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. Biomolecular nanomachines, such as enzymes and molecular motors, are the workhorses behind the synthesis and organization of complex materials in life. Powered by chemical energy, they build, transport and organize biomolecules, allowing living systems to create and maintain highly ordered structures far from thermodynamic equilibrium. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-dynamic-duo-hierarchical-dna-materials.html Bio & Medicine Sat, 22 Aug 2026 15:00:01 EDT news706360039 Now it's the moon's turn to pull a disappearing act. After being shut out of this month's total solar eclipse, the Americas will have the best seats in the celestial house when Earth's shadow briefly envelops the moon. Almost the entire lunar surface will be masked Thursday night into Friday—a whopping 96%—making this an especially deep partial eclipse. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-total-lunar-eclipse-americas-prime.html Space Exploration Sat, 22 Aug 2026 10:38:34 EDT news706613876 In April 1917, the German submarine UC-30 sailed beneath the waves off the coast of Rømø. It had originally been on a mission in Ireland, but after suffering engine trouble, it turned around and was almost home in Germany. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-shipwrecks-wwi-wwii-polluting-north.html Environment Fri, 21 Aug 2026 13:40:13 EDT news706532941 A paper published in the journal Science lays out a roadmap for broadening access to the process of discovering molecular tools that can benefit society, including medicines, materials and a wide range of everyday consumer products. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-blocc-chemistry-automate-molecular-discovery.html Analytical Chemistry Thu, 20 Aug 2026 14:00:09 EDT news706368781 Polymers used for light-based 3D printing are very stable because of their chemical structure, but they are typically hard to recycle. A research team led by Professor Dr. Eva Blasco, a researcher at the Institute for Molecular Systems Engineering and Advanced Materials (IMSEAM) at Heidelberg University, has designed a polymer material that can be disassembled into its individual components when needed. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-metastable-3d-ink-enables-loop.html Polymers Wed, 19 Aug 2026 13:00:08 EDT news706357321 Astronomers have captured an unprecedented image of a cosmic recycling project in progress—fragments of a dying star being busted up, stripped and absorbed into interstellar space. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-dying-star-rare-glimpse-universe.html Astronomy Wed, 12 Aug 2026 18:00:07 EDT news705759061 Researchers at the Department of Energy's (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and the University of Tennessee (UT), Knoxville, have made an advance by using a natural substance from fungi called chitin to create hydrogels that are significantly stronger and tougher. This new material could lead to safer medical devices, longer-lasting coatings and other innovations that improve everyday technology and health care. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-fungal-chitin-route-tougher-hydrogels.html Biotechnology Tue, 11 Aug 2026 17:00:05 EDT news705670982 Microplastics, which are plastic particles under 5 millimeters, are a major and growing threat in both soil and water. They damage soil fertility, disrupt nutrient cycling, harm aquatic and terrestrial life, and can move through the food chain. That makes cleaning them up an urgent priority. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-swarms-tiny-robots-microplastics-soil.html Environment Sat, 08 Aug 2026 08:40:01 EDT news705161846 Scientists at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory have created a platform that pinpoints genetic triggers that turn microbes into efficient factories for new chemicals and materials. The method enables rapid, precise reprogramming of bacteria as biotechnology tools, supporting domestic production of valuable products and recovery of critical minerals and materials to enhance the nation's supply chains and global competitiveness. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-platform-bacterial-gene-biotech.html Cell & Microbiology Fri, 07 Aug 2026 15:00:01 EDT news705323281 The processes that capture carbon from the atmosphere and store it on the seabed are crucial for climate balance. However, assessing these mechanisms is often complicated because it requires measurements ranging from the surface to the deep ocean. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-mechanical-shortcut-rapidly-particles-deep.html Earth Sciences Mon, 03 Aug 2026 19:40:01 EDT news704992802 We know Mars has water ice in its polar regions, but astronauts (and their solar-powered equipment!) would much rather experience life closer to Mars' equator. As NASA looks toward landing humans on the red planet, the Planetary Science Institute (PSI) is mapping where water should and shouldn't be found and using statistics to quantify its certainty. Two new papers, led by PSI's Hanna Sizemore and Samuel Courville, highlight new global maps of subsurface water ice and identify the missions and tools needed to increase the certainty of the maps. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-laying-odds-potential-martian-future.html Astrobiology Fri, 31 Jul 2026 17:20:03 EDT news704725321 The creation of fully artificial organs is a sci-fi dream, and researchers in Japan may have brought it one step closer to reality by developing a new photofabrication technique (i.e., a light-controlled synthetic method) for constructing arteriole-scale tubular hydrogels. Their research is published in the journal Advanced Materials. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-closer-artificial-uv-arteriole-scale.html Biotechnology Wed, 29 Jul 2026 16:40:06 EDT news704550301 For decades, scientists have largely relied on painstaking trial and error to coax proteins into crystalline forms. Crystallization enables scientists to determine the molecular structures of proteins, which can provide a blueprint for designing drugs, engineering enzymes and understanding disease. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-flexible-dna-proteins-atomically-crystals.html Biochemistry Wed, 29 Jul 2026 14:00:05 EDT news704473861 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 The spacecraft rushing to the rescue of an aging and sinking NASA telescope has run into its own problem. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-private-mission-nasa-aging-telescope.html Space Exploration Wed, 29 Jul 2026 04:16:38 EDT news704517371 "Shark Week," which kicks off this week, has captivated audiences for decades with stories of these powerful ocean predators. But the secret behind their extraordinary swimming abilities lies far deeper than their impressive teeth or iconic tails—it's hidden inside their spines. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-sharks-spines-hidden-architecture-styles.html Plants & Animals Mon, 27 Jul 2026 11:40:07 EDT news704368926 Microbes in the gut, lungs and biofilms do not simply exist as perfectly mixed populations; instead, they grow in layered and clustered three-dimensional (3D) arrangements. This spatial organization shapes how nutrients and chemical signals move between neighboring cells and how much oxygen different microbes can access. Scientists are increasingly recognizing that the relative spatial arrangement of microbes plays a role in digestion, immunity and overall health. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-colonies-3d-microbial-architectures-liquid.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 22 Jul 2026 09:00:01 EDT news703929421 A two-armed space robot blasted off on a private salvage operation Tuesday to slap life-extending jetpacks on old satellites running low on fuel thousands of miles up. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-private-mission-life-gas-communication.html Space Exploration Wed, 22 Jul 2026 04:10:06 EDT news703911327 Fabrics are made by repeatedly intertwining yarns into characteristic patterns. Many of their properties, such as stretchiness, arise not only from the material itself but also from how the yarns are arranged and entangled. Such properties illustrate how topology—the underlying patterns of connectivity and entanglement within a structure—can shape a material's overall behavior. Understanding these relationships could help researchers design materials with tailored properties through the design of their topology. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-doughnutshaped-topology-reveals-crochet-textiles.html General Physics Wed, 15 Jul 2026 20:40:01 EDT news703340713 A research team has presented a roadmap for developing an "artificial olfactory system" that detects odors like the human nose and analyzes them using artificial intelligence (AI) by leveraging metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). The team systematically organized and reviewed key research trends in electronic nose technology, from MOF material design to sensor implementation and AI-based odor pattern recognition. The research was led by Hyuk-Jun Kwon's in the Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science of Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology. The work is published in the journal Progress in Materials Science. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-ai-powered-electronic-nose-distinguish.html Biochemistry Mon, 13 Jul 2026 16:00:01 EDT news703169645 EPFL researchers have discovered that a soft material originally optimized for 3D printing may solve a longstanding challenge in materials science: making 3D-printable elastomers both tough and durable. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-3d-printable-elastic-polymer-strong.html Materials Science Mon, 13 Jul 2026 11:20:05 EDT news703154489 Pyrite, an iron sulfide ore, is often known as fool's gold because its shiny metallic luster and pale brass-yellow color can easily fool the untrained eye into mistaking it for real gold. This time, however, 360 kilometers (220 miles) south of Tokyo, scientists have uncovered invisible gold within pyrite structures found deep beneath the ocean at the Higashi-Aogashima Knoll Caldera hydrothermal field. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-scientists-invisible-gold-deep-sea.html Earth Sciences Mon, 13 Jul 2026 07:46:43 EDT news703147572 Fast identification of bacteria is important in health care, food safety, environmental monitoring and infection control. One of the most common first steps is gram classification, which separates bacteria into gram-positive and gram-negative groups. This information can help guide early treatment decisions and safety responses. However, conventional Gram staining requires several chemical steps, trained personnel and manual interpretation. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-robot-bacteria-chemical.html Nanomaterials Sat, 11 Jul 2026 13:00:03 EDT news702724810 Danqing Liu from Eindhoven University of Technology explores how interactions with digital systems can be improved through the sense of touch. To achieve this, she develops advanced liquid crystal polymers that respond to light. Her work has recently been published in two scientific journals, Science Advances and Matter & Light. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-artificial-human-gestures-memory-written.html Polymers Fri, 10 Jul 2026 12:40:03 EDT news702897186 Researchers have found an ingenious way to make soft robots and wearable technology more than three times more powerful by harnessing the surface tension of a tiny liquid metal droplet smaller than a raindrop. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-scientists-smart-supercharge-soft-robotics.html Materials Science Mon, 06 Jul 2026 10:40:05 EDT news702550645 The shape of biological structures, ranging from flower petals to the limbs or organs of animals, is often naturally best suited for performing specific functions. Biological structures also often present curved surfaces with specific functional advantages, such as facilitating the drainage of water, increasing a structure's strength or aerodynamic efficiency, or supporting heavy loads. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-bioinspired-strategy-complex-3d-shrinkage.html General Physics Mon, 06 Jul 2026 07:20:07 EDT news702118964 A rush rescue mission to save a NASA space telescope remains grounded, this time because of a last-minute launch problem. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-minute-problem-delays-satellite-mission.html Space Exploration Thu, 02 Jul 2026 11:38:55 EDT news702211107 Scientists have engineered a nanoscale switch using DNA "origami." Inspired by macroscale mechanical switches, the device achieves long-term functionality without the continuous forcing mechanism that past versions required while remaining capable of fast switching. The paper is published in the journal Science Robotics. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-dna-based-nanoswitch-flip-milliseconds.html Bio & Medicine Wed, 01 Jul 2026 14:40:09 EDT news702132276 NASA is racing to save an aging telescope from falling back to Earth with a daring rescue mission. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-nasa-swift-telescope-falling-earth.html Space Exploration Sun, 28 Jun 2026 11:23:34 EDT news701864592 A research group led by Associate Professor Yoshihiro Nakata from the Graduate School of Informatics and Engineering at the University of Electro-Communications, Japan, in collaboration with researchers from Doshisha University and Otemon Gakuin University, has developed an edible agent capable of social interaction through vocalizations and movement. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-edible-robot-deepens-human-perception.html Social Sciences Wed, 24 Jun 2026 17:00:05 EDT news701528403