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. Some birds sing to attract a mate. Others dance or display colorful feathers. But in the moonlit forests and shrublands of northern Argentina, one bird courts romance by snapping its wrists together, producing a sharp clapping sound scientists have puzzled over for decades. Now, researchers have captured the behavior in detail for the first time, revealing how scissor-tailed nightjars create one of the most curious sounds in the avian world. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-birds-dark-flirt-nightjars-reveal.html Plants & Animals Tue, 19 May 2026 19:40:03 EDT news698426881 An international team of scientists has developed a new analysis of how sound waves behave, revealing surprising effects that have largely been overlooked for decades. In the new paper in Scientific Reports, which was led by researchers from City St George's, University of London, the team explored how sound waves move through air and how those movements might be perceived visually. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-visualizing-scientists-reveal-hidden-behaviors.html General Physics Tue, 19 May 2026 15:40:02 EDT news698415841 Quantum technologies promise powerful new kinds of computers, giving scientists new tools to mimic and explore nature at its tiniest scales. At those levels, everything in nature—from atoms and electrons to light itself—follows the strange rules of quantum mechanics. But the real world is never perfectly clean: Signals fade, energy leaks away and systems pick up noise from their surroundings. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-chip-quantum-imperfections.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 19 May 2026 14:43:08 EDT news698420424 The scale of chemistry simulations with quantum computing has increased dramatically in just the last few months. In the latest milestone for the field, researchers from Cleveland Clinic, RIKEN, and IBM used a quantum-centric supercomputing (QCSC) framework to calculate the electronic structure of a pair of large protein-ligand complexes, reaching a scale of 12,635 atoms in the largest simulation. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-quantum-centric-supercomputing-simulates-atom.html Quantum Physics Tue, 19 May 2026 11:40:08 EDT news698404017 Sound plays an important role for many animals, helping them navigate and hunt. Echolocation is the ability of animals like bats and dolphins to locate objects by emitting sound waves and interpreting the returning echoes. But detecting meaningful information in a noisy environment poses a major challenge for them. Bats operate by identifying weak prey echoes among complex background sounds generated by surrounding objects and their own movement during flight. To overcome this issue, these bats have evolved a highly sophisticated echo detection system that uses ultrasonic voices to perceive their surroundings with remarkable precision. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-silent-frequency-zones-prey-noisy.html Plants & Animals Tue, 19 May 2026 05:00:04 EDT news698344021 The rapid growth of large language models is placing increasing demands on data centers, where large volumes of data must be transferred efficiently between servers. Optical interconnects are essential for enabling this communication, but as data rates continue to rise, these systems must deliver higher bandwidth while maintaining low latency and energy efficiency. However, integrating electronic and photonic components remains challenging, as conventional approaches often introduce signal loss, limit interconnect density, and restrict scalability. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-reconfigurable-ge-si-photodetector-ultrahigh.html Optics & Photonics Mon, 18 May 2026 18:50:01 EDT news698344321 Looking back at 14 years of Hubble telescope data for Jupiter's moon Europa has given Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) scientists a better understanding of its tenuous atmosphere. The findings have cast doubt on previous evidence suggesting that the icy moon intermittently discharges faint water plumes from a presumed subsurface ocean. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-reconsider-europa-vapor-plumes.html Astrobiology Mon, 18 May 2026 17:00:05 EDT news698337061 Artificial intelligence and machine learning are shaping major design and research decisions for the planned Electron-Ion Collider (EIC), a next-generation nuclear physics research facility that will collide electrons with protons or nuclei to probe matter's structure. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-ai-electron-ion-collider.html General Physics Mon, 18 May 2026 11:40:09 EDT news698320142 Neurons, the uber-connected nerve cells that act as a main switchboard for the brain, are central to some incredibly complicated processes. They make it possible to think, walk, speak, and breathe. They even have built-in backup batteries to use in emergencies. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-neuron-complicated-cell-simple-mission.html General Physics Mon, 18 May 2026 09:26:12 EDT news698315086 A new nanoscopy technique developed at The Australian National University (ANU) has uncovered hidden networks used for communication between cells, opening new ways to understand human diseases. Described in an article published in Nature Communications, the method allows researchers to observe how living cells interact with their environment over several days, revealing three-dimensional behaviors that were previously invisible to conventional microscopes. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-hidden-cell-networks-emerge-3d.html Cell & Microbiology Sun, 17 May 2026 10:00:04 EDT news697991652 Pairs of correlated or entangled photons are a foundational resource in quantum optics. They are most commonly produced through spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC), a nonlinear optical process that typically relies on a stable, coherent laser to pump a nonlinear crystal. Because of this requirement, SPDC has long been viewed as impractical without laboratory-grade laser systems. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-sunlight-powered-generation-photon-pairs.html Optics & Photonics Fri, 15 May 2026 13:40:05 EDT news698069042 Guide dogs help thousands of people with visual disabilities navigate daily life. While guide dogs provide tremendous benefits, the current training program faces serious inefficiencies, since a large percentage never actually assist an owner. Only 60% of dogs evaluated for assistance work graduate from their training programs. This means a loss of more than $12,000 per dog unable to complete training. A dog that has completed the program costs up to $50,000, and people can wait years for a trained animal. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-genomic-analysis-dog-success.html Molecular & Computational biology Fri, 15 May 2026 09:17:36 EDT news698055421 A new approach to better assessing whale population data has emerged, led by a research team of marine biologists from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego and statisticians from Cal Poly. Scientists typically monitor whale presence through a variety of traditional methods such as visual surveys, photo identification, acoustic monitoring, satellite imagery, and increasingly, genomic methods. But monitoring can be challenging due to a wide-ranging migration area and intermittent surface pop-ups, among other difficulties. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-tiny-ocean-life-scientists-whale.html Plants & Animals Thu, 14 May 2026 17:00:55 EDT news697996801 A major international study has found that contact with the natural world is linked to higher levels of life satisfaction—and we have our bodies to thank for unlocking this benefit. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-life-satisfaction-linked-nature.html Environment Thu, 14 May 2026 17:00:04 EDT news697967547 AI can predict rainfall intensity better than several widely used forecasting models in tests using historical weather data from India. The new model reported in the International Journal of Mobile Communications shows that combining different forms of AI, along with advanced data-cleaning and optimization techniques, can make rainfall prediction more accurate and reliable, particularly when expressed in practical categories such as light, moderate, or heavy rain. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-ai-india-rainfall-false-alarms.html Environment Thu, 14 May 2026 13:34:44 EDT news697984404 The US Government has released a new trove of documents on cases of "unidentified anomalous phenomena" (UAPs)—many of which would have been described in the past as unidentified flying objects or UFOs—including photos, videos and reports of unexplained events sighted in the sky and in space. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-ufo-skies.html Astronomy Wed, 13 May 2026 23:00:01 EDT news697886684 In physics, the spontaneous de-mixing of two substances is known as phase separation. It is an important mechanism in nature to create structure and patterns and typically requires some form of attraction between the constituents. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization (MPI-DS) in Göttingen, together with collaborators at the University of Edinburgh and the Institute of Physical Chemistry in Warsaw, have now discovered a new route to phase separation available in systems where the constituents are inherently alive or active. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-hidden-growth-cell-colonies-phase.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 13 May 2026 16:12:22 EDT news697907521 Researchers have developed a technique to analyze how black holes "ring" when they collide and merge: one of the universe's most dramatic events. When black holes merge, the collision produces a new, larger black hole that "rings" like a plucked guitar string or a bell while it settles into its final, stable shape. But instead of sound waves, the new black hole rings with gravitational waves: ripples in spacetime first predicted by Albert Einstein. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-statistical-technique-uncover-secrets-black.html Astronomy Wed, 13 May 2026 16:07:01 EDT news697907161 Researchers have recently found a new way to summon useful structures in magnetic materials using light, heat, and electric fields. This new method, described in a new study published in Physical Review Letters, may lead to more energy-efficient and flexible technologies for data storage and optical devices. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-liquid-crystal-demand-skyrmions-room.html Condensed Matter Wed, 13 May 2026 12:40:02 EDT news697890165 Alaska's Cook Inlet was home to nearly 1,300 beluga whales in the late 1970s, but today the population hovers around 300. Despite almost two decades of recovery work, the whales aren't bouncing back. The Cook Inlet belugas are likely struggling under multiple pressures, including increasing human noise. Researchers are working on deciphering whale-whale communication to better account for the impact of noise on this vulnerable population. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-beluga-deciphered-bolster-efforts.html Plants & Animals Wed, 13 May 2026 11:55:41 EDT news697892101 Micheline Nzonzi cradled a small and sleepy bonobo, an orphan whose life she will try to save over the next three years or so. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-rare-sanctuary-congo-baby-bonobos.html Ecology Wed, 13 May 2026 04:19:05 EDT news697864675 Gravitational wave researchers working on the world's most sensitive scientific instruments have found a way to tune their detectors using a process akin to the pitch-correction used in music production. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-gravitational-detectors-autotune-harmonize-heavens.html Astronomy Tue, 12 May 2026 20:00:02 EDT news697800651 In 2018, an artificial intelligence (AI) program called AlphaFold achieved a major breakthrough by placing first in the critical assessment of structure prediction, a competition for predicting the three-dimensional structures of proteins. It scored close to 90 on a 100-point scale for moderately difficult targets, marking a turning point in the use of AI for understanding protein structure and highlighting its potential applications. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-deepafm-decodes-protein-motion-noisy.html Biochemistry Tue, 12 May 2026 15:00:03 EDT news697807741 Firework shows are controversial in this day and age. While beautiful, fireworks are loud, bright, and smoky, and they can be dangerous to the surrounding environment, releasing contaminants into the air and frightening both pets and wildlife alike. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-brown-fireworks.html Plants & Animals Tue, 12 May 2026 10:20:09 EDT news697707301 Mice do more than just squeak when they want to make a noise. They can also sing. And the way they do it is different from most mammals that produce sounds by vibrating their vocal cords. When Alston's singing mouse (Scotinomys teguina) makes its music, it does so by puffing up an air sac in its throat. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-mice-inflatable-air-sacs.html Plants & Animals Tue, 12 May 2026 09:30:18 EDT news697796976 In early phases of drug development, new active substances are tested in animals—alongside numerous other experimental methods. Researchers face a dilemma: on the one hand, for ethical reasons, they aim to keep the number of animals used in an experiment as low as possible. On the other hand, animal experiments must include enough animals to produce reliable and representative results, for example, to determine whether a new drug candidate produces a specific effect. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-generative-ai-significantly-animal.html Other Mon, 11 May 2026 21:40:03 EDT news697718219 Researchers led by Dr. Changmin Ahn and Prof. Jungwon Kim at KAIST, in collaboration with Prof. Hansuek Lee, have demonstrated a chip-scale photonic approach for generating ultralow-noise and highly stable microwave and millimeter-wave signals based on optical frequency combs (microcombs), offering a potential pathway toward compact, high-performance frequency sources for next-generation technologies. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-chip-scale-photonic-approach-ultralow.html Optics & Photonics Mon, 11 May 2026 20:40:03 EDT news697739041 A great Tyrannosaurus rex strides through the conifer trees of her territory, sniffing the air. She picks up the scent from the carcass of a dead horned dinosaur, Triceratops, that she was feeding on yesterday. She walks over and strips off some more shreds of meat, but the smell is foul even for her. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-dinosaurkilling-asteroid-armageddon-blowbyblow-account.html Paleontology & Fossils Mon, 11 May 2026 18:00:01 EDT news697724041 From navigation to solar weather forecasting, many different areas of research require space-based sensors to measure Earth's magnetic field as accurately as possible at any given moment. So far, however, existing sensors have consistently struggled with effects including drift, interference from the spacecraft itself, and the harsh conditions of orbit. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-resilient-quantum-sensor-earth-magnetic.html Space Exploration Mon, 11 May 2026 14:00:05 EDT news697711981 Photosynthesis is the oldest carbon-capture technology on Earth. For eons, plants have pulled carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and locked carbon—the building block of life on our planet—into their bodies and roots. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-scientists-forest-uproot-people-atmosphere.html Environment Mon, 11 May 2026 11:00:10 EDT news697713781