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. Wearable and implantable biosensors have the potential to revolutionize health care by diagnosing, monitoring, and even treating a wide range of health conditions. Recent innovations in the lab of Wei Gao, professor of medical engineering at Caltech and a Heritage Medical Research Institute Investigator, are pushing the field forward through the creation of soft, stretchable, tissue-integrated bioelectronics for continuous sensing and adaptive therapy. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-stretchy-soft-sticky-advancing-generation.html Biotechnology Wed, 10 Jun 2026 05:00:03 EDT news700237202 Researchers have developed a microscopic 3D-printed optical device that can efficiently combine light from dozens of small semiconductor lasers into a single multimode optical fiber with very low loss. The team demonstrated photonic lanterns that multiplex 7, 19, and 37 multimode VCSEL lasers directly into a fiber while preserving brightness and easing alignment constraints. By enabling scalable incoherent beam combining of many multimode lasers, the technology could simplify and improve high-power laser systems, optical communications, and other photonic applications where efficiently delivering large optical power through fibers is critical. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-3d-photonic-lanterns-combine-multimode.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 10 Mar 2026 16:10:01 EDT news692374141 Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), an international team of astronomers has discovered a new massive and quiescent red galaxy, which they dubbed "Red Potato." The discovery was reported in a research paper published January 28 on the arXiv pre-print server. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-red-potato-galaxy-astronomers.html Astronomy Wed, 04 Feb 2026 09:40:01 EST news689419747 The power of artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing has made it possible to design genetic sequences encoding for diverse biological applications, such as proteins that form the building blocks of materials stronger than steel, or personalized cancer treatments. But the act of constructing DNA sequences to realize those designs has been a significant bottleneck. Due to technological limitations, chemical DNA synthesis has been limited only to creating short pieces of DNA. However, DNA molecules on the scale of genes or genomes can be tens to thousands of times longer than current capabilities allow. Without DNA construction, AI-powered biological designs cannot be verified or improved—meaning that the blueprints for futuristic new technologies cannot be realized. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-dna-page-method-enables-accurate.html Molecular & Computational biology Mon, 26 Jan 2026 13:56:06 EST news688658136 For more than a century, scientists have wondered why physical structures like blood vessels, neurons, tree branches, and other biological networks look the way they do. The prevailing theory held that nature simply builds these systems as efficiently as possible, minimizing the amount of material needed. But in the past, when researchers tested these networks against traditional mathematical optimization theories, the predictions consistently fell short. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-scientists-theory-code-natural-networks.html General Physics Wed, 07 Jan 2026 11:52:24 EST news687009121 Lars Stevens-Cullinane works in a dark room. But he's not processing negatives and printing photographs on light-sensitive paper; he's testing whether brief flashes of light can make drug-resistant bacteria sensitive to antibiotics. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-phototherapy-reverse-antibiotic-resistance.html Biochemistry Fri, 28 Nov 2025 09:30:03 EST news683544001 Research has revealed how minute structural modifications in advanced perovskite materials critically influence their light-emission properties. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-subtle-perovskites-solar-cells-quantum.html Analytical Chemistry Wed, 19 Nov 2025 09:40:04 EST news682765519 Only around 1.1% of the world's population is vegan, but this percentage is growing. For example, in Germany the number of vegans approximately doubled between 2016 and 2020 to 2% of the population, while a 2.4-fold increase between 2023 and 2025 to 4.7% of the population has been reported in the UK. Many people cite health benefits as their reason to go vegan: moving from a typical Western diet to a vegan one can lower the risk of premature mortality from noncommunicable diseases by an estimated 18% to 21%. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-vegan-diet-halve-carbon-footprint.html Environment Tue, 11 Nov 2025 00:00:01 EST news682016701 Bio-batteries constructed by electroactive microorganisms have unique advantages in physiological monitoring, tissue integration, and powering implantable devices due to their superior adaptability and biocompatibility. However, the development of miniaturized and portable bio-batteries that are plug and play and compatible with existing devices remains a challenge. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-portable-bio-battery-hydrogels-nerve.html Biotechnology Wed, 30 Apr 2025 17:18:03 EDT news665252282 The microarchitecture of fossil pterosaur bones could hold the key to lighter, stronger materials for the next generation of aircraft, new research has found. https://phys.org/news/2025-02-ancient-pterosaur-bones-future-aerospace.html Biotechnology Tue, 11 Feb 2025 12:32:30 EST news658499544 The chameleon, a lizard known for its color-changing skin, is the inspiration behind a new electromagnetic material that could someday make vehicles and aircraft "invisible" to radar. https://phys.org/news/2025-01-electromagnetic-material-shifting-chameleon.html Condensed Matter Wed, 22 Jan 2025 10:27:19 EST news656764027 An international team of astronomers has investigated a planetary system consisting of three alien worlds orbiting the star TOI-396. The study, published Nov. 22 on the pre-print server arXiv, provides the first mass measurements for these three planets, shedding more light on the properties of the whole system. https://phys.org/news/2024-12-properties-planet-toi.html Planetary Sciences Mon, 02 Dec 2024 10:20:01 EST news652356916 The next step for fully integrated textile-based electronics to make their way from the lab to the wardrobe is figuring out how to power the garment gizmos without unfashionably toting around a solid battery. Researchers from Drexel University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Accenture Labs in California have taken a new approach to the challenge by building a full textile energy grid that can be wirelessly charged. In their recent study, the team reported that it can power textile devices, including a warming element and environmental sensors that transmit data in real-time. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-clothesline-grid-mxene-nanomaterials-enable.html Nanomaterials Thu, 31 Oct 2024 14:30:04 EDT news649603802 Using NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), astronomers have detected 32 new bright pulsating DA white dwarfs of the ZZ Ceti subclass. The finding was reported in a research paper published July 9 on the pre-print server arXiv. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-astronomers-dozens-pulsating-white-dwarfs.html Astronomy Wed, 17 Jul 2024 09:56:08 EDT news640428966 Optical waves propagating through air or multi-mode fiber can be patterned or decomposed using orthogonal spatial modes, with far-ranging applications in imaging, communication, and directed energy. Yet the systems that perform these wavefront manipulations are cumbersome and large, restricting their utilization to high-end applications. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-3d-microscale-photonic-lantern-opportunities.html Optics & Photonics Mon, 03 Jun 2024 23:00:02 EDT news636644102 Researchers have delved into the composition of nanocomposites for ultraviolet metasurface fabrication and determined the ideal printing material for crafting them. Their findings are featured in the journal Microsystems & Nanoengineering on April 22. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-optimal-conditions-mass-production-ultraviolet.html Nanophysics Thu, 09 May 2024 11:06:03 EDT news634471562 With 5,000 tiny robots in a mountaintop telescope, researchers can look 11 billion years into the past. The light from far-flung objects in space is just now reaching the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), enabling us to map our cosmos as it was in its youth and trace its growth to what we see today. https://phys.org/news/2024-04-dark-energy-spectroscopic-instrument-largest.html Astronomy Thu, 04 Apr 2024 11:00:02 EDT news631443869 3D-printed microscopic particles, so small that to the naked eye they look like dust, have applications in drug and vaccine delivery, microelectronics, microfluidics, and abrasives for intricate manufacturing. However, the need for precise coordination between light delivery, stage movement, and resin properties makes scalable fabrication of such custom microscale particles challenging. Now, researchers at Stanford University have introduced a more efficient processing technique that can print up to 1 million highly detailed and customizable microscale particles a day. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-high-microscale-3d-technique.html Materials Science Wed, 13 Mar 2024 16:17:04 EDT news629565421 One of the fundamental goals of basic biology is understanding how diverse cell types work in concert to form tissues, organs, and organ systems. Recent efforts to catalog the different cell types in every tissue in our bodies are a step in the right direction, but only one piece of the puzzle. The great mystery of how those cells communicate with one another remains unsolved. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-universal-tool-tracking-cell-interactions.