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. More frequent spanking is linked to greater anxiety and aggression in children over time, according to international research that includes Filipino families presented by psychology professor Dr. Liane Peña Alampay of the Ateneo de Manila University. The findings challenge the familiar belief that "pamamalo" produces more disciplined children, pointing instead to the benefits of warm relationships in the home, clear expectations and nonviolent disciplining. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-disiplinang-walang-palo-common-filipino.html Social Sciences Thu, 22 Oct 2026 17:00:01 EDT news711885089 Researchers at Fraunhofer IAF have developed a laser-enhanced quantum sensor that combines high magnetic-field sensitivity with a large dynamic range. Using laser threshold magnetometry, they improved the ratio of sensitivity and dynamic range by a factor of up to 590 compared with state-of-the-art approaches. The breakthrough is enabled by the first demonstration of 100% optical contrast, combined with strong laser readout signals. The results, published in Nature Communications, open up new prospects for medical diagnostics, navigation, and resource exploration. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-diamond-laser-optical-contrast-magnetic.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 22 Oct 2026 14:20:08 EDT news711893942 The moment we take a sip of our morning coffee or our first bite of lunch, the brain begins interpreting what we taste. Is it sweet? Sour? Or something else entirely? But the brain does not create flavor based solely on signals from the tongue. That is the finding of a new study from the Department of Food Science, published in Scientific Reports. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-music-flavor-food.html Social Sciences Thu, 22 Oct 2026 10:00:15 EDT news711877524 To most consumers, canned food is an everyday convenience, but to John Coupland, professor of food science at Penn State, each can represents more than two centuries of invention, experimentation and problem-solving. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-qa-canned-food.html Agriculture Thu, 22 Oct 2026 07:40:10 EDT news711865515 An absence of women scientists in U.K. exam board specifications for science could be a factor in the disproportionate number of girls dropping STEM subjects at 16 and contribute to the gender gap in STEM careers, new research from the University of Cambridge has found. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-uk-exam-board-science-specifications.html Social Sciences Wed, 21 Oct 2026 19:10:02 EDT news711799201 Transmitting electricity without losing any energy may sound impossible, yet this is precisely the promise of superconductivity. For nearly 40 years, scientists have been working to understand materials that exhibit this remarkable property at relatively high temperatures. Unlocking their secrets could one day help make power grids more efficient, enhance medical technologies and support the development of quantum computing. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-hidden-rivalry-quantum-states-heart.html Superconductivity Tue, 20 Oct 2026 18:00:07 EDT news711721321 Superconductivity has many important practical applications, including creating powerful magnets used in high-resolution medical scans, transporting electricity efficiently and building ultrasensitive measuring devices. Until now, understanding exactly what lay behind this unique phenomenon at high temperatures has eluded scientists over many decades. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-gun-mystery-high-temperature-superconductivity.html Superconductivity Tue, 20 Oct 2026 16:00:07 EDT news711718201 For scientists, breakthroughs often stem from unexpected turns. A research team led by Oscar Dahlsten, an associate professor in the Department of Physics at City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK), set out to prove a theoretical limitation, only to discover a quantum solution. The finding breaks traditional physical constraints and introduces a strategy for harvesting energy from fluctuating sources. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-quantum-pathway-entropy-free-energy.html General Physics Tue, 20 Oct 2026 11:00:01 EDT news711706981 For the first time, scientists have observed bleached corals on the brink of death fully recover through brief contact with healthy clones. Ghostly white corals returned to full health in a laboratory setting within seven weeks, the fastest documented recovery to date, according to a study published in Science Advances. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-scientists-reverse-coral.html Ecology Sun, 18 Oct 2026 12:00:01 EDT news711300075 As human activity has increased temperatures globally, determining the costs directly incurred by climate change is challenging. The effects of climate change on extreme weather events—such as hurricanes and heat waves—can be locally specific and variable, and observations and climate modeling might not accurately capture those effects. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-ambiguous-climate.html Environment Sat, 17 Oct 2026 10:20:01 EDT news711367063 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 My recent discovery of a Roman fort and its extraordinary connection with medieval folklore was the fruition of many hours of painstaking research. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-roman-fort-wales-key-ancient.html Archaeology Thu, 15 Oct 2026 14:00:16 EDT news711278473 Physicists at Auburn University have used flashes of laser light to bring order to tiny electrically charged "islands" inside a crystal. The discovery helps answer a decades-old question about how the material organizes itself and shows how light could be used to control its behavior—a step toward exploring new technologies for processing and storing information. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-laser-pulses-quantum-material-tiny.html Condensed Matter Thu, 15 Oct 2026 13:00:07 EDT news711286681 An international collaboration led by a research group from GSI/FAIR in Darmstadt, Germany, has achieved the first measurement of the chemical stability of a superheavy element compound. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-superheavy-element-compound-reveals-weaker.html Analytical Chemistry Wed, 14 Oct 2026 15:40:02 EDT news711197821 A discovery has led to the first confirmed records of recreational catches of Pacific bluefin tuna (Thunnus orientalis) in Victorian waters. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-ocean-discovery-pacific-bluefin-tuna.html Plants & Animals Wed, 14 Oct 2026 12:20:07 EDT news711189028 Plants—like people—come in all shapes and sizes. And just like scientists want to understand the components of the human body to treat disease and improve our lives, they also want to understand how plants thrive, develop disease, succumb or survive. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-method-proteins-involved-health-disease.html Molecular & Computational biology Tue, 13 Oct 2026 17:00:01 EDT news711115034 When the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 turned our world upside down, mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 brought a breakthrough. Their success established modified mRNA as a powerful foundation for vaccines and opened the way for new mRNA-based technologies, with potential applications ranging from vaccines against other infectious diseases to cancer immunotherapy. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-sequence-mrna-protein-errors-vaccine.html Biotechnology Tue, 13 Oct 2026 16:40:07 EDT news711120361 Researchers at Gladstone Institutes have uncovered an unusual bacterial immune system that operates in reverse of known defenses. The discovery, published in Molecular Cell, details the mechanics of "type VI retrons"—a counterintuitive class of bacterial defenses. More than just a biological curiosity, decoding these complex systems provides a molecular blueprint that scientists can adapt to engineer more efficient DNA-editing tools for human health and therapies. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-newly-antiviral-bacteria-strangest-kind.html Cell & Microbiology Tue, 13 Oct 2026 15:20:12 EDT news711116521 The cells of higher organisms such as mammals, flies and fungi enclose their genetic material in a nucleus. A nuclear envelope, consisting of two stacked membranes, protects it. For the cell to survive, the nucleus must constantly exchange molecules with the rest of the cell. This exchange relies on channels called nuclear pores, which act as selective gates that transport proteins or messenger RNA in or out. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-cells-center-accessible.html Cell & Microbiology Tue, 13 Oct 2026 09:20:08 EDT news711099061 Researchers at National Taiwan University (NTU), working across the College of Engineering, College of Medicine and National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH), have developed a new method for producing aerogels, introducing what they describe as the world's first purely gaseous-born aerogel fabrication platform. The study is published in Nature Communications. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-vapor-based-method-ultralight-aerogels.html Polymers Mon, 12 Oct 2026 17:00:10 EDT news711037681 A new study led by researchers at the University of Limerick (UL) has identified a new battery material from a renewable wood industry byproduct that could help reduce reliance on scarce and expensive materials. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-based-wood-industry-byproduct-carbon.html Nanomaterials Mon, 12 Oct 2026 16:00:18 EDT news711036421 In the deep sea, it never stops snowing. The type of snow that falls in the ocean, known as marine snow, is very different from the flaky geometric wonders that fall on land. Marine snow describes tiny clumps of organic and inorganic detritus—think mucus, poop, silt, dead plankton, etc.—that rain from the shallows into the deep. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-gooier-marine-carbon.html Earth Sciences Mon, 12 Oct 2026 10:00:01 EDT news711015241 A new paper published in the journal Phytotaxa describes a new species in the genus Victoria, the Colombian giant water lily (Victoria colombiana). With only three other known species in the genus, V. colombiana joins the pantheon of nature's giants with pads measuring up to 2 meters (6.6 feet) across. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-chance-instagram-sighting-discovery-rare.html Plants & Animals Thu, 08 Oct 2026 19:10:06 EDT news710667361 A new approach to producing ammonia using renewable electricity has overcome a fundamental energy limitation of the technology, opening new possibilities for cleaner and potentially more cost-effective production of one of the world's most important chemicals. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-electrode-key-barrier-greener-ammonia.html Analytical Chemistry Thu, 08 Oct 2026 11:00:11 EDT news710605261 Two studies on critical topology have recently been published in the journal Nature. These studies were led by the teams of Prof. Baile Zhang at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, and Prof. Jianhua Jiang at the University of Science and Technology of China, respectively. Prof. Xue-Jia Yu from the School of Physics at the Eastern Institute of Technology, Ningbo (EIT), served as a co-corresponding author on both papers and provided key theoretical guidance in the related experimental collaborations. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-acoustic-topology-persist-gapless-critical.html Condensed Matter Wed, 07 Oct 2026 16:40:20 EDT news710599631 Modern technological breakthroughs like lasers, MRI scanners, semiconductors and quantum computers rest on the study of quantum mechanics. However, the field has predominantly focused on (sub)atomic phenomena far removed from our human senses. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-quantum-shifting-centimeter-scale-lab.html General Physics Wed, 07 Oct 2026 14:00:50 EDT news710514722 As women go through menopause, their voices tend to become deeper. This is partly because the vocal folds may swell and the surrounding muscles lose elasticity, resulting in a lower pitch. Age-related physiological changes can also affect the pronunciation of certain vowels. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-linguists-madonna-voice-defies-age.html Social Sciences Tue, 06 Oct 2026 19:40:01 EDT news710511870 Earth seems like a troubled place right now, but at least our cosmic surroundings appear peaceful. This is not universally true, as explosions, collisions and other dangers lurk in other places and times. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-life-cosmos-universe-supercomputer-yields.html Astronomy Tue, 06 Oct 2026 10:40:29 EDT news710498341 In optogenetics, scientists control neurons by stimulating them with light—potentially unlocking breakthroughs for conditions such as dementia, depression and blindness. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-brain-cells-nobel-science-optogenetics.html Other Tue, 06 Oct 2026 02:20:04 EDT news710469904 If you're reading this, your body probably contains forever chemicals. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-chemicals-yeast-ai.html Environment Mon, 05 Oct 2026 15:00:10 EDT news710415842