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. Researchers from Koç University and international collaborators have developed a new algorithm that enables faster and more equitable distribution of disaster relief supplies. By integrating fairness directly into logistics planning, the model reduces inequality in unmet demand by up to 34% without compromising delivery speed. The approach offers a practical tool for improving decision-making in real-world emergency response operations. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-fairer-disaster-aid-fast-routing.html Social Sciences Sun, 26 Apr 2026 20:30:02 EDT news695994528 Biodegradable plastics hold potential for reducing marine plastic pollution, but degrade too quickly, limiting their practical use. Researchers from Gunma University now show that crab shell by-products can reduce the breakdown rate of biodegradable plastics in seawater by altering the microbial communities that colonize their surfaces, known as the plastisphere. These findings could help design plastics that stay durable during use and then degrade at an appropriate time once in the ocean. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-crab-shell-products-marine-lifetime.html Biochemistry Sun, 26 Apr 2026 20:00:02 EDT news696256864 "Dogs at Chernobyl are now genetically distinct … thanks to years of exposure to ionizing radiation, study finds." https://phys.org/news/2026-04-chernobyl-wildlife-real-story-isnt.html Ecology Sun, 26 Apr 2026 19:00:02 EDT news696082828 Until a few years ago, no one had heard of bixonimania. Then, in 2024, a group of scientists posted findings online announcing the condition, which they claimed affected the eyes after computer use. However, the scientists had made it up—not just the work, but the authors' names, affiliations, locations and funding, which was the University of Fellowship of the Ring and the Galactic Triad. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-fake-disease-internet.html Social Sciences Sun, 26 Apr 2026 17:30:03 EDT news695910909 Through the air we breathe and the food we eat, we can't help but inhale and ingest tiny bits of plastic every day. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-microplastics-interact-gut-microbiome-health.html Environment Sun, 26 Apr 2026 16:00:05 EDT news696082774 Using artificial intelligence, engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed a new way to watch the inner workings of living cells in real time. The process both captures images that are twice as sharp as conventional microscopes and is fast enough to play as smooth video. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-ai-microscopy-crisp-real-video.html Cell & Microbiology Sun, 26 Apr 2026 16:00:02 EDT news695910330 Astronomers, using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), have confirmed the existence of a close quasar pair housed in a pair of merging galaxies seen when the universe was less than a billion years old, at a redshift of 5.7. The system, designated J2037–4537, is one of only two confirmed quasar pairs at redshift greater than 5 ever found. A paper outlining this work was submitted to the preprint server arXiv on April 7. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-blazing-quasars-caught-waltzing-merger.html Astronomy Sun, 26 Apr 2026 13:30:01 EDT news695898411 Human languages are known to have grown and changed considerably over the course of history, often reflecting technological, cultural, and societal shifts. Studying the evolution of languages can thus offer valuable insight into how human societies and cultures have transformed over time. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-universal-patterns-emerge-languages-vocabularies.html Mathematics Sun, 26 Apr 2026 12:40:01 EDT news695985160 You've typed it, deleted it and typed it again. You need to let your colleague know there's a problem with a project at work. Should you use a grinning face—😄—in that Slack message to soften the blow, or an angry face—😠—to show your distress? https://phys.org/news/2026-04-emoji-colleagues.html Social Sciences Sun, 26 Apr 2026 12:30:01 EDT news696082786 For the first time, researchers have mapped how the boundaries of magnetic nanostructures behave on extremely short timescales. The work of physicist Johan Mentink of Radboud University shows that these boundaries are much more stable than previously thought. This insight will aid the development of future ultra-fast and compact data storage. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-extreme-stability-ultrafast-nanomagnetism-aids.html Nanophysics Sun, 26 Apr 2026 12:00:01 EDT news695910300 It takes a moment for the eyes to adjust. A faint spark appears in the darkness; then another, brighter one. Soon, stars, planets and entire constellations emerge. Before long, a whole galaxy stretches across the sky, visible to the naked eye. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-threat-pollution-world-darkest-skies.html Astronomy Sun, 26 Apr 2026 11:40:01 EDT news696422376 Generative artificial intelligence (AI) has transformed college writing. As paper drafts are increasingly co-written with AI, professors are left wondering not whether students are using AI, but how. A 2025 AI in Education trend report found that 90% of college students use AI in their coursework, with nearly half using it during the drafting process. As AI becomes embedded in everyday writing, traditional tools like Grammarly or Turnitin for evaluating student learning fall short. If AI is to be expected in most student writing, then merely detecting its presence isn't enough. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-tool-ai-role-student-visible.html Education Sun, 26 Apr 2026 11:00:03 EDT news695918955 Ammonia has been feeding the world for decades as a fertilizer and is now rapidly emerging as a carbon-free fuel for shipping and industry. But if we focus only on CO₂ emissions, we risk creating new nitrogen problems, warns nitrogen expert Jan Willem Erisman in an article published in the journal One Earth. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-ammonia-fuel-nitrogen-problem.html Environment Sun, 26 Apr 2026 11:00:01 EDT news695919169 A detector buried deep in Antarctic ice has captured the first experimental evidence of a predicted but never-before-seen phenomenon: radio pulses generated when high-energy cosmic rays slam into the ice sheet and trigger particle cascades inside it. Through results published in Physical Review Letters, astronomers of the Askaryan Radio Array (ARA) Collaboration have validated a key technique, which they hope will eventually allow them to detect some of the rarest and most energetic particles in the universe. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-deep-antarctic-ice-cosmic-strange.html General Physics Sun, 26 Apr 2026 10:00:01 EDT news696072009 This year marks the UK's National Year of Reading, which aims to rebuild good reading habits and enjoyment as child and adolescent reading declines year on year. