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. A vaccine's molecular structure plays a key role in determining how the immune system responds and prepares to protect the body from future exposure to a specific pathogen. To develop a vaccine that offers long-term protection from HIV, it's essential to promote a long-lasting immune response in which immune cells and antibodies prepared to combat the virus persist within the body. This has inspired scientists to find ways to alter vaccine structure to increase the duration and persistence of the immune response. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-fine-tune-molecular-vaccines-immune.html Bio & Medicine Thu, 13 Aug 2026 17:10:02 EDT news705858421 Kids, marriage and commute: A study co-authored by Dr. Mariana Macedo of Constructor University provides new insights into how major life transitions alter how individuals navigate and experience urban environments. Published in npj Complexity, the research challenges traditional urban planning models that rely on a single, average citizen profile, advocating instead for demographically sensitive city designs. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-city-relationship-status-exposes-hidden.html Social Sciences Thu, 13 Aug 2026 16:40:01 EDT news705845882 For dogs with heart disease, a fraction of a centimeter can make a life-changing difference. Veterinarians often rely on chest radiographs to monitor subtle changes in heart size that help determine when treatment should begin. But those measurements can vary from one doctor to the next, making it difficult to know whether a dog's condition is truly changing or whether the difference is simply the result of human interpretation. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-ai-tool-veterinarians-track-heart.html Veterinary medicine Wed, 12 Aug 2026 15:30:01 EDT news705765121 When MIT historian Tristan Brown first examined a Chinese tea chest label displayed as a relic of the Boston Tea Party, he had no reason to doubt its story. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-chinese-boston-tea-party-reveals.html Archaeology Tue, 11 Aug 2026 16:30:02 EDT news705680941 Deep in the Vârghiș Gorges, tucked away in the dark recesses of a cave, researchers have found the first evidence that Neanderthals used bone tools in Romania. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-evidence-neanderthal-bone-tool-romania.html Archaeology Tue, 11 Aug 2026 07:00:04 EDT news705585192 We call them "man's best friend," and the evidence supports it. Dogs have been found buried alongside humans in graves dating back 14,000 years. They appear in ancient art from every continent, and they feature in the mythology, religion and folklore of virtually every culture. Archaeological evidence shows they have helped us hunt, protected our homes, hauled our possessions, herded our livestock and provided companionship through the entirety of recorded history. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-dogs-evolved-differently-globe-human.html Evolution Sun, 09 Aug 2026 19:10:01 EDT news705243839 By rapidly twisting a microscopically small tip back and forth, researchers at the University of Maryland (UMD) have unlocked a new way to detect subtle changes on the surface of a material flexing in response to infrared light. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-high-res-view-2d-materials.html Nanomaterials Fri, 07 Aug 2026 18:00:03 EDT news705327588 When most baby turtles hatch, their sex depends on the temperature of the sand or soil where their mother laid her eggs. Warm incubation produces females, while cool nests produce males. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-antenna-cell-appendage-turtle-embryos.html Plants & Animals Fri, 07 Aug 2026 16:00:01 EDT news705323701 If you ask Vijay Parashar, associate professor of medical and molecular sciences (MMSC) at the University of Delaware College of Health Sciences, human bodies are bags of bacteria. "It sounds gross, but not all bacteria are bad; most of them are good. The trouble starts when the bad bacteria learn how to outsmart antibiotics." https://phys.org/news/2026-08-bacterial-enzyme-weaken-antibiotic-defenses.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 06 Aug 2026 19:20:01 EDT news705254041 Astronomers may have just confirmed one of the quirkiest aspects of quantum mechanics: that seemingly empty space can alter the behavior of light. This phenomenon, called "vacuum birefringence," was first predicted nearly 90 years ago by Werner Heisenberg, one of the founding fathers of quantum mechanics. He suggested that even a perfect vacuum should be teeming with "virtual particles" that rapidly pop in and out of existence. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-rare-ultra-magnetic-star-key.html Astronomy Thu, 06 Aug 2026 10:20:06 EDT news705226981 High-energy particles in Earth's radiation belt can appear to spread out randomly, even when they are moving in a "predictable" way. This is because spacecraft observations naturally blur the fine-scale structure of the particle population, a new study reveals. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-spacecraft-conceal-particles-earth-space.html Astronomy Thu, 06 Aug 2026 09:20:06 EDT news705226201 Lasers have become indispensable in everyday life and research, with applications ranging from data transmission and metrology to manufacturing. Masers, by contrast, have so far found hardly any practical applications. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-semiconductor-maser-room-temperature.html Condensed Matter Wed, 05 Aug 2026 16:00:06 EDT news705154441 As trees disappear from urban neighborhoods, lives may be lost with them. In a new study, Northwestern University scientists tracked death rates and fluctuations in tree canopy cover across an 11-year period in Chicago. They found that areas experiencing greater losses in tree canopy—land covered by trees' leafy crowns—also experienced higher mortality rates, particularly in the city's hottest neighborhoods. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-urban-tree-mortality.html Environment Wed, 05 Aug 2026 13:20:06 EDT news705149642 Disarticulated bones found scattered across a luxurious Roman villa on England's Isle of Wight may be evidence of a massacre carried out during a brutal political purge in the fourth century, a new study in Britannia suggests. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-roman-bones-potential-fourth-century.html Archaeology Wed, 05 Aug 2026 13:00:07 EDT news705146605 Venus may be overwhelmingly inhospitable today, but many planetary scientists believe that it wasn't always this way. Billions of years ago, some observational evidence suggested that our planetary neighbor may have looked far more like Earth, complete with oceans potentially capable of harboring life. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-venus-polygonal-plains-watery.html Astrobiology Wed, 05 Aug 2026 08:00:09 EDT news705070220 For more than 60 years, evolutionary biologists have debated whether a unique genetic system found in ants, bees and wasps helps explain one of nature's most remarkable innovations: eusociality, a form of social organization in which colonies divide reproductive labor between queens and workers. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-decades-theory-insect-societies-evolve.html Plants & Animals Tue, 04 Aug 2026 16:20:01 EDT news705071641 Researchers at the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering have developed a new approach to nanoscale 3D printing that improves both speed and fidelity, overcoming a challenge that has limited the technology's broader use in manufacturing. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-pixel-patterns-harness-diffraction-faster.html Nanophysics Mon, 03 Aug 2026 16:20:02 EDT news704985845 Pluto is on an icy march away from the sun. In 2114, it will turn back, but until then, its elliptical orbit will carry it to colder and darker parts of the outer solar system. This is Pluto's first time entering the outer solar system since its 1930 discovery, and along this journey, its atmosphere could slowly freeze out. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-pluto-hazy-atmosphere-collapsing-sun.html Planetary Sciences Mon, 03 Aug 2026 10:40:04 EDT news704971081 A brewing "super" El Nino cycle is poised to unleash heat waves, floods and drought worldwide, with the effects amplified by long-term human-caused climate change. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-pacific-cloud-brightening-weaken-el.html Earth Sciences Sat, 01 Aug 2026 09:50:02 EDT news702791160 Topological photonics can force propagating light to travel in a single direction—allowing researchers to route optical signals around corners and past defects without any of it scattering backward. So far, however, this one-way flow has only been found at the boundary between two specially engineered "topological insulator" regions, leaving most of the material unavailable for light transport. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-photonic-platform-lane-highway.html Condensed Matter Fri, 31 Jul 2026 10:20:04 EDT news704625165 Birds have a lot to do in their short lives: defend territories, build nests, raise chicks and feed themselves. But the toll of these activities may be greater for female birds than for male birds. A new study by UCLA ornithologists has found that female birds have lower survival rates than males. The research is the first to study female bird survival in a large dataset and shows that the phenomenon is more widespread than previously recognized. In mammals, females generally have higher survival rates, and why birds, which are not mammals, show the inverse is a puzzle the researchers are trying to solve. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-female-birds-shorter-lifespans-male.html Plants & Animals Thu, 30 Jul 2026 18:30:01 EDT news704650141 Scientists have discovered a previously unknown law of geometry that explains why some growing surfaces, whether in nature or in engineered materials, suddenly stop being able to stay smooth and instead form dimples and folds. Until now, researchers believed they understood the geometric rules behind these shape changes, but this study reveals a new kind of "geometric frustration" that arises even when all the known rules are satisfied. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-wrinkles-suddenly-crumple.html General Physics Wed, 29 Jul 2026 13:20:01 EDT news704540741 For most theories in physics, the order of operations has little impact on the result. When setting a dial to a certain position, for example, it doesn't matter whether it's turned clockwise or counterclockwise—the result will always be the same. Yet for non-Abelian gauge theories, order does matter. These theories underpin the Standard Model, but to test their more subtle predictions, researchers have so far relied on enormous particle accelerators. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-complex-field-physics-tabletop-photonic.html General Physics Wed, 29 Jul 2026 11:20:04 EDT news704539586 Landslides cause an estimated $3 billion to $6 billion in damage and multiple fatalities annually in the United States. Those numbers could easily increase as housing needs spur development in landslide-prone areas and climate change increases the severity and frequency of heavy rains, which often trigger landslides. Despite the threat, there has never been a systematic, nationwide accounting of who is most at risk from landslides. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-million-americans-landslide-hazard-zones.html Earth Sciences Wed, 29 Jul 2026 09:00:04 EDT news704360642 Every cell carefully builds and positions thousands of proteins that allow it to sense and respond to its surroundings. Even small changes to these proteins often determine whether they work properly or are destroyed before they ever reach the cell surface. One such protein is CMG2. By binding collagen VI, it helps maintain the extracellular matrix, the network of molecules that supports tissues throughout the body. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-lipid-blocks-anthrax-cells.html Cell & Microbiology Tue, 28 Jul 2026 11:00:03 EDT news704450641 Researchers at the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences (LMS) and collaborators have uncovered one of the earliest steps in DNA replication: the moment a cell first opens its DNA to begin making a copy of its genome. The findings, published in Nature Communications, reveal where DNA first begins to "unzip" inside living cells and identify a molecular gate that helps prepare DNA for copying. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-scientists-cells-dna.html Cell & Microbiology Mon, 27 Jul 2026 13:20:03 EDT news704371141 Insect wings are bristling with senses, feeling the wind blowing and even tasting potential mates, but little was known about whether moth wings are equipped with a sense of smell. Sonja Bisch-Knaden and Bill Hansson from the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Germany, had a hunch that moth wings might be able to sniff out certain aromas. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-moth-wings-reveal-unexpected-ability.html Plants & Animals Mon, 27 Jul 2026 10:00:11 EDT news704363161 The fossilized spines of saber-toothed cats in the La Brea Tar Pits reveal evidence of an unexpectedly high prevalence of rare spinal nerve tumors, suggesting that the species became inbred just before extinction. These tumors, which cause significant pain and reduced limb function, could have made the cats particularly vulnerable to the lure of prey animals stuck in the tar pits. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-saber-toothed-cats-spinal-tumors.html Evolution Mon, 27 Jul 2026 00:00:01 EDT news704106361 Nitrate contamination of drinking water poses a major health concern, particularly in agricultural communities where fertilizers, livestock manure and septic systems can leach nitrates into groundwater. Many rural households rely on private water wells, which may not be routinely tested, leading some to consume contaminated water without realizing it. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-methods-nitrates.html Environment Fri, 24 Jul 2026 15:00:01 EDT news704118001 Imagine searching for a gemstone in a dark cave: You use a flashlight, looking for a rainbow-colored glint in the darkness. Now, imagine 10 other people in the cave with you, using different-colored flashlights at the same time. Suddenly, you can no longer tell which light is coming from your gemstone, which light is from another flashlight or which light is coming from a reflection off another unknown object. That is what echolocation with multiple, overlapping frequencies would be like. But now, imagine if every person in the cave were using a flashlight of the same color. The glint from the gemstone would be much easier to see. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-noise-horseshoe-echolocation-behavior-colonies.html Plants & Animals Fri, 24 Jul 2026 14:20:04 EDT news704117701