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 06 Mar 2024 11:00:01 EST news628942911 Shape-memory polymers or shape-shifting materials are smart materials that have gained significant attention within materials science and biomedical engineering in recent years to build smart structures and devices. Digital light processing is a vat photopolymerization–based method with significantly faster technology to print a complete layer in a single step to create smart materials. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-swift-d-shape-memory-polymers.html Polymers Fri, 22 Dec 2023 09:19:20 EST news622458888 We've all been there: staring at a math test with a problem that seems impossible to solve. What if finding the solution to a problem took almost a century? For mathematicians who dabble in Ramsey theory, this is very much the case. In fact, little progress had been made in solving Ramsey problems since the 1930s. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-math-problem-century.html Mathematics Tue, 31 Oct 2023 14:45:03 EDT news617982301 Using the Australian Square Kilometer Array Pathfinder (ASKAP), an international team of astronomers has serendipitously detected a new Galactic supernova remnant (SNR), which received designation SNR G288.8–6.3. The finding was reported in a paper published August 17 on the pre-print server arXiv. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-supernova-remnant-askap.html Astronomy Mon, 28 Aug 2023 09:36:21 EDT news612434178 By conducting radial velocity (RV) follow-up observations of the GJ 367 planetary system with the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS), an international team of astronomers has detected two additional alien worlds, at least four times as massive as the Earth. The finding was reported July 18 on the pre-print server arXiv. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-additional-exoplanets-nearby-planetary.html Planetary Sciences Thu, 27 Jul 2023 11:10:01 EDT news609672853 An international team of astronomers has conducted follow-up photometric and spectroscopic observations of a supernova designated SN 2019odp. Results of the observational campaign, published March 24 on the arXiv pre-print server, indicate that SN 2019odp is a massive and oxygen-rich supernova of Type Ib. https://phys.org/news/2023-04-sn-2019odp-massive-oxygen-rich-ib.html Astronomy Mon, 03 Apr 2023 09:40:01 EDT news599732639 Common sense suggests that space missions can only happen with multimillion-dollar budgets, materials built to withstand the unforgiving conditions beyond Earth's atmosphere, and as a result of work done by highly trained specialists. https://phys.org/news/2023-03-satellite-powered-aa-batteries-microprocessor.html Space Exploration Thu, 16 Mar 2023 14:10:02 EDT news598194507 Polish astronomers have performed photometric observations of a short-period variable star known as NSVS 2983201. They have found that the object is a contact binary system with a mass ratio of about 0.36. The finding was reported in a paper published December 28 on the arXiv pre-print repository. https://phys.org/news/2023-01-nsvs-contact-binary.html Astronomy Mon, 09 Jan 2023 09:47:11 EST news592480027 Using radial velocity measurements, astronomers from Japan and China have detected a new exoplanet orbiting a G-type giant star. The newfound alien world is similar in mass to Jupiter but much hotter than the solar system's biggest planet. The discovery is reported in a paper published November 12 on the arXiv pre-print server. https://phys.org/news/2022-11-astronomers-jupiter-like-exoplanet.html Astronomy Wed, 23 Nov 2022 09:00:01 EST news588349037 Although just cute little creatures at first glance, the microscopic geckos and octopuses fabricated by 3D laser printing in the molecular engineering labs at Heidelberg University could open up new opportunities in fields such as microrobotics or biomedicine. https://phys.org/news/2022-10-microscopic-octopuses-3d-printer.html Polymers Tue, 04 Oct 2022 14:23:16 EDT news584112193 The world's whitest paint—seen in this year's edition of Guinness World Records and "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert"—keeps surfaces so cool that it could reduce the need for air conditioning. Now the Purdue University researchers who created the paint have developed a new formulation that is thinner and lighter—ideal for radiating heat away from cars, trains and airplanes. https://phys.org/news/2022-10-world-whitest-thinner-ideal-vehicles.html Nanomaterials Mon, 03 Oct 2022 15:54:50 EDT news584031287 Someday, a swarm of cellphone-size robots could whisk through the water beneath the miles-thick icy shell of Jupiter's moon Europa or Saturn's moon Enceladus, looking for signs of alien life. Packed inside a narrow ice-melting probe that would tunnel through the frozen crust, the tiny robots would be released underwater, swimming far from their mothercraft to take the measure of a new world. https://phys.org/news/2022-06-swarm-tiny-robots-life-distant.html Space Exploration Wed, 29 Jun 2022 10:05:35 EDT news575715926