depth perception and increase visual comfort for the viewer.

The Future of 3D Image Technology

Advancing 3D imaging technology is essential for a variety of emerging applications, including augmented reality, virtual reality, holography, and immersive visualization. The rapid degradation of image fidelity caused by light bleed has been one of the primary issues impeding progress in these fields.

So far, the researchers have demonstrated their multi-plane snapshot image projection with a model of volumetric scenes comprising 28 axial slices. They also constructed a simpler real-world prototype to validate the model, made of only two planes. Experiments with the prototype corroborated the model’s results, producing outputs that matched the simulated numbers and achieved a similar image quality. Additionally, when the team ran their prototype against a projection without a diffractive decoder, their device exhibited considerably superior performance.

Between the simulations and laboratory tests on a physical prototype, the team has demonstrated that their work is scalable yet compact, enabling a 3D display with high axial resolution. In their current form, the researchers see near-eye displays, microscopy, and volumetric optical computing as the primary use cases, but continued development could open possibilities for multi-perspective holography and energy-efficient 3D systems.

The paper, “Snapshot 3D Image Projection Using a Diffractive Decoder,” appeared in Light Science and Applications on June 10, 2026.

Ryan Whalen covers science and technology for The Debrief. He holds an MA in History and a Master of Library and Information Science with a certificate in Data Science. He can be contacted at ryan@thedebrief.org, and follow him on Twitter @mdntwvlf.

A research team from Wessex Archaeology, led by Phil Harding, has announced the discovery of a Stonehenge ‘prototype’ structure, similarly aligned with the solstices, that may have served as an early proof of concept for the more famous structure built 500 years later.

The team behind the historic discovery said that the ancient date represents the earliest known alignment with the solstices and offers potential insights into the religion, belief systems, scientific knowledge, and worship practices of the ancient monument builders.

Location of Stonehenge Prototype Excavated a Decade Earlier

According to a statement announcing the discovery of the Stonehenge prototype, the structure is located 5 kilometers from the better-known stone circle. They also note that Stonehenge’s earliest earthworks were beginning construction around this same time.

Previous expeditions to the site conducted between 2015 and 2017 unearthed 48 pits, which those researchers dated to more than 2,000 years before the new find, or roughly 2,950 BCE. Still, the team notes that earlier efforts uncovered samples of pottery, animal bones, flints, and charcoal, suggesting that “large numbers of people gathered here over a relatively short period of time” to celebrate the longest day of the year.

Notably, one of the pits unearthed in the earlier excavations included what the team described as a possible “viewing station.” The pit also contained a disc-shaped knife, which the team notes “was deliberately placed here possibly as a symbolic reference to the sun disc.”

Still, the original effort left several tantalizing clues, leading to the new excavations.

Wooden Poles Align With the Solstices to Within One Degree

Instead of exploring the previously discovered pits, the team focused on the rest of the site. This effort led to the discovery of a pair of wooden pole pits placed 120 meters apart. According to the Wessex Archaeology team’s statement, the site’s ancient builders positioned the poles in the pits “to form a line pointing directly at the rising sun during the summer solstice and at the setting sun during (the) winter solstice.”

Although little of the structure remains, except for the pits where the poles once stood, the team was able to extract enough organic material to date the likely construction period of the structure. A radiocarbon analysis showed that the summer solstice poles were likely set around 5,000 years ago, more than 2,000 years earlier than the other pits at the same site. Perhaps even more surprisingly, the date placed the construction of the wooden poles roughly 500 years before ancient engineers built the world-famous site of Stonehenge.

To confirm the astronomical alignment, the team reached out to archaeologist Fabio Silva. According to the team’s statement, Dr. Silva, a Skyscape Archaeologist at Stone x Sky and the Skyscape Academy, used ancient reconstructions of the sky and the landscape to show that the structure would have aligned with the summer solstice “within an accuracy of one degree.”

When discussing the site’s potential uses, the researchers note that it would have served as a temporary gathering place for ancient celebrations of the summer and winter solstices until a more permanent structure could take its place. They even suggest that a similar structure may have been used in Stonehenge’s earliest phases, while conceding that traces of any similar alignment would have been erased by later construction.

Harding, who led the excavations, said the discovery of a possible Stonehenge prototype “is probably one of the greatest finds of my career,” while adding that the early date is what makes it so exceptional.

“Up till now, our knowledge of this ancient feat of astronomy was based on Stonehenge and other monuments of a similar period, but what we’ve discovered at Bulford is 500 years earlier than the famous stones we know so well,” Harding explained. “It makes me incredibly proud to be an archaeologist.”

“Part of a Much Longer Conversation Between People, the Land, and the Sky”

Although the ancient structure revealed a scientific knowledge predating Stonehenge by several centuries, Dr Matt Leivers, Senior Research Manager at Wessex Archaeology, said the discovery of a clearly religious site is “fundamental” because it is the earliest example of people building structures at this historically significant location “that aim directly at the solstice.”

“When we talk about the solstice, we’re talking about religion,” Dr. Leivers said. “About how prehistoric peoples understood the cosmos, the world, and their place in it.”

“It’s likely their way of saying to their deities, please keep us in mind, keep us warm and safe,” he added.

Dr Silva noted the historical significance in relation to Stonehenge, since the site shows that ancient communities “were already engaging with both the summer and winter solstices” in the same general area hundreds of years before the larger, more famous stones were put in place. The researcher also said the findings allow historians to see Stonehenge as more than a singular creation, but “as part of a much longer conversation between people, the land, and the sky.”

“Rather than marking the beginning of a story, Stonehenge now more clearly appears to have emerged from traditions and practices with much deeper roots in this landscape,” Dr. Silva concluded.

Christopher Plain is a Science Fiction and Fantasy novelist and Head Science Writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his books at plainfiction.com, or email him directly at christopher@thedebrief.org.