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. The gleaming skyscrapers and bright lights of the United Arab Emirates draw the eyes of all who travel there, a sign of the Arabian Peninsula nation's rapid, oil-fueled development over the last decades into a major hub for commerce and tourism. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-arab-emirates-darkest-reveals-rare.html Astronomy Sat, 30 May 2026 05:45:14 EDT news699338687 From smartphone charging to hydrogen production, the fundamental principles of energy technology have been revealed. Korean researchers have, for the first time, identified how molecular structures change within the ultra-small space called the "electric double layer." The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, opens a new path to simultaneously improve efficiency and performance in battery, hydrogen, and carbon-neutral technologies by reducing energy loss and selectively inducing desired reactions. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-electric-layer-molecular-battery-hydrogen.html Nanophysics Mon, 04 May 2026 14:20:05 EDT news697117502 Around the world, millions of camels are farmed for milk and meat while others are used in leisure activities like racing and riding. Yet the treatment of these animals as livestock can be harsh, especially during transport. New international research, led by Southern Cross University animal welfare expert Associate Professor Barbara Padalino and published in the journal Animals, shows that more humane camel transportation is possible by using food as an incentive in place of physical punishment. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-camel-food-incentive-physical.html Plants & Animals Mon, 04 May 2026 08:40:01 EDT news697101555 A recent study by Dr. John Moretti of the University of Texas and local caver John Young uncovered the remains of Ice Age megafauna, revealing an entirely new ecosystem that once thrived on the Edwards Plateau. Among the finds were a genus of giant tortoise (Hesperotestudo) and a large armadillo-like pampathere (Holmesina septentrionalis). The work is published in the journal Quaternary Research. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-extinct-ice-age-giants-bender.html Paleontology & Fossils Sun, 12 Apr 2026 14:00:03 EDT news694775469 Hedgehogs, elephants, pangolins, bears or fennec foxes: many wild species are sold as pets, hunting trophies, for traditional medicine, biomedical research, or for their meat or fur. These practices, whether legal or illegal, concern one-quarter of all mammal species. Now a study conducted at the Department of Ecology and Evolution of the University of Lausanne (Unil) quantifies the impact of wildlife trade on the exchange of germs and parasites between animals and humans. The work, titled "Wildlife trade drives animal-to-human pathogen transmission over 40 years," appears in Science. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-wildlife-pathogen-transmission-years-spillover.html Ecology Thu, 09 Apr 2026 14:00:08 EDT news694945081 A paleontologist from The University of Texas at Austin has discovered the fossilized remains of Ice Age animals that have never been found in Central Texas before—and he came across the bones while snorkeling for fossils in an underground stream. The new fossils are from a giant tortoise and an armadillo relative called a pampathere that was about the size of a lion. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-ice-age-animals-slice-earth.html Paleontology & Fossils Wed, 25 Mar 2026 21:20:03 EDT news693672121 When winter sets in and food becomes scarce, some mammals hibernate, entering a state of deep rest that slashes their energy needs and allows them to fast for months. However, fasting deprives them of essential nutrients, including carbon. Carbon, the building block of all life, normally comes from food. But hibernating animals take in no carbon, while their bodies keep releasing it through respiration, mostly as carbon dioxide. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-gut-microbes-secret-squirrel-hibernation.html Plants & Animals Thu, 12 Mar 2026 09:40:04 EDT news692524606 The fastest land animal in North America is the American pronghorn, and previously, researchers thought it evolved its speed because of pressure from the now-extinct American cheetah. But recently, that theory has come under fire. Now, a University of Michigan study examining fossilized ankle bones of ancient relatives of the American pronghorn has shown that the pronghorn was evolving to be faster more than 5 million years before the American cheetah appeared on the continent. The study is published in the Journal of Mammalogy. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-ancient-american-pronghorns-built.html Evolution Tue, 03 Feb 2026 11:48:38 EST news689341681 In a study published in the Journal of Historical Geography, researchers Dr. Chris McCarthy and his colleagues have documented, for the first time, the Great Mongolian Road, a major yet understudied east-west caravan route across Inner Asia. The study utilized maps, called gaihōzu, produced by the Japanese Imperial Army between 1873 and 1945, combined with field verification across 1,200 km of southern Mongolia, to determine their accuracy and document the various support systems available to camel caravans and merchants, which are vital for successful navigation and survival in these harsh arid landscapes. