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. Superconductors are materials that conduct electricity without electrical resistance when cooled below a specific critical temperature. These materials have proved promising for the development of various technologies, including medical imaging instruments, particle accelerators, ultrasensitive detectors and quantum processors. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-quantum-phases-chromium-based-material.html Superconductivity Mon, 07 Sep 2026 07:00:01 EDT news707734660 New research has found that tree species diversity can play a crucial role in protecting forests from the growing threat of extreme climate events. The study analyzed data from 88,116 separate forest plots across the United States to investigate the impact of "compound climate extremes," when events such as drought and extreme heat occur at the same time. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-tree-species-diversity-forests-climate.html Plants & Animals Sat, 05 Sep 2026 12:00:01 EDT news707665667 In recent years, scientists have developed methods to measure a cell's transcriptome, or all the RNA produced by a cell, to study the cell's identity and genetic activity. However, these methods rely on killing the cell to access the bits of RNA within and offer only a one-time snapshot. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-virus-particles-enable-gene-tracking.html Cell & Microbiology Fri, 04 Sep 2026 15:00:02 EDT news707739962 In a new Nature Communications study, researchers developed a universal scaling framework for the strength of granular asteroids, showing that their tensile strength can be predicted from the size and shape of their constituent particles. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-particle-size-asteroid-strength-revealing.html Planetary Sciences Fri, 04 Sep 2026 14:20:06 EDT news707737328 Satellite measurements detected declining photosynthetic activity in Western U.S. forests two years before bark beetle mortality appeared in aerial detection surveys, according to new University of Utah-led research. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-satellites-forest-stress-years-bark.html Environment Thu, 03 Sep 2026 18:10:05 EDT news707672522 Heat, it turns out, has a memory. A cooling cup of coffee may not seem particularly thoughtful. At the scale of a kitchen, heat appears to follow a straightforward rule: it moves from warmer places to cooler ones. Leave the cup unattended long enough, and the disappointing result offers convincing evidence that this rule works. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-memory-theoretical-framework-track.html General Physics Thu, 03 Sep 2026 10:00:08 EDT news707644802 Inside some fusion energy systems, particles hotter than the core of the sun can become unruly in a few thousandths of a second, far faster than any human operator can react. A new software framework developed by researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) and Princeton University hands those split-second decisions to artificial intelligence (AI), while keeping the machine safe and humans firmly in charge of the goals. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-pacman-ai-framework-fusion-safely.html Plasma Physics Wed, 02 Sep 2026 17:00:08 EDT news707581261 High above Earth, thin veils of metallic haze drift through the edge of space. Known as sporadic E layers, these high-altitude "clouds" form from the vaporized dust of burned-up meteors, earning their name from the unpredictable way they emerge and then dissipate. Now, new results from a NASA sounding rocket—a suborbital research rocket—that flew five detectors through one of these layers simultaneously reveal unexpected complexity in the layer for the first time. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-nasa-rocket-multi-radio-disrupting.html Planetary Sciences Wed, 02 Sep 2026 14:20:10 EDT news707570942 The Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC) tropical forests stretch across an extraordinary landscape of rivers, wetlands, savannas and towering trees. But in a forest this vast, biodiversity doesn't exist on a single plane. It climbs into the canopy. It moves between branches and vines, disappears into the understory and travels across the forest floor. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-forest-floor-treetops-cameras-reveal.html Plants & Animals Tue, 01 Sep 2026 13:20:03 EDT news707481541 On Nov. 11, 2025, Earth experienced a severe geomagnetic storm triggered by solar flares and coronal mass ejections from an active sunspot region. While this kind of storm brings beautiful auroras admired in many areas around the world, it can also cause ionospheric disturbances that disrupt radio waves and affect crucial technologies. A new study, published in Geophysical Research Letters, found that disruptions caused by this storm scrambled GPS signals in areas where such disruptions have never been reported. