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. The combination of heat waves and drought markedly reduces the capacity of street trees to cool the air in Mediterranean cities. The lack of soil moisture severely restricts plant transpiration, reducing the thermal relief provided by these trees during extreme heat events. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-urban-street-trees-capacity-cool.html Earth Sciences Wed, 28 Oct 2026 11:00:09 EDT news712393679 A Hiroshima University researcher contends that Japan's newly enacted law regulating human genome-edited embryos and germ cells marks a significant advance in the governance of reproductive genome editing. Tsutomu Sawai, professor at Hiroshima University's Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, praises the new law for defining prohibited activities and penalties for violation but also stresses the need for stronger international coordination to prevent the prohibitions from being circumvented by individuals seeking procedures abroad. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-japan-genome-law-global-ethics.html Biotechnology Wed, 28 Oct 2026 10:35:54 EDT news712402282 Researchers at Delft University of Technology (the Netherlands) have succeeded in controlling the magnetism in the nucleus of a single atom with radio waves. This came as a surprise: until now, physicists believed that this nuclear spin could not be manipulated directly. The discovery could open up new possibilities for storing and reading quantum information. The research is published in the journal Nature Communications. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-magnetic-core-atom.html General Physics Wed, 28 Oct 2026 10:20:08 EDT news712399742 High on the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, the ground stays frozen, with only the top few meters melting each summer. Although the region is warming about twice as fast as the global average, a new study finds that more than a third of its permafrost, mainly in the central plateau, has gained ice since 2000. Stronger westerly winds bring more rain and snow, which seeps into the ground in summer and freezes again in winter. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-tibetan-plateau-frozen-ground-gaining.html Earth Sciences Wed, 28 Oct 2026 09:20:04 EDT news712396621 This year, the U.S. saw its highest annual count of confirmed Cyclospora cases, roughly 20,000, according to the CDC. New research published in Risk Analysis examines outbreaks from 2018 to 2022 and finds that the retail losses associated with these events vary with how much public attention the outbreak draws. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-consumers-cyclospora-bagged-salad-sales.html Agriculture Wed, 28 Oct 2026 09:00:13 EDT news712236743 The human brain accounts for roughly 2% of total body weight but uses approximately 20% of our body's energy. Relative to our body size, human brains are much larger than those of other mammals and take a lot of energy to keep humans going. The evolution of our unusually large "social brain" is thought to have given us advanced intelligence and enabled the formation of large, complex societies. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-ants-prioritize-brain-energy-starvation.html Plants & Animals Wed, 28 Oct 2026 09:00:10 EDT news712396381 When two objects touch and then separate, they can swap tiny amounts of electric charge, even if they are made from exactly the same material. This 'triboelectric effect' is the source of everyday static electricity, but it is still poorly understood in large samples of powder, where vast numbers of particles are constantly colliding with each other. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-levitated-particles-reveal-static.html General Physics Wed, 28 Oct 2026 08:00:09 EDT news712326851 A new study by researchers at Montana State University has found that heat waves substantially accelerate the melting rate of mountain snowpack; however, the resulting water doesn't necessarily produce an immediate increase in streamflow. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-snowmelt-substantially-rivers-unevenly.html Environment Wed, 28 Oct 2026 08:00:06 EDT news712391057 In a new study published in Chemical Science, researchers from the University of Oxford's Department of Chemistry have used machine learning simulations to trace how a common polymer transforms into hard carbon, revealing the atomic-scale processes that give this technologically important material its disordered structure. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-machine-simulations-reveal-plastic-hard.html Polymers Wed, 28 Oct 2026 07:00:08 EDT news712321141 In Finnish lore, the goddess Kivutar stashes away pain in a mountain for safekeeping. And yet she's also a healer, channeling it into rocks or boiling it down into a less potent form in a huge vat. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-people-mind-body-clues.html Social Sciences Wed, 28 Oct 2026 07:00:05 EDT news712389557 The Antarctic Intermediate Water (AAIW)—a vast layer of fresh water spanning much of the Southern Hemisphere's ocean—has rapidly reversed its long-term trends in salinity and density, according to new research. The AAIW helps store carbon, supply oxygen and drive global ocean currents. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-major-southern-hemisphere-ocean-layer.html Earth Sciences Wed, 28 Oct 2026 06:00:01 EDT news712321742 From Alaska to Texas, the battle for control of the U.S. Senate is unfolding across 35 races. And a new Northwestern University election model is tracking them all—every 10 minutes. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-election-minutes.html Political science Tue, 27 Oct 2026 22:40:01 EDT news712327045 New research from Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management finds that injury matters less in the NFL than is often assumed. With the exception of highly paid quarterbacks, losing players—even the high-dollar ones—to injury is not as fatal to a team's success as one might think. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-injuries-nfl.html Economics & Business Tue, 27 Oct 2026 21:00:01 EDT news712321883 The 2026 Report of The Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change finds that many of the health risks and harms of climate change grew faster in the decade since the Paris Agreement was introduced (2016–2025) than in the decade before it (2006–2015). https://phys.org/news/2026-10-climate-health-outpace-action-prompting.html Environment Tue, 27 Oct 2026 20:10:02 EDT news712229643 Climate change and shifts in land use are affecting habitats and, consequently, plant diversity. To better understand the consequences of these developments, long-term and comprehensive data are essential. The "Floristic Mapping of Baden-Württemberg," coordinated by the Stuttgart State Museum of Natural History, provides a foundation for this. The data collected over five decades as part of this citizen science project document significant changes in the flora of southwestern Germany, drawing on more than 2.5 million plant observations. They also provide insights into changes in plant diversity in Germany and Central Europe. