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. Planning a successful trip can be challenging, especially when your destination is in outer space. Even before liftoff, space missions require extraordinary amounts of scientific preparation and data analysis to succeed, which can take years to complete. However, as space agencies race to establish a permanent presence on the moon, using artificial intelligence to combine such information into a single system could make mission planning much more efficient. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-gen-artificial-intelligence-future-space.html Space Exploration Wed, 28 Oct 2026 17:30:01 EDT news712425961 The theory that comets delivered the molecular building blocks for life on Earth is a long-standing one, since comets are known to carry many of these molecules. However, a new study challenges this idea. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-comets-didnt-seed-life-earth.html Astrobiology Wed, 28 Oct 2026 06:00:10 EDT news712240261 Long before modern astronomy, humans looked to the stars and were astounded by what they saw. Even by the most ancient reckoning, the night sky offered enough to inspire awe and wonder, make us feel insignificant, fire our imaginations and foster hope and a sense of connection. Yet, for as long as humans have surveyed the heavens, they have seen no indication that life as we know it exists elsewhere—what has come to be known as the "Great Silence." https://phys.org/news/2026-10-ish-history-meti-early-ideas.html Astrobiology Tue, 27 Oct 2026 17:10:01 EDT news712315667 Over 1,645 Martian days, NASA's Perseverance Mars rover measured the fine and ultrafine Martian dust particles found clinging to samples of spacesuit materials that are carried aboard the rover, including particles small enough to penetrate the lungs and enter the bloodstream. The findings are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and could inform spacesuit and habitat design, dust-removal procedures and crew health standards for future NASA missions to Mars. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-perseverance-clues-crews-ultrafine-mars.html Space Exploration Tue, 27 Oct 2026 12:00:01 EDT news712314844 People living in coastal communities sometimes have only minutes to reach a safe spot after an earthquake-triggered tsunami. But will the evacuation route that they've chosen lead them to safety? https://phys.org/news/2026-10-tool-people-successful-evacuation-routes.html Earth Sciences Tue, 27 Oct 2026 08:40:06 EDT news712299566 Establishing a long-term presence on the moon will require solving challenges that are easy to overlook on Earth. Lunar temperatures, for instance, can vary from hundreds of degrees below zero to boiling, making effective insulation essential for lunar habitats. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-everyday-mylar-insulator-lunar-habitats.html Space Exploration Fri, 23 Oct 2026 15:20:01 EDT news711979621 With a successful Mars gravity assist in its rearview mirror, NASA's Psyche spacecraft has fired up its thrusters and is accelerating toward the metal-rich asteroid of the same name. During the first leg of its journey, following an October 2023 launch, the mission used its electric propulsion system intermittently to maneuver into the right position to harness Mars' gravity for a propellant-saving speed boost and a slight trajectory change. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-metal-nasa-psyche-asteroid-belt.html Planetary Sciences Fri, 23 Oct 2026 11:10:01 EDT news711962086 A media "glass ceiling" exists in news stories on artificial intelligence (AI) published in Spanish media in recent years: men are the main subjects in 41% of news reports, compared to just 5% featuring women. This is one of the findings of the report "InfoIA: Analysis of Information on Artificial Intelligence Published in Digital Media," conducted by the University Institute of Gender Studies at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M). https://phys.org/news/2026-10-highlights-gender-gap-ai-media.html Social Sciences Fri, 23 Oct 2026 07:20:11 EDT news711948930 What, exactly, is a plant made of? Scientists have a good understanding of the essential nutrients plants need to grow. But what plants need and what they contain are not necessarily the same. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-global-database-fuller-picture-elements.html Biochemistry Thu, 22 Oct 2026 18:20:11 EDT news711903362 Earthquakes and the seismic waves they generate provide some of the best clues to Earth's interior. To extend that success to other worlds, scientists placed seismometers on the Apollo missions to the moon and on the Viking Mars landers, which reached Mars in 1976. Though the Apollo detectors proved a resounding success, Viking's results on Mars were less clear: Viking 1's seismometer failed to deploy properly, and Viking 2 recorded only two ambiguous events. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-reexamined-viking-reveals-marsquake-region.html Planetary Sciences Wed, 21 Oct 2026 12:40:06 EDT news711799802 Bacteria get a bad reputation—with all the outbreaks, infections and deaths. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-infections-bacteria-reveal-medicines-crops.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 21 Oct 2026 09:40:13 EDT news711785956 NASA researchers are developing the future of flight on Mars, laying the groundwork for helicopters with the ability to fly higher and farther while conducting science on the Red Planet. Using high-fidelity computer simulations and wind tunnel tests, engineers are reimagining the rotorcraft blades that could carry the next generation of Mars flyers. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-nasa-experimental-mars-helicopter-blade.html Space Exploration Tue, 20 Oct 2026 13:50:01 EDT news711720660 Marital breakups have consequences that extend beyond the immediate end of cohabitation. Research from the University of Granada has found that these consequences can last for decades, eventually becoming a significant source of vulnerability as people reach old age—especially if they live alone and have little contact with their children or insufficient social support. The study, published in the International Journal of Sociology, was conducted by Juan López Doblas, a professor in the Department of Sociology, and María del Pilar Díaz Conde, a professor in the Department of Social Psychology. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-marital-breakups-term-effects-felt.html Social Sciences Tue, 20 Oct 2026 13:00:08 EDT news711708974 Scientists at Columbia University and Imperial College London have found that the largest canyon system in the solar system is still active and shaping Mars today, billions of years after it first formed. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-giant-canyon-mars-tectonically-today.html Planetary Sciences Tue, 20 Oct 2026 09:20:36 EDT news711705481 A Japanese spacecraft rocketed toward Mars on Tuesday on a quest to explore its mysterious moons and bring back samples. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-japan-spacecraft-mysterious-moons-mars.html Space Exploration Tue, 20 Oct 2026 05:40:13 EDT news711693525 Transforming Mars into a more Earth-like world could irreversibly destroy scientific evidence about the planet's history and the possibility of extraterrestrial life. In an opinion article published in Eos, a team of Dutch, French and U.S. planetary scientists and ethicists warns that humanity risks destroying Mars' scientific record before it has been fully explored. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-mars-scientists-ethical-debate-terraforming.html Planetary Sciences Mon, 19 Oct 2026 18:20:07 EDT news711635535 Japanese scientists will launch a spacecraft on Tuesday that aims to be the first to retrieve samples from one of Mars' moons, potentially helping unlock the origins of the solar system and life on Earth. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-japan-world-mission-moon-mars.html Planetary Sciences Mon, 19 Oct 2026 15:30:01 EDT news711639870 Mercury remains one of our solar system's most elusive and difficult planets to study. It's easier to send probes to the icy moons of Saturn or Jupiter, or even to Pluto, than to land on our innermost planet, Mercury. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-enigmatic-mercury-puzzle-lander.html Planetary Sciences Mon, 19 Oct 2026 09:20:02 EDT news711610218 Japanese scientists are readying a mission to Mars' moons to retrieve samples that could help unlock the origins of the solar system and life on Earth, in what aims to be the first round trip to the Martian region. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-japan-historic-mission-mars-moon.html Space Exploration Sun, 18 Oct 2026 16:20:01 EDT news711555681 A Japanese space mission is about to launch towards Mars. But it will not land on the planet itself. Instead, the Martian Moons Exploration (MMX) mission will focus on Phobos, the bigger of Mars's two small moons. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-japan-mmx-mission-aims-swipe.html Space Exploration Sun, 18 Oct 2026 10:00:01 EDT news711356214 Japan is set to launch a spacecraft on the world's first mission to bring back samples from Phobos, one of the two small, potato-shaped moons orbiting Mars. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-japan-spacecraft-mission-samples-martian.html Planetary Sciences Sun, 18 Oct 2026 07:38:40 EDT news711527854 A Ph.D. student at the University of Sydney has produced the first comprehensive classification system and map of Martian soils, creating a new framework that could help scientists compare landscapes across the Red Planet and identify promising locations for future exploration, habitation and food production. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-comprehensive-mars-soil-classification-framework.html Astrobiology Fri, 16 Oct 2026 16:40:06 EDT news711372541 Female protagonists in animated films have come a long way over the past several decades. Take the 1959 movie "Sleeping Beauty": Soft-spoken and vulnerable, Princess Aurora is cursed as an infant by the evil fairy Maleficent and ultimately saved not by her own wits, but by a prince's kiss. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-animated-nonhuman-characters-overwhelmingly-male.html Social Sciences Thu, 15 Oct 2026 20:00:01 EDT news711298282 The Earth got its moon when a small planet collided with our planet more than 4 billion years ago. This impact hurled molten rock into space, which eventually coalesced to form the satellite we can see every night from across our planet. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-mars-moons-japan-mmx-space.html Space Exploration Thu, 15 Oct 2026 15:40:05 EDT news711282372 When astronauts first travel to Mars or anywhere else in deep space, they will have to contend with two problems that our planet protects us from on its surface—radiation and weightlessness. Scientists already know both can have a profound impact on the human body, but the extent of that impact and how long it can last remain a mystery. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-mars-heartbreaking.html Space Exploration Wed, 14 Oct 2026 19:00:01 EDT news711190418 A commercial lander that will be at the forefront of NASA's efforts to establish a moon base, humanity's first lunar outpost, has passed a series of critical tests at the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. The tests simulated the extreme temperatures and vacuum of space, as well as the intense shaking and ear-splitting roar of launch. Results show that Voyager Technologies' Griffin Mission One (Griffin-1) spacecraft is ready to survive the rigors of space exploration. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-nasa-jpl-readies-voyager-technologies.html Space Exploration Tue, 13 Oct 2026 15:00:19 EDT news711107527 NASA is taking an unusual approach to testing heat shields that can keep astronauts safe as they return from missions to the moon and Mars: taking out the trash. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-nasa-generation-shield-technologies.html Space Exploration Mon, 12 Oct 2026 14:40:07 EDT news711024542 When Belgian American particle physicist Francis Halzen was awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in physics "for decisive contributions to the IceCube Neutrino Observatory and the discovery of high-energy neutrinos of astrophysical origin," it was a reminder that for more than a century, scientists have treated Antarctica's environments as windows onto worlds beyond Earth. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-physics-nobel-highlights-antarctica-role.html Astronomy Mon, 12 Oct 2026 13:20:01 EDT news711018902 On April 1, 2026, the crew of the Artemis II mission launched into space atop NASA's Space Launch System (SLS). Roughly 3 1/2 hours after launch, the rocket's upper stage separated from the Orion spacecraft (Integrity), and astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen began their nearly 10-day journey around the moon. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-preliminary-lunar-science-artemis-ii.html Space Exploration Mon, 12 Oct 2026 10:20:26 EDT news711015842 Genetic analysis revealed that several seeds from a batch sold as Sidra were not, in fact, Sidra; their genetic profile was closer to that of Batian, a Kenyan variety. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-genetic-analysis-reveals-specialty-coffee.html Molecular & Computational biology Fri, 09 Oct 2026 14:40:07 EDT news710772361