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-shortcuts-children-popular-doesnt.html Education Sun, 26 Apr 2026 09:30:01 EDT news696082779 The internet and social media platforms have given rise to a rising wave of misinformation, with many users now posting fake news, AI-generated photos or videos and other types of misleading content online. Over the past few years, this rise in misinformation has become a heated topic of debate, with some studies suggesting that it could influence voters during political elections. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-videos-blunt-misinformation-country.html Social Sciences Sun, 26 Apr 2026 09:00:02 EDT news695900044 Quartz crystals are difficult to knap due to size, hardness, and crystalline structure, making them a "low-quality" raw material. However, the Clovis people of North America sometimes made points and other tools from this material despite its drawbacks. To determine whether the quartz crystal points of the Clovis were functionally comparable to those made from higher-quality toolstones, Dr. Briggs Buchanan and his colleagues conducted scaling and geometric morphometric analyses on Clovis crystal points. The study is published in Lithic Technology. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-clovis-toolmakers-difficult-quartz-crystal.html Archaeology Sun, 26 Apr 2026 08:00:06 EDT news695985230 When Rachel Carson wrote the environmental classic "Silent Spring" in 1962, she warned that unchecked human impacts might create a silent future. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-paris-successfully-noise-pollution-urban.html Plants & Animals Sun, 26 Apr 2026 08:00:03 EDT news695992427 Financial bonuses are often used to motivate employees to meet targets and boost productivity. But do they actually work? New research from Tilburg University suggests these incentives can sometimes have the opposite effect. Employees who set their own goals often perform better without a financial bonus. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-bonuses-goals.html Economics & Business Sat, 25 Apr 2026 19:30:01 EDT news696000474 Researchers from Brown University and their collaborators have developed a new way to measure the properties of cells—an important development, they say, because accurate measurements of changes in cell elasticity can be used to better understand diseases, diagnose patient symptoms and provide more accurate prognoses. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-microfluidic-device-tracks-cell-squishiness.html Cell & Microbiology Sat, 25 Apr 2026 18:40:01 EDT news696307587 Got a mouse in your house? That thought alone may terrify you. Now imagine if mice were scampering through your house, rummaging in your pantry or even running across your face at night. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-australian-farmers-potential-mouse-plague.html Ecology Sat, 25 Apr 2026 18:30:01 EDT news696244552 In the novel "When There Are Wolves Again" by E.J. Swift, the Chernobyl disaster and its legacy is extrapolated to a near future where natural habitats are depleted and precarious. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-forty-years-disaster-foxes-bison.html Ecology Sat, 25 Apr 2026 17:30:02 EDT news695911516 Scientists at EPFL have developed CenSpark, a fluorescent probe that makes centrioles and cilia visible inside living cells, helping researchers study cell division, development, and immunity like never before. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-fluorescent-probe-centrioles-cilia-cells.html Cell & Microbiology Sat, 25 Apr 2026 17:00:01 EDT news695918664 You might know the short-tailed shearwater and sable shearwater by the common name "muttonbirds." These two species of seabird breed on islands off southeastern Australia. Both undertake a breathtaking two-week, non-stop flight across the Pacific to the Bering Sea, more than 10,000 km away near Alaska and Russia. Here, they spend the northern summer. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-shearwaters-dead-australian-beaches-due.html Ecology Sat, 25 Apr 2026 16:30:04 EDT news696244535 Venice has coexisted with the sea throughout its 1,500-year history, perhaps better than any other city on Earth. Yet over the past century it has flooded increasingly often, as the sea rises and the city itself sinks under its own weight. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-venice-city.html Earth Sciences Sat, 25 Apr 2026 15:30:03 EDT news696000437 On a sweltering August afternoon or in the teeth of a winter storm, New York City subway riders make a quiet calculation: Is the trip worth it? A new study published in npj Sustainable Mobility and Transport takes a detailed look at how those decisions show up in ridership patterns across the system, and how they vary from station to station. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-nyc-subway-riders-stay-home.html Environment Sat, 25 Apr 2026 15:00:01 EDT news695910322 Catalysis—the reduction of activation energy in a chemical reaction by a catalyst—plays a key role in the chemical industry, as well as in the development of sustainable technologies essential for achieving a low-carbon economy. However, the search for high-performance and sustainable catalysts is often costly and time-consuming. It can be accelerated through data-driven catalysis research. Yet experimental data are often not available in machine-readable and standardized formats. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-catalysis-app-sustainable-catalysts.html Analytical Chemistry Sat, 25 Apr 2026 14:30:02 EDT news696170566 Mammals and dinosaurs coexisted on Earth until a catastrophic event 66 million years ago killed 75% of life on the planet. Despite the devastation, some animals survived, including rodent-like mammals in the Cimolodon genus. These creatures are part of the multituberculates, a group that arose during the Jurassic Period and survived over 100 million years before going extinct. Studying these animals helps researchers better understand how mammals survived the mass extinction event and then diversified into the variety of mammals around today. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-dinosaurs-hamster-sized-mammal-survived.html Evolution Sat, 25 Apr 2026 14:00:04 EDT news696179114 The GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung and the international accelerator facility FAIR have made an important contribution to the success of the Artemis II moon mission. A camera specially developed for use in space was successfully tested in advance under realistic conditions at the GSI and FAIR particle accelerator. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-contribution-artemis-ii-moon-mission.html Space Exploration Sat, 25 Apr 2026 13:30:01 EDT news695919556 For some time, researchers have assumed that solid materials could gain more useful properties by making their microscopic components more active. Now, a team led by Jack Binysh at the University of Amsterdam has found that this idea doesn't always hold. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-response-materials.html General Physics Sat, 25 Apr 2026 13:00:03 EDT news695900124