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. In 1987, biologists captured the last free-flying condor to transfer it to captivity, and the largest flying North American bird species was officially declared extinct in the wild. Today, after decades of coordinated efforts and millions of dollars spent on captive breeding and reintroduction efforts, more than 300 condors have been restored to their natural environment. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-species-california-condor-lessons-global.html Ecology Sat, 24 Oct 2026 20:00:01 EDT news711721349 Raw, grilled, roasted, stuffed—there are many ways to enjoy bell peppers, also called capsicums, sweet peppers or paprika. Bell peppers originated in Central and South America and belong to the nightshade family along with tomatoes and eggplants. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-bell-pepper-reveal-differences-sweetness.html Agriculture Sat, 24 Oct 2026 17:00:07 EDT news711972174 Stainless steel is widely used for its corrosion resistance, but it is not invincible. In environments containing chloride ions, such as seawater, pitting corrosion can occur. These pits often start at tiny particles called inclusions embedded in the steel. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-reveal-titanium-additions-fully-pitting.html Analytical Chemistry Sat, 24 Oct 2026 17:00:01 EDT news711967888 Understanding instabilities and turbulence in plasmas is one of the key challenges across a wide range of plasma research fields, including nuclear fusion, astrophysics and laser-plasma physics. In plasmas, slight disturbances can grow due to instabilities, and energy is transferred between structures of various sizes due to turbulence. These phenomena give rise to structures ranging from very small to large, which significantly influence the overall motion and energy flow of the plasma. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-ray-pulse-reveals-plasma-nanostructures.html Plasma Physics Sat, 24 Oct 2026 15:00:06 EDT news711645235 Many topics in astronomy and astrophysics are esoteric. There's not much of a relationship between something like the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way and the life of a regular person going about their business. But the sun is different. Its presence in our lives is inescapable. Its behavior, especially its flaring, has an impact. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-flare-ribbons-reveal-hidden-solar.html Astronomy Sat, 24 Oct 2026 14:00:01 EDT news711886210 The positron is the antimatter counterpart of the electron, identical in mass but carrying an equal and opposite electric charge. Like the electron, it also behaves like a tiny bar magnet, and according to a key prediction of the Standard Model of particle physics, its magnetic moment should be exactly equal and opposite to the electron's. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-positron-cyclotron-key-standard.html General Physics Sat, 24 Oct 2026 13:20:02 EDT news711890804 Current HIV medicines are effective at suppressing the virus in the blood. However, HIV can remain "asleep" or dormant inside certain immune cells and in the brain. These hidden pockets of virus, called HIV reservoirs, are the main reason HIV cannot be cured with today's treatments. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-newly-protein-pathway-hiv-stay.html Cell & Microbiology Sat, 24 Oct 2026 12:00:01 EDT news711806283 Metallic materials used in extremely cold environments must maintain high strength, ductility and fracture toughness to support applications in aerospace, clean energy, superconducting systems and deep-space exploration. However, traditional alloys often suffer performance degradation at ultralow temperatures because of the long-standing trade-off between strength, ductility and toughness. Although metals may become stronger at lower temperatures, they can also become more brittle and prone to fracture. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-nanoscale-alloy-redesign-tackles-cold.html Nanomaterials Sat, 24 Oct 2026 11:00:02 EDT news711899145 What seabirds eat might seem like a good starting point for identifying species that tend to accumulate plastic in their digestive systems. Yet a recent global analysis suggests that mapping the evolutionary relatives of birds could offer better clues than their diets or feeding methods alone. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-seabird-family-tree-species-accumulate.html Plants & Animals Sat, 24 Oct 2026 10:00:01 EDT news711628189 In places like South Asia, Africa and parts of the Americas, monsoon rains supply water for drinking, crops and hydropower for billions of people. Understanding the patterns that monsoons tend to follow can help people plan for drought risks affecting agriculture, reservoirs and hydropower across distant regions. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-ancient-stalagmites-reveal-exceptions-asiasouth.html Earth Sciences Sat, 24 Oct 2026 09:00:01 EDT news711981698 Relatively simple changes to the way traditional brick kilns operate in Bangladesh can reduce pollution, save fuel and improve the quality of bricks they produce. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-cleaner-brick-kilns-pollution-gains.html Environment Sat, 24 Oct 2026 08:00:07 EDT news711976603 The fossilized skull of a new species of mysterious meat-eating dinosaur from the Isle of Wight has been rediscovered in the collections of the Natural History Museum after over 100 years in storage. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-longclawed-british-dinosaur-kind-europe.html Paleontology & Fossils Sat, 24 Oct 2026 08:00:01 EDT news711720733 Punching a virtual response box or swinging a virtual lightsaber can dramatically improve learning on certain tasks, according to new research from Florida Atlantic University's College of Engineering and Computer Science, which challenges long-standing assumptions about how people learn. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-virtual-lightsabers-pattern-based-vr.html Education Sat, 24 Oct 2026 06:20:01 EDT news711983462 Emergency crews scrambled on Saturday to restore power to tens of thousands of homes in Taiwan after Typhoon Champi's fierce winds battered the island, with the storm moving toward China and Japan. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-typhoon-champi-power-thousands-taiwan.html Environment Sat, 24 Oct 2026 05:40:01 EDT news712038530 NASA is moving fast on its plans to build a moon base and return astronauts to the lunar surface in as little as two years. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-nasa-apollo-urgency-moon-base.html Space Exploration Sat, 24 Oct 2026 05:28:00 EDT news712038417 The Malik Lab thrives on competition. But for HHMI investigator Harmit Malik and his team at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, it's the genomes—not the people—that are in conflict. The lab studies rapid evolution—the genetic changes that happen in a species over a few generations rather than thousands of years. These fast changes are often fueled by genetic conflicts—competitions between different entities trying to maximize their success at the expense of another. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-surveying-genetic-battlefield-uncover-rapid.html Evolution Fri, 23 Oct 2026 23:20:02 EDT news711982992 Pollution from human-generated waste in marine ecosystems has reached critical levels, with cigarette butts (CBs) among the most persistent and harmful pollutants. Globally, an estimated 4.5 trillion cigarette butts are discarded annually, making them the most common type of litter on beaches over the past three decades. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-child-citizen-science-ecuadorian-community.html Earth Sciences Fri, 23 Oct 2026 22:20:01 EDT news711968178 Researchers at the University of Helsinki wanted to understand which is the dominant factor for species occurrence and abundance: the climate or habitat-related variables, such as their natural state and the share of land shaped by human activity. Solutions to mitigate biodiversity loss depend on the answer to this question. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-habitat-finnish-animal-climate.html Plants & Animals Fri, 23 Oct 2026 21:00:02 EDT news711945606 South Africa endured its worst year of load shedding (scheduled power cuts by the country's utility, Eskom) in 2023. The power went off on 335 of the year's 365 days, often several times a day. Since then, the country has gone more than a year and a half without these planned power cuts. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-power-students-link-anxiety-disrupted.html Social Sciences Fri, 23 Oct 2026 19:40:04 EDT news711972089 Researchers at the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences (LMS) have developed a new way to make glowing biological reporters more accurate, allowing scientists to track gene activity in living plants over days, weeks and potentially even months and years. The approach could help researchers study how plants respond to disease, pests and environmental stress, while opening the door to similar applications in animal and human disease models. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-reveal-immune-responses-infection-sites.html Plants & Animals Fri, 23 Oct 2026 19:20:01 EDT news711982486 When heavy rain hits a city, knowing where water will accumulate is only part of the picture. Who lives in the affected buildings? How might flooding disrupt their lives? And where could additional support make the greatest difference? https://phys.org/news/2026-10-human-side.html Environment Fri, 23 Oct 2026 18:20:02 EDT news711968044 Researchers at AIST have directly observed magnetic flux quanta generated in a superconductor by photon absorption and demonstrated a new principle of photon detection that identifies the number of photons based on the number of these flux quanta. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-magnetic-flux-quanta-photon.html Optics & Photonics Fri, 23 Oct 2026 17:20:02 EDT news711982021 Masculinity content promises young men self-optimization and success, but often delivers health harms, risk-taking, unattainable standards, gender stereotypes and misogyny. The latter is the strongest predictor of violent extremism. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-pretty-toxic-young-men-manosphere.html Social Sciences Fri, 23 Oct 2026 17:00:17 EDT news711972189 The new RFD4-Proteina unified generative model for protein design—created by the Institute for Protein Design (IPD) in collaboration with NVIDIA—uses advanced AI to generate entirely new protein sequences and structures, achieving computational design success rates five to 10 times higher than previous models and generating candidates five to 10 times faster. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-scientists-ai-enzyme-drug-synthesis.html Analytical Chemistry Fri, 23 Oct 2026 17:00:13 EDT news711981643 Researchers at AIST have demonstrated the synthesis of nanoporous carbonaceous materials and carbonaceous materials with layered nanostructures through a simple process involving the chemical modification of common sugars such as sucrose and fructose. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-chemically-sugars-enable-nanostructure-formation.html Nanomaterials Fri, 23 Oct 2026 16:40:08 EDT news711981001 Consumers routinely ignore information when making purchases. They overlook the tax attached to a price, skim past ingredient lists and often fail to process exact numbers with any precision. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-psychology-overpay-cars-left-digit.html Social Sciences Fri, 23 Oct 2026 16:40:01 EDT news711981611 A review by Tohoku University researchers identifies key molecular features that could guide the development of more effective materials for removing PFAS from water. The study is published in the journal ACS Materials Au. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-adsorbents-pfas.html Analytical Chemistry Fri, 23 Oct 2026 16:20:14 EDT news711980702 In 1953, two physicists showed that an electron beam skimming past a grating emits light whose color depends only on the electron's speed and the grating's spacing. Known as Smith-Purcell radiation, this phenomenon has become a useful tool for building compact, tunable light sources and tracking particle beams without touching them. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-plain-silicon-reveals-hidden-electron.html Optics & Photonics Fri, 23 Oct 2026 16:20:08 EDT news711980881 As politics in America become more polarized and each voting cycle seems more fraught than the last, a common narrative in the media is that each election is unique and increasingly unpredictable. But new research shows that congressional elections follow strong statistical patterns, even when individual races produce surprises. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-elections.html Political science Fri, 23 Oct 2026 16:00:05 EDT news711980361 Many of the most potent antibiotics originate from bacteria. A large proportion belong to a class of compounds known as nonribosomal peptides (NRP). They are produced by large bacterial enzyme machineries—the nonribosomal peptide synthetases, or NRPS for short. These function like molecular assembly lines: Similar to the stations in a car factory, where new parts are added to the car at each step, several specialized modules string together amino acid by amino acid to build a peptide. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-bacteria-reinvent-weapons-chance-gene.html Evolution Fri, 23 Oct 2026 16:00:01 EDT news711980821