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-great-mongolian-road-japanese-imperial.html Archaeology Tue, 27 Jan 2026 10:30:01 EST news688647706 Nanobodies—tiny proteins derived from animals in the camelid family including camels, llamas, and alpacas—could be useful in treating brain disorders like schizophrenia and Alzheimer's disease. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-nanobodies-camels-llamas-schizophrenia-alzheimer.html Bio & Medicine Wed, 05 Nov 2025 11:00:12 EST news681554941 Snakebite envenoming is among the world's deadliest yet most overlooked tropical diseases. The WHO has classified snakebite envenoming as one of 21 neglected tropical diseases, resulting in between 100,000 and 150,000 deaths worldwide each year. Three times as many survive with serious disabilities, including amputations and permanent tissue damage. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-nanobody-based-antivenom-effectiveness-african.html Bio & Medicine Wed, 29 Oct 2025 14:59:06 EDT news680968742 Imagine a sloth. You probably picture a medium-sized, tree-dwelling creature hanging from a branch. Today's sloths—commonly featured on children's backpacks, stationery and lunch boxes—are slow-moving creatures, living inconspicuously in Central American and South American rainforests. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-giant-ground-sloths-fossilized-teeth.html Ecology Wed, 22 Oct 2025 13:03:03 EDT news680356981 A study of elephants, giraffes and other wildlife in Namibia's Etosha National Park underscores the ways in which the environment, biological sex, and anatomical distinctions can drive variation in the gut microbiomes across plant-eating species. Because the gut microbiome plays a critical role in animal health, the work can be used to inform conservation efforts. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-african-wildlife-scat-gut-ecosystem.html Ecology Wed, 15 Oct 2025 13:00:36 EDT news679752030 What did early humans like to eat? The answer, according to a team of archaeologists in Argentina, is extinct megafauna, such as giant sloths and giant armadillos. In a study published in the journal Science Advances, researchers demonstrate that these enormous animals were a staple food source for people in southern South America around 13,000 to 11,600 years ago. Their findings may also rewrite our understanding of how these massive creatures became extinct. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-early-humans-dined-giant-sloths.html Archaeology Thu, 02 Oct 2025 09:44:54 EDT news678617088 New findings highlight the pioneering role of human groups who lived in the interior of northern Arabia shortly after the hyper-arid conditions of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), guided by the return of seasonal water sources—and leaving behind a monumental legacy in rock art. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-year-monumental-camel-art-ancient.html Archaeology Tue, 30 Sep 2025 11:00:01 EDT news678354001 Through a collaboration between U.S. and Kenyan researchers and Turkana communities of northern Kenya, scientists have uncovered key genetic adaptations underlying survival in hot and dry environments, revealing how natural selection has enabled this pastoralist population to thrive in a challenging landscape. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-partnership-kenya-turkana-community-scientists.html Evolution Thu, 18 Sep 2025 14:00:10 EDT news677344321 Burning, blisters, pain: More than 40 million people worldwide are infected with the herpes virus every year. The virus can pose a serious threat to newborns and people with weakened immune systems. Researchers in Hamburg and Göttingen have now generated a mini-antibody that neutralizes a protein essential for the infection. The findings, published in Nature, hold the promise of new therapies to treat and prevent severe herpes infections in the near future. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-alpaca-generated-nanobody-neutralizes-protein.html Bio & Medicine Thu, 04 Sep 2025 15:43:45 EDT news676219419 The ability to detect single photons (the smallest energy packets constituting electromagnetic radiation) in the infrared range has become a pressing need across numerous fields, from medical imaging and astrophysics to emerging quantum technologies. In observational astronomy, for example, the light from distant celestial objects can be extremely faint and require exceptional sensitivity in the mid-infrared. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-bottleneck-photon-2d-materials.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 07 Aug 2025 14:43:44 EDT news673796618 A group of bat viruses closely related to the deadly Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) could be one small mutation away from being capable of spilling over into human populations and potentially causing the next pandemic. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-viruses-similar-mers-potential-humans.html Ecology Wed, 04 Jun 2025 11:00:04 EDT news668253601 The search for life beyond Earth is a key driver of modern astronomy and planetary science. The U.S. is building multiple major telescopes and planetary probes to advance this search. However, the signs of life—called biosignatures—that scientists may find will likely be difficult to interpret. Figuring out where exactly to look also remains challenging. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-figure-distant-planets-host-life.html Astrobiology Mon, 02 Jun 2025 15:34:08 EDT news668097237 Staphylococcus borealis has been found to be resistant to several different types of antibiotics, posing a potentially significant problem for the elderly. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-antibiotic-resistance-newly-bacterium.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 07 May 2025 11:50:05 EDT news665836813 Prehistoric kangaroos in southern Australia had a more general diet than previously assumed, giving rise to new ideas about their survival and resilience to climate change, and the final extinction of the megafauna, a new study has found. https://phys.org/news/2025-01-refutes-notion-prehistoric-kangaroos-ran.html Ecology Thu, 09 Jan 2025 15:53:41 EST news655660408 A novel nanobody-based immunosensor, designed to function stably in undiluted biological fluids and harsh conditions, has been developed, report researchers from Science Tokyo. Their innovative design leverages BRET—bioluminescence resonance energy transfer—and exhibits great potential for point-of-care testing, therapeutic drug monitoring, and environmental applications using paper-based devices. https://phys.org/news/2024-12-bioluminescent-immunosensor-quantitative.html Bio & Medicine Tue, 17 Dec 2024 11:31:05 EST news653657462 An international team of virologists, mammalian ecologists and zoologists has uncovered the evolutionary origins of the hepatitis E virus. In their study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the group analyzed genomic data for multiple viral hosts. https://phys.org/news/2024-12-uncovering-evolutionary-hepatitis-virus.html Evolution Fri, 13 Dec 2024 10:34:39 EST news653308476 In the dark and moist understories of the subtropical forests of Shimoshima Island in Japan grow parasitic plants that feed on the roots of other plants. They are called Balanophora, and for over a century, the mechanism of their seed dispersal has remained a mystery. https://phys.org/news/2024-12-dual-role-insects-parasitic-reproduction.html Plants & Animals Wed, 04 Dec 2024 16:11:11 EST news652551060 The Negev desert of southern Israel is renowned for its unique rock art. Since at least the third millennium BCE, the hunters, shepherds, and merchants who roamed the Negev have left thousands of carvings (petroglyphs) on the rocks. These figures are mostly cut into desert varnish: a thin black coating on limestone rock, which forms naturally. Many represent animals such as ibexes, goats, horses, donkeys, and domestic camels, but abstract forms also occur. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-fungi-lichens-pose-deadly-threat.html Ecology Fri, 05 Jul 2024 00:20:01 EDT news639240061 50,000 years ago, North America was ruled by megafauna. Lumbering mammoths roamed the tundra, while forests were home to towering mastodons, fierce saber-toothed tigers and enormous wolves. Bison and extraordinarily tall camels moved in herds across the continent, while giant beavers plied its lakes and ponds. Immense ground sloths weighing over 1,000 kg were found across many regions east of the Rocky Mountains. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-clues-mysterious-north-america-large.html Evolution Fri, 31 May 2024 12:45:15 EDT news636378311 Even bugs as small as woodlice can disperse seeds they eat, setting a new record for smallest animal recorded to do so. The Kobe University discovery underscores the crucial yet often overlooked role that small invertebrates play in ecosystems. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-woodlice-smallest-dispersers-ingested-seeds.html Plants & Animals Wed, 08 May 2024 11:00:01 EDT news634376701 Archaeologists from Tel Aviv University have uncovered the mystery surrounding extensive Paleolithic stone quarrying and tool-making sites: Why did Homo erectus repeatedly revisit the very same locations for hundreds of thousands of years? The answer lies in the migration routes of elephants, which they hunted and dismembered using flint tools crafted at these quarrying sites. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-elephant-early-humans-proximity-extensive.html Archaeology Tue, 26 Mar 2024 16:50:04 EDT news630690601 The toxin candidalysin of the yeast Candida albicans is incorporated into an unusual protein structure during an infection, the composition of which has so far been unknown to scientists. Researchers at the Leibniz-HKI have now succeeded in deciphering the function of this unusual arrangement. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-insights-fungal-toxin-treatment-pathway.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 14 Mar 2024 10:24:04 EDT news629630641