https://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. A new computational model of the brain based closely on its biology and physiology has not only learned a simple visual category learning task exactly as well as lab animals, but even enabled the discovery of counterintuitive activity by a group of neurons that researchers working with animals to perform the same task had not noticed in their data before, reports a team of scientists at Dartmouth College, MIT, and the State University of New York at Stony Brook. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-biology-brain-animal-reveals-overlooked.html Molecular & Computational biology Mon, 29 Dec 2025 11:50:04 EST news686231021 The energy transition requires not only new sources but also efficient ways to store and transport energy. Scientists at Kiel University (CAU) have now developed a novel catalyst that can convert carbon dioxide (CO₂)—one of the most important greenhouse gases—into methane. This gas serves as a versatile energy carrier and can be directly fed into existing natural gas networks. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-catalyst-greenhouse-gas-energy-carrier.html Analytical Chemistry Tue, 14 Oct 2025 15:51:04 EDT news679675861 A newly launched supply ship has run into engine trouble that is preventing it from reaching the International Space Station. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-northrop-grumman-delay-delivery-international.html Space Exploration Wed, 17 Sep 2025 10:50:03 EDT news677324838 Plankton may be tiny, but they play an important role in the ocean. As the foundation of marine ecosystems, they support ocean food webs and help regulate Earth's climate by storing carbon. While lab studies have shown plankton can adjust their chemistry in response to environmental changes, a new global study reveals how these adaptations occur in the real ocean. The study will be published on May 23, 2025, in the journal Science Advances. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-plankton-cell-membrane-chemistry-temperature.html Ecology Fri, 23 May 2025 15:36:25 EDT news667233378 Laboratory experiments confirm the accuracy of numerical modeling in simulating coral bleaching, according to new research from Southern Cross University. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-tool-coral-reef-futures.html Ecology Tue, 15 Apr 2025 10:17:04 EDT news663931022 Imagine a world where every ship could become a science ship to help monitor and care for the ocean. https://phys.org/news/2025-02-hydrobox-ocean.html Ecology Thu, 27 Feb 2025 07:47:04 EST news659864821 Physics lab courses are vital to science education, providing hands-on experience and technical skills that lectures can't offer. Yet, it's challenging for those in Physics Education Research (PER) to compare course to course, especially since these courses vary wildly worldwide. https://phys.org/news/2024-12-global-physics-laboratory-classes.html Education Fri, 13 Dec 2024 14:18:47 EST news653321916 A small team of marine scientists from the University of the Ryukyus, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology and the Kuroshio Biological Research Foundation, has found that a worm species thought to be missing since 1957 has been appearing in photographs taken by citizen scientists for several years. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-worm-species-thought-photos-pygmy.html Plants & Animals Sun, 17 Nov 2024 10:40:01 EST news650889168 Tom Fernandez, an MSU professor in the Department of Horticulture, has spent much of his 25-year career at MSU studying how to effectively manage water in greenhouses and nurseries to increase water-use efficiency and reduce nutrient runoff. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-scientists-nutrient-efficiency-greenhouses-nurseries.html Agriculture Fri, 20 Sep 2024 12:44:04 EDT news646055041 Inside a UC Davis engineering lab, tiny round pellets swirl in a brown liquid inside a 5-liter glass tank. The tank, a bioreactor, is brewing edible fungi high in protein and designed to look and taste like meat. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-alternative-meat-demand.html Biotechnology Mon, 09 Sep 2024 13:28:43 EDT news645107316 Last year on a Friday evening, chemical biology researcher Josh Smalley was in the lab when he received a call inviting him to appear on the 14th and latest season of "The Great British Bake Off." Starting as one of a group of 12 amateur bakers, Smalley made it all the way to the final round, where the top three contestants compete for the winning spot. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-great-british-finalist-discusses-parallels.html Analytical Chemistry Thu, 20 Jun 2024 11:00:01 EDT news638093581 A research team led by the Texas A&M School of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences' (VMBS) Gastrointestinal Laboratory (GI Lab) has validated a new diagnostic index that will help veterinarians assess chronic GI dysfunction in dogs and may hold the key to diagnosing and treating GI disease in the future. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-method-chronic-gi-disease-dogs.html Plants & Animals Thu, 30 Nov 2023 06:28:32 EST news620548108 Researchers at McMaster University have discovered unique characteristics of a mechanism used by bacteria to resist an important class of antibiotics. The new research, published in Nature Chemical Biology, shows that resistance to aminoglycoside drugs—used to treat a variety of infections—is far more complex than initially thought. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-unicorn-defense-mechanism-bacteria-antibiotics.html Biochemistry Wed, 22 Nov 2023 16:58:58 EST news619894735 An international team of researchers including a team from the Center for the Advancement of Topological Semimetals (CATS), an Energy Frontier Research Center under the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science led by Ames National Laboratory, experimentally demonstrated a new type of nonlinear Hall effect. This Hall effect is driven by the quantum metric, which defines the distances between electronic wavefunctions inside a crystal. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-theoretical-illuminates-nonlinear-hall-effect.html Condensed Matter Mon, 30 Oct 2023 12:34:03 EDT news617888041 Research led by environmental health sciences (ENHS) associate professor Eric Vejerano has found that leaves are a source of biogenic persistent free radicals (BPFRs). Vejerano and Ph.D. in ENHS alumna Jeonghyeon Ahn published their findings in Environmental Science & Technology Letters. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-pile-leaf-litter-persistent-free.html Environment Fri, 27 Oct 2023 16:45:52 EDT news617643942 On Tuesday, Aug. 1, a major hardware update for NASA's Cold Atom Lab lifted off aboard a Northrop Grumman Cygnus resupply spacecraft on its way to the International Space Station. About the size of a small refrigerator, the lab is sometimes called the coolest place in the known universe because of its ability to chill atoms to almost absolute zero. It enables dozens of scientists on Earth to do experiments in quantum science, the study of the fundamental behaviors of atoms and particles that make up the world around us. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-nasa-space-based-quantum-science-lab.html Quantum Physics Mon, 07 Aug 2023 10:12:50 EDT news610621966 A new antimicrobial suture material that glows in medical imaging could be a promising alternative for mesh implants and internal stitches. https://phys.org/news/2023-01-smart-infection-op.html Bio & Medicine Tue, 31 Jan 2023 17:21:49 EST news594408100 Americans are generous when it comes to charitable giving, donating more than $480 billion in 2021 (or roughly 2% of GDP). Yet very few of those dollars reflect so-called effective giving, a term for donations that make greater cost-effective impact—for example, for work estimated to save more lives per available dollars. https://phys.org/news/2023-01-nudging-donors-effective.html Social Sciences Mon, 23 Jan 2023 10:55:19 EST news593693716 Newly discovered magnetic interactions in the Kagome layered topological magnet TbMn6Sn6 could be the key to customizing how electrons flow through these materials. Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory conducted an in-depth investigation of TbMn6Sn6 to better understand the material and its magnetic characteristics. These results could impact future technology advancements in fields such as quantum computing, magnetic storage media, and high-precision sensors. https://phys.org/news/2022-08-newly-magnetic-interactions-ways-electron.html Condensed Matter Thu, 18 Aug 2022 17:51:02 EDT news580063861 An ancient metal used for its microbial properties is the basis for a materials-based solution to disinfection. A team of scientists from Ames National Laboratory, Iowa State University, and University at Buffalo developed an antimicrobial spray that deposits a layer of copper nanowires onto high-touch surfaces in public spaces. The spray contains copper nanowires (CuNWs) or copper-zinc nanowires (CuZnNWs) and can form an antimicrobial coating on a variety