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. Like tendrils on a vine, lava spreads out from the northern crater of Krasheninnikov, a volcano pair on the Pacific coast of Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula. On July 30, 2025, an 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck in the nearby ocean, apparently jolting one of the two volcanoes awake. A few days later, for the first time in nearly five centuries, Krasheninnikov started erupting. Since then, the northern volcano has been spilling a steady, eastward-flowing field of molten rock and debris, and the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission has been tracking the changes in the landscape. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-india-satellite-captures-lapse-video.html Planetary Sciences Thu, 24 Sep 2026 19:40:05 EDT news709473121 Orthogonally arranged π-electronic systems that combine electron-donating and electron-accepting units display distinctive electronic and photophysical behavior. Fine-tuning their electronic structure offers a way to control photoinduced electron transfer. Building on this idea, complexing boron with 1,3-diketones and 9-oxidophenalenone may produce electron-deficient cationic π-electronic systems. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-counterions-molecular-materials-electronic-behaviors.html Analytical Chemistry Thu, 24 Sep 2026 19:20:04 EDT news709470841 A severely deformed 1834 British silver sixpence preserves physical evidence most consistent with an unusual minting anomaly, according to an IA STUDIO study published in npj Heritage Science. The coin was individually marked £8 in a mixed coin album at a flea market in Greater Manchester. The album was later acquired as a bulk lot, rather than the sixpence being purchased separately for £8. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-materials-analysis-minting-mystery-british.html Archaeology Thu, 24 Sep 2026 19:00:08 EDT news709470121 A new study from UCLA provides insights into how the January 2025 Eaton fire affected air quality downwind, showing how levels of toxic airborne contaminants spiked and then dissipated as the burning died down. The research is published in the journal ACS ES&T Air. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-la-triggered-surge-airborne-toxins.html Environment Thu, 24 Sep 2026 18:40:03 EDT news709469701 In the search for extraterrestrial life, it makes sense to first look for rocky planets with an atmosphere, like Earth. Without an atmosphere, a planet can't have surface water. But of the more than 6,300 exoplanets cataloged thus far, the vast majority are not rocky, and only a handful of the rocky worlds appear to have an atmosphere. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-coolest-lava-world-atmosphere-clues.html Astrobiology Thu, 24 Sep 2026 18:20:06 EDT news709469461 Curtin University scientists have uncovered an important missing piece in the puzzle of how some coral reefs can recover from climate events, providing information that could help guide future conservation and restoration efforts. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-ningaloo-reef-corals-reveal-early.html Plants & Animals Thu, 24 Sep 2026 18:00:21 EDT news709469161 Coastal flooding may seem unpredictable, a natural disaster that occurs randomly. But UCF researcher Ivan Haigh has found that recurrent coastal floods occur at highly predictable times. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-coastal-reveals.html Earth Sciences Thu, 24 Sep 2026 17:50:05 EDT news709490281 As Arctic sea ice retreats, new shipping routes, expanding resource development and growing geopolitical competition are transforming one of the world's least-monitored regions. Scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory have established one of the first long-term acoustic baselines for the Arctic's underwater soundscape. This work strengthens the detection and interpretation of earthquakes, underwater and nearshore detonations, ship traffic and other events of national security interest. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-scientists-arctic-global.html Earth Sciences Thu, 24 Sep 2026 17:40:05 EDT news709468682 Strike a bell, and it rings with a pitch and a fading that tell you about the bell: its size, its shape, the metal it is made of. Black holes ring too. When two merge, the newborn black hole shivers and sheds gravitational waves in a brief, dying chord, and since 2015, gravitational-wave detectors have been listening. The notes of that chord, which physicists call quasinormal modes, depend only on the black hole's mass and spin and on the law of gravity itself. Change the law, and the chord changes. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-higher-dimensional-black-holes-exact.html General Physics Thu, 24 Sep 2026 17:20:04 EDT news709463984 When landfills and wastewater treatment plants create methane as a byproduct, much of it is simply burned and its value is lost. But the gas is an energy-rich resource that could be recycled as a fuel, chemical feedstock or bioproduct. Capturing and converting waste methane offers an opportunity to recover energy and create useful products from an otherwise wasted gas stream. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-3d-scaffolds-methane-chemical-power.html Biochemistry Thu, 24 Sep 2026 17:00:01 EDT news709468381 A cell's ability to repair its damaged DNA is one of the most fundamental processes in biology, helping protect us from diseases like cancer. Over the years, researchers have unraveled many of the mechanisms cells use to repair DNA, ultimately leading to precision cancer treatments. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-cells-machinery-dna.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 24 Sep 2026 16:40:11 EDT news709467781 Biochemists at the University of Wisconsin–Madison are using AI to tackle one of modern medicine's most pressing challenges: the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections. Using data collected in their lab, biochemistry professor Vatsan Raman and his team built an AI model to identify new possibilities for fighting bacteria with one of their natural enemies. Their findings, published in the journal Cell Systems, could help accelerate the development of alternatives to traditional antibiotic drugs. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-ai-mutations-viruses-infect-bacteria.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 24 Sep 2026 16:30:01 EDT news709481881 Researchers at the College of Veterinary Medicine and the Baker Institute of Animal Health have published the first molecular characterization of Marfan syndrome in domestic cats in a paper in the Sept. 19 issue of Scientific Reports. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-case-marfan-syndrome-feline-siblings.html Molecular & Computational biology Thu, 24 Sep 2026 16:20:08 EDT news709467367 Tiny insects called aphids inject hundreds of mysterious proteins into plants, hijacking the plants' own genomes to build galls: structures made of plant tissue but constructed to the insects' specifications to house and feed their offspring. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-blueprint-aphid-proteins-ai.html Plants & Animals Thu, 24 Sep 2026 16:10:01 EDT news709481221 Superconductors can carry electrical current without resistance, but only up to a maximum value known as the critical current. The critical current is a crucial figure of merit for applications, and materials science has long been focused on increasing this limit. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter (MPSD) have now shown that, in type-II superconductors, this conventional limit can be exceeded when the current is applied for only a few picoseconds. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-picosecond-pulses-superconductors-critical-current.html Superconductivity Thu, 24 Sep 2026 16:00:01 EDT news709467061 New analyses of ancient cattle, sheep and goat bones on Madagascar suggest the rapid spread of introduced livestock on the island 1,200 years ago coincided with forest loss and population declines of large native herbivores. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-ancient-madagascar-large-native-herbivores.html Ecology Thu, 24 Sep 2026 15:50:02 EDT news709480801 On the surface, the arid expanses of the Mojave Desert may seem inhospitable and largely removed from the global carbon cycle. But beneath the surface, its mineral-rich soils are running a carbon cycle of their own—one that could account for a surprisingly large share of the planet's annual carbon exchange. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-scientists-carbon-minerals.html Earth Sciences Thu, 24 Sep 2026 15:40:01 EDT news709464742 In a win for pollinator conservation, researchers at the University of California, Riverside, have developed a machine learning-based method to identify chemical compounds that can safely repel honey bees from pesticide-treated crops. The research offers a potential solution to one of agriculture's most urgent ecological challenges: the ongoing decline in honey bee populations, driven in part by pesticide exposure. The paper is published in the journal eLife. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-machine-chemicals-repel-honey-bees.html Ecology Thu, 24 Sep 2026 15:30:01 EDT news709480681 Quantum materials do things ordinary materials cannot. They carry current without any loss, or conduct only along their outer edge while the inside insulates. Future quantum computers and quantum sensors will run on materials like these. To improve them, researchers need to see exactly where currents and magnetic fields run at the nanoscale. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-vertical-quantum-sensor-reveal-nanoscale.html Superconductivity Thu, 24 Sep 2026 15:20:06 EDT news709464484 Behind every secure online transaction or encrypted message lies a string of completely unpredictable numbers. A team of physicists has now proposed a theoretical way around a long-standing roadblock, opening the door to next-generation security chips that protect everyday data without slowing performance. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-physicists-material-blueprint-generation-microchip.html General Physics Thu, 24 Sep 2026 15:10:01 EDT news709479661 Researchers at the Research Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (MANA), a center within Japan's National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), discovered that atomic-scale steps can guide superconducting vortices in an ultrathin superconductor. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-atom-high-rails-superconducting-vortices.html Condensed Matter Thu, 24 Sep 2026 15:00:01 EDT news709464377 Fossils offer a glimpse into Earth's distant past. They provide insights into extinct animals and plants, as well as past ecosystems. However, the fossil record is incomplete: Fossilization is rare, and only a small fraction of Earth's organisms are preserved this way. In addition, geological strata from different eras must be accessible today for fossils to be found in them. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-treasure-marine-life.html Paleontology & Fossils Thu, 24 Sep 2026 14:40:01 EDT news709464370 Honeycomb-shaped structures are familiar from beehives. Researchers have now designed molecules that self-assemble into a similar pattern on a scale far too small to see with the naked eye. These molecules are peptides: short chains of amino acids, the building blocks of proteins. Each peptide consists of only nine amino acids. Many identical copies assemble into tiny fibers with a honeycomb-like interior filled with water. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-short-peptides-honeycomb-fibers-tiny.html Bio & Medicine Thu, 24 Sep 2026 14:20:17 EDT news709474573 A monumental complex of ritual baths, most likely used by Jewish pilgrims visiting the Temple in Jerusalem, has been uncovered at the foot of the Temple Mount. Dating to the late Second Temple period (first century BCE–70 CE), the exceptionally well-preserved complex includes three large ritual baths (mikva'ot), a monumental plastered pool, a paved plaza and an extensive water system. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-monumental-reveal-pilgrims-purified-jerusalem.html Archaeology Thu, 24 Sep 2026 14:20:10 EDT news709463643 Dog brains segment speech into words in a way previously seen only in humans, a new study from Hungary finds. This suggests that efficient speech processing is not necessarily a consequence of humans' unique language abilities: Regular exposure to speech alone can reshape how the brain functions, even in a mammalian species evolutionarily distant from humans. The discovery by the Neuroethology of Communication Lab at the ELTE Department of Ethology in Budapest is published in Science. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-dog-brains-track-consonant-patterns.html Plants & Animals Thu, 24 Sep 2026 14:00:25 EDT news709392061 Orangutan infants spend their first eight years with their mothers, and throughout this time, they can draw on their knowledge. After that, however, orangutans are entirely on their own. To fare well as independent orangutans, infants need to learn many survival skills, arguably the most important of which are feeding skills. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-style-survival-skills-young-orangutans.html Plants & Animals Thu, 24 Sep 2026 14:00:10 EDT news709397701 Twistronics has become a new alchemy of materials. By choosing atomically thin layers, stacking them and changing their relative angle, researchers can create electronic behavior absent from the original ingredients. Twisted graphene and transition metal dichalcogenides have already yielded superconductivity and fractional Chern insulators, states with fractionally charged excitations. One of physics' most active frontiers now has a moonshot ambition: to design entirely new forms of quantum matter. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-quantum-possibilities-atomically-thin-materials.html Condensed Matter Thu, 24 Sep 2026 14:00:06 EDT news709397881 Great Britain has long been thought to be home to a single venomous snake species, the adder. Although its bites are rarely life-threatening, they require a trip to the emergency department and will more than likely ruin your week. The other two native British snakes, the grass snake and the smooth snake, have largely been considered nonvenomous. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-venomous-british-snake-panic.html Plants & Animals Thu, 24 Sep 2026 13:50:01 EDT news709473961 Sound travels through the ocean carrying clues about potential prey, predators and other animals, giving sharks an important way to detect what they cannot yet see. But exactly how far a free-swimming shark can hear a sound—and whether it can determine where that sound is coming from—has remained largely unknown. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-sharks-feet-source.html Plants & Animals Thu, 24 Sep 2026 13:40:01 EDT news709463461 The cosmic microwave background (CMB) is the universe's oldest light, leftover thermal radiation from about 380,000 years after the big bang. Maps of the CMB offer a picture of the "baby universe" as it was 13.8 billion years ago. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-universe-oldest.html Astronomy Thu, 24 Sep 2026 13:30:01 EDT news709473241