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. Buffalo's legendary snowfall totals are largely the result of one unlucky geographic reality: the city sits east of the Great Lakes instead of west. Anyone who has lived through a winter in Buffalo, Cleveland or any snowbelt city knows that prevailing westerly winds pick up moisture from the lakes and dump lake-effect snow on their eastern shores. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-ancient-iceberg-reveal-reverse-great.html Earth Sciences Wed, 13 May 2026 15:56:40 EDT news697906562 New observations and simulations by a team of researchers led by MPE reveal that a massive binary star near our galaxy's center is responsible for creating a series of enigmatic gas clouds—compact gas clumps that help feed the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A*. The study is published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-mysterious-gas-clouds-milky-black.html Astronomy Thu, 23 Apr 2026 12:00:08 EDT news696159422 Algae blooms make a pond's surface shine in mesmerizing green hues. But if the microorganisms responsible are cyanobacteria, they can also release toxins that harm humans and wildlife alike. A team reporting in ACS ES&T Water has designed a "set it and forget it" system for distributing algaecide using specialized buoys tethered at the site of a bloom. In tests, the buoys removed nearly all cyanobacteria without the need for frequent reapplication. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-algae-blooms-bacteria-buoys.html Cell & Microbiology Sun, 05 Apr 2026 10:00:02 EDT news694105176 Some brands of bottled water contain significantly higher levels of microplastics than tap water, according to new research by scientists who have developed a novel method for detecting these tiny particles. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-bottled-worse-microplastics.html Environment Mon, 02 Feb 2026 10:36:12 EST news689250901 Archival discoveries including a 19th-century autobiography transform our understanding of Shadrach Byfield, an English veteran of the War of 1812 who buried his own amputated arm and designed a custom prosthesis. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-british-redcoat-lost-memoir-reveals.html Archaeology Wed, 14 Jan 2026 19:00:04 EST news687541559 When University at Buffalo chemists analyzed samples of water, fish, and bird eggs, they weren't surprised to find plenty of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). After all, these "forever chemicals" turn up nearly everywhere in the environment. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-tracking-chemicals-food-web-isomers.html Biochemistry Tue, 02 Dec 2025 16:32:24 EST news683915521 An international research team led by PD Dr. Florian Peissker at the University of Cologne has used the new observation instrument ERIS (Enhanced Resolution Imager and Spectrograph) at the Very Large Telescope (VLT) facility in Chile to show that several so-called "dusty objects" follow stable orbits around the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* at the center of our galaxy. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-stars-defy-black-hole-stable.html Astronomy Fri, 28 Nov 2025 10:40:06 EST news683548405 A new nationwide database developed by researchers at Northern Arizona University is helping land managers answer a long-standing question: Are fuel treatments actually reducing wildfire risk? https://phys.org/news/2025-09-nationwide-database-track-wildfire-treatments.html Environment Wed, 10 Sep 2025 10:05:03 EDT news676717501 Astronomers may have caught a still-forming planet in action, carving out an intricate pattern in the gas and dust that surrounds its young host star. Using ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT), they observed a planetary disk with prominent spiral arms, finding clear signs of a planet nestled in its inner regions. This is the first time astronomers have detected a planet candidate embedded inside a disk spiral. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-cosmic-sculptor-astronomers-young-planet.html Astronomy Mon, 21 Jul 2025 08:00:01 EDT news672298909 Recent breakthroughs in understanding the prostaglandin D2 (PGD2) receptor 1 (DP1) are paving the way for innovative anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory therapies. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-reveal-basis-prostaglandin-d2-receptor.html Molecular & Computational biology Fri, 30 May 2025 10:19:03 EDT news667819141 New laboratory research shows that when viruses attack a species that forms toxic algal blooms, those thick, blue-green slicks that choke waterways and that threaten ecosystems, drinking water, and public health, what results might be even worse than before the infection. The finding questions the long-held theory among scientists that viruses help regulate the negative effects of these blooms. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-hidden-toxins-viruses-combat-algal.html Ecology Mon, 12 May 2025 16:16:57 EDT news666285411 In the warm summertime waters of Lake Erie, cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, can proliferate out of control, creating algal blooms that produce toxins at a rate that can harm wildlife and human health. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-cyanobacteria-culprit-lake-erie-toxin.html Environment Wed, 30 Apr 2025 14:26:03 EDT news665241961 The James Webb Space Telescope has captured its first direct images of carbon dioxide in a planet outside the solar system in HR 8799, a multiplanet system 130 light-years away that has long been a key target for planet formation studies. https://phys.org/news/2025-03-jwst-captures-images-carbon-dioxide.html Astronomy Mon, 17 Mar 2025 10:00:01 EDT news661418821 To try to understand how harmful algal blooms might evolve in Lake Erie in a warming climate, University of Michigan scientists helped conduct a survey of cyanobacteria in a gulf of Kenya's Lake Victoria. https://phys.org/news/2025-01-kenya-lake-victoria-cyanobacteria-erie.html Ecology Tue, 21 Jan 2025 15:22:04 EST news656695321 A trio of Earth and atmospheric scientists at the University of Houston, working with a geoscientist from the University of Arizona, has found evidence that a geographic hotspot laid the groundwork for the formation of the Great Lakes. https://phys.org/news/2025-01-scientists-evidence-ancient-hotspot-played.html Earth Sciences Wed, 08 Jan 2025 10:00:01 EST news655552367 An international team of researchers has detected a binary star orbiting close to Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy. It is the first time a stellar pair has been found in the vicinity of a supermassive black hole. https://phys.org/news/2024-12-binary-star-galaxy-supermassive-black.html Astronomy Tue, 17 Dec 2024 11:00:01 EST news653560770 Trying to understand the makeup and evolution of the solar system's Kuiper belt has kept researchers busy since it was hypothesized soon after the discovery of Pluto in 1930. In particular, binary pairs of objects there are useful as indicators since their existence today paints a picture of how energetic or violent the evolution of the solar system was in its early days four billion years ago. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-ultrawide-binary-kuiper-belt-earliest.html Astronomy Tue, 26 Nov 2024 07:25:11 EST news651756713 An international team of scientists using observations from NASA-German satellites found evidence that Earth's total amount of freshwater dropped abruptly starting in May 2014 and has remained low ever since. Reporting in Surveys in Geophysics, the researchers suggested the shift could indicate Earth's continents have entered a persistently drier phase. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-nasa-satellites-reveal-abrupt-global.html Earth Sciences Fri, 15 Nov 2024 13:08:04 EST news650898481 There's a famous piece of advice from hockey, attributed to Wayne Gretzky, about how it's better to skate to where the puck is headed rather than where it is. Research is now showing that regulations designed to protect Lake Erie's water quality are heeding the Great One's words when it comes to safeguarding the Great Lake's fisheries. The research has been published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-climate-dead-zones-fish-problem.html Earth Sciences Mon, 28 Oct 2024 15:00:01 EDT news649328247 A team at NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland has streamed 4K video footage from an aircraft to the International Space Station and back for the first time using optical (laser) communications. The feat was part of a series of tests on new technology that could provide live video coverage of astronauts on the moon during the Artemis missions. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-nasa-streams-4k-video-aircraft.html Space Exploration Wed, 24 Jul 2024 14:39:04 EDT news641050742 The question of what triggers the extremely rapid star formation within Hyper Luminous Infrared Galaxies (HyLIRGs), as yet unknown, is of much interest to guide our understanding of the formation and evolution of galaxies in the universe. A new photo released by the European Southern Observatory shows a HyLIRG 10,000 times brighter than our Milky Way (in infrared light)—the distant galaxy PJ0116-24—and was released in conjunction with a newly published paper in Nature Astronomy that sheds light on its formation. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-galaxy-formation.html Astronomy Mon, 15 Jul 2024 14:55:03 EDT news640274101 Advanced technology tested nearly two years ago in the water treatment system that serves Toledo could prove valuable in efforts to protect the water that pours out of taps well beyond northwest Ohio, according to research published by The University of Toledo. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-advanced-algae-sensor-toledo-valuable.html Biotechnology Thu, 20 Jun 2024 12:02:04 EDT news638103721 Climate change is causing a series of maladies by warming land and sea. A study published online in Limnology and Oceanography Letters demonstrates that one consequence of climate change that has already occurred is the spread and intensification of toxic algae blooms in Lake Erie. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-climate-toxic-algal-blooms-lake.html Earth Sciences Tue, 11 Jun 2024 09:49:03 EDT news637318141 Climate change, such as warming and changes in precipitation patterns, affects the frequency and severity of harmful algal blooms (HABs) globally, including those of toxin-producing cyanobacteria that can contaminate drinking water. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-unexpected-source-nutrients-fuels-growth.html Ecology Thu, 30 May 2024 13:18:05 EDT news636293881 Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as PFAS or "forever chemicals," have become persistent pollutants in the air, water and soil. Because they are so stable, they can be transported throughout the water cycle, making their way into drinking water sources and precipitation. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-chemicals-great-lakes.html Environment Thu, 16 May 2024 12:12:03 EDT news635080321 The source of pollutants in rivers and freshwater lakes can now be identified using a comprehensive new water quality analysis, according to scientists at the University of Cambridge and Trent University, Canada. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-approach-freshwater-quality-sources-pollution.html Environment Thu, 28 Mar 2024 14:00:01 EDT news630834901 A new analysis of zooplankton in western Lake Erie shows that their biomass and seasonal behavioral patterns have been drastically altered by human-driven changes in water temperature and food webs. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-lake-erie-climate-scrambles-zooplankton.html Ecology Fri, 22 Mar 2024 13:36:04 EDT news630333362 Spring weather brings welcome conditions for flowers and plant life to bloom across the land. The right mixture of temperature, moisture, and light helps keep the green world vibrant. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-freshwater-diatoms-stay.html Earth Sciences Tue, 19 Mar 2024 16:52:50 EDT news630085966 Where will you be watching the April 8 total solar eclipse? There are just a few weeks left to pick your spot to see the skies darken along a strip of North America, whether by land, sea or air. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-april-total-solar-eclipse.html Space Exploration Sat, 02 Mar 2024 08:48:46 EST news628591717 A team co-led by Southwest Research Institute found evidence for hydrothermal or metamorphic activity within the icy dwarf planets Eris and Makemake, located in the Kuiper Belt. Methane detected on their surfaces has the tell-tale signs of warm or even hot geochemistry in their rocky cores, which is markedly different than the signature of methane from a comet. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-scientists-evidence-geothermal-icy-dwarf.html Astronomy Thu, 15 Feb 2024 12:11:17 EST news627221462