of surfaces. This research was initiated by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the findings have wider-reaching applications. https://phys.org/news/2022-07-scientists-copper-nanowires-combat-diseases.html Bio & Medicine Wed, 27 Jul 2022 16:41:23 EDT news578158722 Not that long ago, weeds spread at a much slower rate. Seeds would spread to nearby soil and move perhaps a few feet each year or would be transplanted by birds who flew with them several miles away. In today's interconnected world, though, weeds can hitch a ride on a truck, boat, or even an airplane. What once might've taken generations to spread weeds from one region to another now takes no time at all. https://phys.org/news/2022-06-tracking-weeds-tracks.html Agriculture Tue, 07 Jun 2022 09:32:49 EDT news573813164 In the quest for new treatments for COVID-19, a team led by researchers at UC San Francisco has identified a new potential drug target that may block infection by SARS-CoV-2. The protein, called BRD2, regulates the ACE2 receptor, which the novel coronavirus relies on to gain entry to its host's cells.  https://phys.org/news/2022-01-human-proteins-covid-infection-revealed.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 13 Jan 2022 12:27:06 EST news561299216 Think of your morning walk to work, school or your favorite coffee shop. Are you taking the shortest possible route to your destination? According to big data research that my colleagues and I conducted, the answer is no: People's brains are not wired for optimal navigation. https://phys.org/news/2021-10-people-destinations-front-themeven-efficient.html Evolution Tue, 19 Oct 2021 06:57:43 EDT news553845449 A Russian space official on Friday blamed a software problem on a newly docked science lab for briefly knocking the International Space Station out of position. https://phys.org/news/2021-07-russia-blames-space-station-lab.html Space Exploration Fri, 30 Jul 2021 10:59:52 EDT news546861590 A new paper, published recently in PLOS Computational Biology by a team including UMass Amherst researchers, seeks to help scientists structure their lab-group meetings so that they are more inclusive, more productive and, ultimately, lead to better science. https://phys.org/news/2021-05-inclusive-lab-science.html Other Thu, 27 May 2021 14:00:03 EDT news541317216 Scientists use acoustic microfluidic devices to separate and sort components in fluids, such as red and white blood cells, platelets and tumor cells in blood, to better understand diseases or to develop new treatments. However, technologies developed in research labs often lack the consistent performance needed for use in clinical and industrial settings. https://phys.org/news/2021-02-fine-tuning-device-swarms-cells.html Analytical Chemistry Mon, 22 Feb 2021 09:15:10 EST news533207706 Freya Radford is a PhD student in Geography and Environmental Science. She is researching micro-plastic pollution in agricultural land through organic fertilisers made from sewage sludge. https://phys.org/news/2020-02-video-microplastics-farmland.html Environment Fri, 28 Feb 2020 09:58:53 EST news502106332 As a new joint appointee at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, Eden Figueroa is getting accustomed to traversing between his roles within the Lab's Computational Science Initiative (CSI) and Instrumentation Division while also overseeing the Quantum Information Technology group as a tenured professor at Stony Brook University. For most, working in so many places at once can be stressful and disconnecting. However, for Figueroa, who has a long-held fascination with quantum mechanics, navigating complicated connections serves to inspire the quantum networks currently being configured and tested by his team. https://phys.org/news/2019-08-networking.html Quantum Physics Mon, 05 Aug 2019 11:42:16 EDT news484224125 Chicago real estate developer Sterling Bay aims to make Lincoln Park on the city's North Side a center for life sciences research, an industry that the firm hopes will fill a lot of space in its $6 billion Lincoln Yards megadevelopment. https://phys.org/news/2019-05-huge-shortage-lab-space-chicago.html Business Wed, 22 May 2019 10:18:36 EDT news477739106 Three high school students working in a science lab for the first time made a surprising discovery with a Rochester Institute of Technology professor. Now, the young women are co-authors on a scientific paper announcing a rare bacterium that kills e-coli. https://phys.org/news/2019-04-high-school-students-publish-paper.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 25 Apr 2019 16:28:09 EDT news475428480