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-biodiversity-hotspots-southwestern-germany-species.html Plants & Animals Tue, 27 Oct 2026 19:20:09 EDT news712318621 Life arose on Earth at least 3.5 billion years ago, and our planet has remained habitable ever since—not too hot, not too cold. These life-sustaining conditions are possible in part thanks to a built-in, carbon cycle–based climate "thermostat" that controls the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-earth-thermostat-pangea-era.html Earth Sciences Tue, 27 Oct 2026 19:20:06 EDT news712329541 It's Halloween night. Someone has dared you to turn off the lights and stand in front of the mirror. The rules are simple: Stare into your reflection and say her name three times. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-brain-ghosts-science-bloody-mary.html Social Sciences Tue, 27 Oct 2026 19:00:04 EDT news712316846 All water comes from somewhere. Researchers who want to know where it comes from rely on water isotopes, variants of water molecules with slightly different masses, as location identifiers. In particular, the specific ratio of heavy to light water isotopes is unique to the water's origin and processes it has undergone and can provide information on how water travels across the globe. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-database-tracks-earth-standardizing-decades.html Earth Sciences Tue, 27 Oct 2026 18:20:13 EDT news712323841 Researchers at Kyushu University have developed a photocatalytic system that can selectively capture reacting molecules and hold them close to the active sites that absorb energy from light. This innovation addresses a long-standing challenge of having the photocatalyst maintain a high reaction rate even when the reacting molecules are present at very low concentrations. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-counteranion-captures-reactants-boost-driven.html Analytical Chemistry Tue, 27 Oct 2026 18:10:01 EDT news712335541 Tens of thousands of underwater mountains dot the ocean floor around the world. A few break the surface, such as the Hawaiian island chain. The rest are seamounts, peaks and pinnacles rising from the deep seafloor. Some lie just a few meters below the surface, while others rest deeper. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-bottom-trawlers-huge-life-undersea.html Ecology Tue, 27 Oct 2026 18:00:08 EDT news712316065 Chocolate lovers may not realize it, but the future of one of the world's most popular foods is increasingly under pressure. Diseases, shifting weather patterns and other environmental stressors are threatening cacao production globally, contributing to supply concerns and economic challenges for the millions of farmers who grow the crop that makes chocolate possible. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-cacao-variety-global-chocolate-disease.html Biotechnology Tue, 27 Oct 2026 17:50:10 EDT news712340464 Red tide, a harmful algal bloom that produces toxins, is known for causing respiratory irritation in humans and killing fish in coastal waters. Recent research shows that the conversation is also shifting to include a more subtle neurological threat. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-ai-satellite-florida-earlier-toxic.html Environment Tue, 27 Oct 2026 17:50:01 EDT news712335061 Envision a material whose magnetic properties and electronic topology can be toggled by exposure to light, paving the way for future electronic devices that do not rely on traditional electrical switching, which wastes energy by producing heat. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-scientists-uncover-magnetism-topology-atomically.html Condensed Matter Tue, 27 Oct 2026 17:40:06 EDT news712244365 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 Antarctica's glaciers were changing long before satellites, weather stations or cameras captured their transformations, and they left behind clues. Along Marguerite Bay on the western Antarctic Peninsula, ridges of rocks and debris mark former glacier margins. For decades, scientists lacked direct evidence about when many of these ridges formed. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-antarctic-reveal-chapter-glacier-history.html Earth Sciences Tue, 27 Oct 2026 16:30:05 EDT news712335722 University of Missouri researchers have created rice plants that resist bacterial blight, a devastating disease that threatens one of the world's most important food crops. The advance could help farmers in parts of Asia and Africa, where the disease can destroy harvests and threaten livelihoods. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-rice-devastating-disease-gene-ai.html Biotechnology Tue, 27 Oct 2026 16:20:15 EDT news712320002 A study analyzing the effects of climate change on vascular plants in the United States finds that the fate of individual plant species tends to be a regional phenomenon. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-species-climate-regional-strategies.html Plants & Animals Tue, 27 Oct 2026 15:50:01 EDT news712332481 Making complex molecules often means joining smaller chemical building blocks together, a process facilitated by catalysts, compounds that make such reactions possible or speed them up without being consumed themselves. Many widely used reactions also require chemists to modify their starting molecules before joining them. These added chemical "handles" make the molecules reactive, but preparing them means extra steps and, often, additional waste. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-reusable-palladium-catalyst-enables-chemical.html Analytical Chemistry Tue, 27 Oct 2026 15:40:08 EDT news712319329 New research from the University of Sydney expands the potential medicinal benefits of honey and propolis (the plant resin and beeswax mixture bees use to build their nests) produced by Australia's stingless bees. Building on earlier research, a study led by Ph.D. candidate Jasmin Li tested the honey and propolis against bacterial and fungal pathogens. The honey was active against all bacteria tested, including species that are a growing concern for antimicrobial resistance, such as hard-to-treat hospital bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella pneumoniae. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-native-stingless-bees-combat-antimicrobial.html Plants & Animals Tue, 27 Oct 2026 15:40:04 EDT news712315077 The rapid increase in the availability of genomic data has transformed plant breeding by enabling the prediction of complex traits directly from DNA markers. Genomic prediction provides a means to accelerate selection decisions, reduce phenotyping costs and shorten breeding cycles. Despite its promise, the practical implementation of genomic prediction remains challenging because prediction accuracy varies across datasets, populations and traits. Researchers must often evaluate multiple statistical and machine-learning approaches to identify the most suitable model, requiring substantial expertise and computational effort. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-genobridge-trait-genomic-analysis-pipeline.html Molecular & Computational biology Tue, 27 Oct 2026 15:20:01 EDT news712312961