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-geomagnetic-superstorm-shook-gps-accuracy.html Earth Sciences Tue, 01 Sep 2026 12:30:01 EDT news707483362 By combining roughly two decades of observations from NASA's Swift X-ray Telescope with radio monitoring, astronomers have caught a supermassive black hole at the heart of the Perseus Cluster suddenly flaring in X-rays, and about 300 days later, its powerful radio emission flared too. Their paper describing the connection between this black hole's accretion disk and the jets it launches was submitted to the arXiv preprint server on Aug. 13 and accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal Letters. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-supermassive-black-hole-erupted-rays.html Astronomy Tue, 01 Sep 2026 08:40:01 EDT news706868897 For nearly 80 years, physicists have relied on a thought experiment created by Richard Feynman to predict how quantum particles behave. For the first time, researchers in China have tested this trick directly in the lab. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-physicists-feynman-path.html Optics & Photonics Mon, 31 Aug 2026 08:00:02 EDT news707138733 Researchers at Delft University of Technology have demonstrated for the first time that nano-antennas can enhance the fluorescence of proteins in living human and other mammalian cells. Scientists already use smart fluorescent proteins that light up when the electrical voltage across a nerve cell changes. By placing nano-antennas close to these light-emitting proteins, researchers can monitor processes inside cells with much greater precision. The discovery adds a new tool for revealing electrical signals in the brain through nanotechnology as well as genetic engineering. The research has been published in Advanced Materials. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-nano-antennas-cells-brighter-faster.html Bio & Medicine Fri, 28 Aug 2026 12:20:01 EDT news707135401 Electrons, particles that carry a negative electric charge, typically move through materials. At low densities and temperatures, however, the electrical repulsion between them can overpower their tendency to move, prompting them to arrange themselves into ordered patterns known as Wigner crystals. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-reveals-internal-motion-electron-crystals.html Condensed Matter Fri, 28 Aug 2026 09:00:03 EDT news706964413 More than 150 people are dead and hundreds more are missing after an enormous wave of water, ice, mud and rock cascaded more than 170 kilometers (106 miles) down the Bhote Koshi River valley in Nepal. The valley is the main link between Kathmandu in Nepal and Lhasa in Tibet. At least 34 Australians are missing. There was little warning. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-tsunami-dirt-nepal-deadly-glacial.html Earth Sciences Thu, 27 Aug 2026 14:20:05 EDT news707054162 Lakes play an important role in capturing and storing carbon, which accumulates in their sediments. But the amounts they can absorb have varied considerably over time. Jean-François Lapierre, a professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Université de Montréal, is part of a research team sorting out natural variations from human-influenced changes. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-human-lakes-natural-carbon-limits.html Environment Wed, 26 Aug 2026 12:20:03 EDT news706957921 For decades, light has been used to understand the molecular structures of matter. A sample is irradiated with light, and measurements determine the wavelengths at which it is absorbed. Since each molecule absorbs light at very specific wavelengths that depend on its structure, the resulting absorption spectrum acts like a molecular fingerprint. For individual molecules, however, this signal is vanishingly small and mostly indistinguishable from noise. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-molecule-photon-entanglement-imperceptible-recoil.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 26 Aug 2026 11:00:14 EDT news706866181 University of Oregon biologists have resurrected prehistoric proteins up to 160 million years old that carry natural antimicrobial properties. The revived molecules could inspire the design of new treatments for antibiotic-resistant infections, a pressing global health issue. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-scientists-resurrect-ancient-proteins-antibiotic.html Biotechnology Tue, 25 Aug 2026 14:00:07 EDT news706801801 The moon's getting its first airport, and it's about to get busy. Within the next two decades, NASA's planned Gateway—humanity's first lunar spaceport—may become a bustling hub for Orion crew capsules, lunar landers, cargo vehicles and astronauts traveling between Earth, the moon and, eventually, destinations in the deep unknown. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-boarding-miles-earth-moon-airport.html Space Exploration Tue, 25 Aug 2026 09:20:03 EDT news706867861 In 2022, excavations at a cemetery in Pień, Poland, led by researchers from the Institute of Archaeology at Nicolaus Copernicus University, led to a mysterious discovery. In what they call Grave 75, they uncovered the 400-year-old remains of a young adult woman buried in a very unusual and unsettling way. A curved iron sickle was placed directly over her neck, with its blade pointing toward her throat, while a triangular iron padlock was attached to the big toe of her left foot. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-archaeologists-young-woman-17th-century.html Archaeology Tue, 25 Aug 2026 08:43:35 EDT news706866199 For years, scientists have been using a method called "temporal autocorrelation (TAC)" to measure forest resilience using satellite data. However, scientists have not used TAC uniformly, and its use as a resilience indicator was based largely on theories and assumptions rather than direct evidence from observations on the ground. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-satellites-forests-resilience.html Environment Mon, 24 Aug 2026 12:40:05 EDT news706791481 Researchers at UC San Diego and UC Berkeley have found that certain landscapes surrounding California communities are associated with differing rates of Valley fever, a fungal respiratory infection caused by inhaling spores carried in windblown dust. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-dry-landscapes-newly-fallowed-fields.html Ecology Mon, 24 Aug 2026 09:40:02 EDT news706781031 Sometimes science throws up the unexpected. When a team of researchers set out to model river erosion in Canada's High Arctic, they did not expect the findings to defy common sense. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-arctic-riverbeds-erode-faster-unfrozen.html Earth Sciences Sat, 22 Aug 2026 11:20:05 EDT news706614377 Young Bewick's swans only survive their first spring migration if they stay with their parents long enough. If they lose their parents in winter, they leave later and are unable to keep up with the rest of the population. As a result, there is a greater chance that they will die in their first year of life. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-swan-families-winter-disrupts-migration.html Plants & Animals Fri, 21 Aug 2026 10:40:01 EDT news706524842 Loughborough University physicists and an international team have demonstrated that a grain-of-rice-sized microchip can be used to produce a spectrum of precisely spaced frequencies of light, which is then converted into multiple high-frequency electromagnetic signals known as millimeter waves. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-rainbow-chip-6g-networks-precision.html Optics & Photonics Fri, 21 Aug 2026 10:00:03 EDT news706524302 During a coronal mass ejection (CME), the sun hurls billions of tons of magnetized plasma into space. These eruptions are among the most powerful events in the solar system, and when they are aimed toward Earth, they can seriously threaten the satellites and power grids we depend on. For now, it remains notoriously difficult to predict how these eruptions evolve over time—and, in turn, whether they might be heading toward us. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-interplanetary-spacecraft-capture-coronal-mass.html Space Exploration Fri, 21 Aug 2026 08:50:42 EDT news706521006 Quantum batteries, devices that store energy by exploiting quantum mechanical phenomena, could, in principle, be charged faster and more efficiently than classical ones. Despite their potential, connecting these batteries to chargers is known to create quantum correlations that can trap some energy inside the combined battery-charger system. This can reduce useful work, or the energy available to complete a task that can be extracted from the battery alone. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-quantum-battery-environmental-sensitivity-advantage.html General Physics Wed, 19 Aug 2026 10:40:07 EDT news706351396 Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) scientists have found that most coral reefs across the Indo-Pacific may struggle to grow fast enough to keep pace with accelerating sea-level rise. Their study found that 76% of the reef sites surveyed do not have the capacity to keep pace with projected sea-level rise under a high greenhouse gas emissions scenario, threatening coastal protection and marine habitats. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-quarters-indo-pacific-coral-reefs.html Environment Tue, 18 Aug 2026 18:20:01 EDT news706274341 Bubbles are round, and we know surface tension does that. But squeeze that gas-liquid boundary into a space only a few tens of nanometers wide—could other forces be at work? https://phys.org/news/2026-08-scientists-nanoscale-evidence-electric-fields.html Nanophysics Tue, 18 Aug 2026 16:00:10 EDT news706272301 Scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego and the Mediterranean Institute of Oceanography in Marseille, France, have discovered something surprising in the Mediterranean Sea: giant chains of phytoplankton. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-robotic-ocean-glider-reveals-giant.html Cell & Microbiology Tue, 18 Aug 2026 12:40:07 EDT news706265102