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 at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) have achieved two major breakthroughs in interfacial polymerization, a key technique for preparing advanced functional materials. By integrating quantum mechanics with machine learning, the team has elucidated the mechanism by which water molecules facilitate reactions at the molecular level. At the same time, it has transformed microcapsule design from a traditional trial-and-error approach into a predictive science. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-molecule-faster-interfacial-polymerization-lowering.html Biochemistry Sat, 13 Jun 2026 11:30:01 EDT news700413772 A recent study published in Nature Communications demonstrates precise control over electron spatial arrangement in two directions simultaneously—without any applied voltage—through interface engineering between semimetal bismuth (Bi) thin films and two-dimensional semiconductor MoS₂. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-bidirectional-gate-free-quantum-electronic.html Condensed Matter Sat, 13 Jun 2026 11:00:04 EDT news700150071 Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is considered one of the most urgent global public health threats, with experts predicting that AMR could cause 39 million deaths between 2025 and 2050. AMR is not a single problem, but instead involves many different genes, pathogens, hosts and environmental factors. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-flags-antimicrobial-resistance-traits.html Molecular & Computational biology Sat, 13 Jun 2026 11:00:01 EDT news700412712 Using NASA's Chandra X-ray spacecraft, astronomers have performed deep X-ray observations of a galactic globular cluster known as NGC 6540. The new observational campaign, described June 1 on the preprint server arXiv, focused on disentangling the nature of a peculiar X-ray flare emitted by the cluster about two decades ago. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-chandra-ngc-mysterious-ray-flare.html Astronomy Sat, 13 Jun 2026 10:10:01 EDT news700225575 Globally, humanity now produces a staggering 450 million tonnes of plastic every year. From food and drink containers to cosmetics packaging, sewage pipes, window frames and polyester clothing, we use plastics in almost every area of life. And nearly one-quarter of them end up in the environment, where they very slowly degrade into microscopic pieces. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-microplastics-swallowed-earthworms-digestive-tract.html Environment Sat, 13 Jun 2026 10:00:01 EDT news700403211 It has long been understood that parents' income plays a major role in children's access to higher education. But a new study published in Canadian Studies in Population suggests that grandparents' income matters, too. By analyzing multigenerational tax data, researchers at Université de Montréal found a direct and significant correlation between grandparents' earnings and the likelihood that their grandchildren will pursue postsecondary education. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-family-wealth-grandparents-income-links.html Social Sciences Sat, 13 Jun 2026 09:30:01 EDT news700233250 It's an insect everybody loves to hate. Pesky mosquitoes will be out in swarms as the weather warms up across the U.S.—and their bites aren't just itchy. They can transmit pathogens that can cause diseases like West Nile virus, Zika virus and malaria, to name a few. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-harmonic-radar-tags-reveal-mosquitoes.html Plants & Animals Sat, 13 Jun 2026 09:00:02 EDT news700403639 Headlines were made this week when scuba divers removing abandoned ghost nets from a shipwreck between Tunisia and Sicily filmed an adult great white shark. The footage quickly made global news, yet the real story is not that a great white was seen in the Mediterranean, but that many people were surprised by its presence at all. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-ghosts-mediterranean-rare-great-white.html Plants & Animals Sat, 13 Jun 2026 08:30:01 EDT news700403131 This week's notable citations: Astronomers believe collapsing stars could spawn mini universes. Chimpanzees do not like unfairness. And a single dose of psilocybin temporarily restored function in an 80-year-old with Alzheimer's disease. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-saturday-citations-jaxa-collaboration-toy.html Other Sat, 13 Jun 2026 08:20:01 EDT news700486404 The phenomenon El Niño has arrived, the U.S. weather agency said Thursday, and scientists expect the pattern, synonymous with droughts, floods and soaring temperatures, will intensify through the end of the year, potentially to historic strength. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-el-nio-strongest-events.html Environment Sat, 13 Jun 2026 08:00:11 EDT news700455586 In an advance that could one day lead to new treatments for neurodegenerative diseases, Meredith Jackrel, an associate professor of chemistry in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, and her team have developed a method to rapidly produce and screen a class of disaggregase enzymes that can break down the misfolded proteins associated with ALS and Parkinson's disease. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-enzymes-potential-als-parkinson-disease.html Biotechnology Sat, 13 Jun 2026 08:00:08 EDT news700134722 Pets form an important part of many people's lives, providing meaningful companionship. However, our pets can sometimes also be a source of unwelcome pathogens and diseases, particularly if they frequently roam outdoors. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-cat-home-unwelcome-pathogens.html Plants & Animals Sat, 13 Jun 2026 08:00:05 EDT news700145650 Researchers at Princeton University have harnessed AI to understand how drugs affect the dynamics of vital structures within the cell, introducing a tool that can map the shape of these structures to functional outcomes and shed light on important markers of health. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-ai-cell-droplets-uncovering-drug.html Molecular & Computational biology Sat, 13 Jun 2026 06:20:01 EDT news700547546 More than 20 years after its founding, SpaceX made history Friday with its record-high stock market debut, crowning a unique journey marked by dazzling successes but also catastrophic failures and unfulfilled promises. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-spacex-key-moments-starship-megarocket.html Space Exploration Sat, 13 Jun 2026 06:14:54 EDT news700550056 Before testing new therapies in animals, researchers now have a more efficient starting point—lab-grown canine muscle cells that can help identify what works and what doesn't. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-lab-grown-canine-muscle-cells.html Cell & Microbiology Fri, 12 Jun 2026 22:40:01 EDT news700490932 By integrating findings from 140 studies and nearly 66,000 individuals, researchers from the Biosocial team at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in collaboration with Columbia University in New York have shown that lower socioeconomic status and exposure to discrimination are consistently associated with accelerated biological aging, measured in the epigenome. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-faster-biological-aging-linked-poverty.html Social Sciences Fri, 12 Jun 2026 21:00:03 EDT news700477971 To truly understand what an asteroid is made of, we need to send a probe to it. Remote sensing from ground-based telescopes, or even orbiting observatories, can only do so much. A new white paper submitted to the U.K. Space Agency's 2035 Space Frontiers program (available on the arXiv preprint server) pitches just such a mission architecture. Called the REndezvous Mission for Orbital Reconstruction of Asteroids (REMORA), the plan calls for a swarm of autonomous CubeSats to tag, track and characterize multiple near-Earth asteroids. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-remora-autonomous-space-fleet-built.html Planetary Sciences Fri, 12 Jun 2026 20:00:01 EDT news700478982 Most people have experienced a heat wave on land. But heat waves can strike in the ocean too. And as the planet continues to warm, marine heat waves are growing longer and deadlier, hurting the seafood supply that billions of people worldwide rely on for their food and livelihoods. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-solar-geoengineering-shield-oceans.html Earth Sciences Fri, 12 Jun 2026 18:40:01 EDT news700413636 During an abrupt global cold snap nearly 13,000 years ago, the Gulf Stream ocean current shifted farther north, temporarily disrupting eastern Canada's oceanic ecosystems, a process that could happen again as the climate changes, a new study by UCL researchers finds. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-gulf-stream-shifted-north-year.html Earth Sciences Fri, 12 Jun 2026 16:40:01 EDT news700413549 Pomacea canaliculata, commonly known as the apple snail, is a pest commonly found in Hong Kong's wetlands and farmlands. It feeds on aquatic plants and produces toxic pink egg masses resembling miniature grapes that adhere to plants or stone bunds. It is listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) among 100 of the World's Worst Invasive Alien Species. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-jurassic-viral-gene-apple-snails.html Evolution Fri, 12 Jun 2026 15:40:01 EDT news700484088 A research team with the participation of the Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont (ICP) has described a new species of extinct carnivore from fossil remains recovered at the Els Casots site (Subirats, Alt Penedès). The study, published in the Journal of Mammalian Evolution, describes Paludocyon moyasolai, a medium-sized amphicyonid that lived approximately 15.9 million years ago, during the early Middle Miocene. The specific epithet "moyasolai" pays tribute to Salvador Moyà-Solà, a key figure in the development of vertebrate paleontology in the Iberian Peninsula and director of the ICP from its foundation until 2017. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-species-middle-miocene-dog-tribute.html Evolution Fri, 12 Jun 2026 14:40:03 EDT news700488121 A University of Birmingham scientist has built a "mini-universe" that takes a step toward answering one of science's biggest questions: "What is time?" Publishing his findings in Physical Review Research, Professor Giovanni Barontini shows how it is possible to measure the flow of time without using a clock at all. The new findings provide a scientific model in which a version of time emerges from the experiment itself. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-scientist-miniuniverse-clock.html General Physics Fri, 12 Jun 2026 14:20:01 EDT news700487646 Hilly and mountainous landscapes have a much greater ability to store carbon in the soil than previously thought, according to a new study co-led by scientists at the University of Oregon. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-mountainous-landscapes-carbon-previously-thought.html Earth Sciences Fri, 12 Jun 2026 14:00:03 EDT news700387741 It's intuitive to think that if a tree is photosynthesizing, it's also growing. But that's not necessarily so—and a new study of oak trees, published in the journal Science Advances, found that even as they photosynthesize late into the year, their growth stops by midsummer. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-trees-carbon-future.html Plants & Animals Fri, 12 Jun 2026 14:00:01 EDT news700385401 A model built by researchers from the University of Liverpool's Management School predicts an England-Spain FIFA World Cup 2026 final, with Spain the favorite to lift the trophy—a repeat of recent major tournament history. The supercomputer correctly predicted England's second-place finish at Euro 2024. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-supercomputer-world-cup-results.html Other Fri, 12 Jun 2026 13:40:05 EDT news700488901 Bacteriophages, or phages, are viruses that infect bacteria and are not considered human pathogens. Yet researchers at the Translational Microbiology Laboratory of the Institute of Biochemistry, HUN-REN Biological Research Centre, Szeged, have shown that some gut phages can also physically interact with human cells. Their study identifies phage surface proteins that act as molecular anchors, promoting attachment to human cells, cellular uptake, and prolonged retention in the gastrointestinal tract. The findings, published in the journal Nature Communications, open new perspectives on how phages behave in the body and may create new opportunities for therapeutic development. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-molecular-anchors-gut-phages-therapeutic.html Cell & Microbiology Fri, 12 Jun 2026 13:40:01 EDT news700487638 Mechanoluminescent materials convert mechanical energy such as stress, strain and vibration directly into light, making them attractive as self-powered sensors that require no batteries or wiring. From biomedical sensors to self-powered infrastructure monitoring sensors, mechanoluminescent materials have a wide range of potential applications. However, high-performance mechanoluminescent materials have traditionally relied on expensive rare-earth materials or complex material compositions. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-rare-earth-free-zinc-oxide.html Analytical Chemistry Fri, 12 Jun 2026 13:20:08 EDT news700486981 The temperature of rivers is something most people think about only if they plan to go swimming, kayaking or spend a day fishing. Few consider how it could potentially affect their electricity bill. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-river-temperature.html Earth Sciences Fri, 12 Jun 2026 13:20:05 EDT news700487642 Nitrate pollution is a growing global environmental challenge due to the extensive use of fertilizer. A study published in Science, led by the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) with the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research (UFZ), shows that both the amount of water moving through landscapes and how fast it moves play a key role in nitrogen pollution risk. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-landscape-velocities-europe-reshape-nitrogen.html Earth Sciences Fri, 12 Jun 2026 13:00:07 EDT news700487102 Two independent research teams have achieved a longstanding goal in physics: building a working nuclear clock. The devices, developed by Beichen Huang and colleagues at Tsinghua University and by Luca Toscani De Col and colleagues at the Vienna Center for Quantum Science and Technology in Austria, exploit the nucleus of a thorium-229 atom to keep time with extraordinary precision—possibly surpassing even the best atomic clocks available today. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-nuclear-clocks.html General Physics Fri, 12 Jun 2026 13:00:03 EDT news700484008