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. Many of the problems facing the more than 134,000 households living in temporary accommodation in England today—including more than 176,000 children—are part of a pattern of failure stretching back nearly 200 years, according to a major new report. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-today-housing-emergency-years.html Economics & Business Sun, 21 Jun 2026 09:00:05 EDT news700747565 New antibiotic candidates for drug-resistant bacteria may reside inside prions, misfolded proteins in the brain best known for rare and fatal degenerative brain diseases. Prion and prion-like proteins may hide short peptides, called "prionins," that can kill bacteria, suggesting proteins best known for their role in neurodegeneration may contain molecular features linked to immune defense, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-ai-reveals-unexpected-source-antibiotic.html Cell & Microbiology Fri, 19 Jun 2026 15:00:04 EDT news701091662 DNA testing kits are often gifted for Father's Day, Christmas and special occasions. The idea of learning more about yourself and unearthing some long-forgotten family history is certainly appealing to many, but a psychologist has warned that these presents can come with profound psychological implications. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-dna-kit-father-day-psychology.html Social Sciences Fri, 19 Jun 2026 10:10:01 EDT news700989181 AIMS scientists are quantifying the amount of groundwater flowing from the land to the Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia to help understand the viability of blue carbon storage solutions to reduce the impacts of climate change. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-groundwater-ocean-carbon-storage-solution.html Environment Thu, 18 Jun 2026 08:00:01 EDT news700984622 By teaching an AI to use optical tweezers, researchers from the University of Gothenburg and Chalmers University of Technology have sped up the analysis of life's smallest components. The AI platform captures particles, takes measurements and loads new samples, all without human intervention. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-ai-driven-optical-tweezers-hundreds.html Bio & Medicine Thu, 18 Jun 2026 05:00:05 EDT news700900562 Researchers from the University of Helsinki, Natural Resources Institute Finland, Tamkang University and National Taiwan University investigated how the Green View Index (GVI) relates to the richness and diversity of bacteria in the Taipei metropolitan area in Taiwan. The more vegetation in the area, the richer its microbial community. The Green View Index measures visible greenery from the pedestrian perspective. The work is published in the journal Landscape and Urban Planning. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-green-view-index-scores-urban.html Environment Wed, 17 Jun 2026 20:40:03 EDT news700914594 Scientists studying particle collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) usually capture what happens when atomic nuclei smash into one another at nearly the speed of light. But even when the nuclei don't collide, interesting things can happen. In a new paper just published in Physical Review Letters, members of RHIC's STAR collaboration describe a new way to use near-miss collisions at RHIC to study what's going on inside the nucleus. The approach advances the reach of RHIC, a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science user facility at DOE's Brookhaven National Laboratory, into the next frontier in nuclear physics—a journey into the inner workings of the building blocks of matter. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-flipped-quantum-clearer-gluon-nuclear.html General Physics Wed, 17 Jun 2026 18:20:01 EDT news700920181 Deep in the Atlantic, a vast circulation of water carries heat from the tropics toward Greenland. This is the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation, or Amoc. It does this work largely out of sight, so it doesn't have the public profile of rainforests, polar ice caps or other huge climate-regulating systems. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-world-important-climate-threats-image.html Environment Wed, 17 Jun 2026 13:40:02 EDT news700919221 A Concordia-led team of researchers has developed a new artificial intelligence-based method of detecting toxic online content that is faster and more accurate than existing tools. The system is designed to ensure social media platforms can reliably prevent user-generated content they deem harmful from appearing online. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-ai-based-toxic-online-content.html Social Sciences Tue, 16 Jun 2026 18:00:07 EDT news700833947 A paper on new research into the cause of death of Simonetta Vespucci, model for the world-renowned Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli, has been published by researchers at Queen Mary University of London, Universita Campus Bio-Medico di Roma and the University of California in the journal Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-explanation-mystery-death-botticelli-birth.html Other Tue, 16 Jun 2026 17:30:01 EDT news700844162 An international research team led by Forschungszentrum Jülich and the IPK Leibniz Institute has developed an artificial intelligence model that predicts where regulatory proteins dock onto plant DNA to switch genes on and off. Trained entirely on the rich genomic data available for the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, the model transfers successfully to crops such as maize—opening new ways to understand how genetic variation shapes crop performance. The study was recently published in Nature Communications. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-ai-decodes-dna-gene.html Biotechnology Tue, 16 Jun 2026 13:40:04 EDT news700828681 Most of the earthquakes we hear about are due to tectonic plates colliding or sliding past each other near plate boundaries. Yet researchers have detected some enigmatic earthquakes happening inside the more stable interiors of plates. Intermediate-depth earthquakes (IDEs), which occur around 70–300 kilometers (43–186 miles) below the surface, are especially puzzling because rocks at those depths are hot enough to flow more fluidly. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-deep-hundreds-antarctic-earthquakes.html Earth Sciences Tue, 16 Jun 2026 12:40:01 EDT news700831490 While Reno families were celebrating the 1997 New Year, the Truckee River was surging into the city's downtown streets. A rainstorm was falling on the Sierra Nevada's deep snowpack, melting it rapidly and creating a hazardous situation for downstream communities. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-tool-communities-events-optimize-reservoir.html Earth Sciences Tue, 16 Jun 2026 07:40:01 EDT news700805461 Debris is still raining down on Earth more than 100 million years after the giant cosmic explosion that created it. A study published this week in Nature Astronomy by an international team reached this conclusion using measurements of rare isotopes within a slow-growing ferromanganese crust recovered from the depths of the Pacific Ocean. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-deep-sea-crust-uncovers-steady.html Astrobiology Mon, 15 Jun 2026 15:40:01 EDT news700754041 A method to interpret artificial intelligence (AI) models used in materials discovery by analyzing their learned features has been developed by researchers from Japan. The method extracts key features from an AI model trained on atomic structural data and optical absorption spectra, and then groups materials with similar structural and spectral characteristics. This approach can be extended to reveal how atomic arrangements influence other material properties, paving the way for more efficient materials design. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-ai-materials-discovery-uncovering.html Analytical Chemistry Sun, 14 Jun 2026 21:30:01 EDT news700482481 Researchers at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering and CNSI (California NanoSystems Institute), led by Professor Aydogan Ozcan, introduced a snapshot 3D image projection system that integrates a digital encoder with a passive diffractive optical decoder, jointly optimized end-to-end through deep learning. The hybrid architecture projects multiple distinct images onto closely spaced axial planes in a single shot, marking a significant step toward compact, high-fidelity volumetric display technologies. The research is published in the journal Light: Science & Applications. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-layer-3d-images-shot.html Optics & Photonics Sun, 14 Jun 2026 08:20:01 EDT news700642019 Researchers at Princeton University have harnessed AI to understand how drugs affect the dynamics of vital structures within the cell, introducing a tool that can map the shape of these structures to functional outcomes and shed light on important markers of health. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-ai-cell-droplets-uncovering-drug.html Molecular & Computational biology Sat, 13 Jun 2026 06:20:01 EDT news700547546 Many workers fear machines will supplant them as adoption of artificial intelligence accelerates. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-skills-people-ai-workplace-experts.html Economics & Business Thu, 11 Jun 2026 22:20:01 EDT news700404192 Scientists analyzing 2,000-year-old grape seeds from ancient wells in Tuscany have mapped the most extensive genetic history of ancient grapevines recovered from a single site. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-ancient-dna-tuscan-wells-reveals.html Archaeology Thu, 11 Jun 2026 19:00:01 EDT news700385461 A new AI model has become so good at predicting how molecules evolve over time that, in the future, it could speed up the costly and time-consuming process of testing new drugs. In the long term, this technology could facilitate the development of medicines and new treatments, as promising drug candidates can be identified more quickly and with greater accuracy. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-ai-fast-forwards-molecular-simulations.html Biotechnology Thu, 11 Jun 2026 18:20:01 EDT news700410781 Oxygen depletion in the western Baltic Sea is not uncommon. Oxygen-poor conditions regularly occur in deeper waters, placing stress on marine ecosystems and, in extreme cases, causing fish kills. As ocean temperatures continue to rise due to climate change, the challenges may become more severe in the future. To better predict such developments, researchers rely on numerical ocean models. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-weak-ocean-valuable-environmental.html Environment Thu, 11 Jun 2026 17:20:02 EDT news700409641 The European Space Agency (ESA) has officially adopted ARRAKIHS as a scientific mission, confirming the target launch date of 2030. Matthieu Schaller is part of the science team: "I look forward to learning more about the dark part of our cosmos." https://phys.org/news/2026-06-esa-arrakihs-mission-eu-exploration.html Astronomy Thu, 11 Jun 2026 16:40:08 EDT news700403141 The first published live observations of the rare goblin shark (Mitsukurina owstoni) in its natural deep-ocean habitat were reported in a new paper by a University of Hawai'i at Mānoa-led team of oceanographers. In the past, goblin sharks were filmed and reported alive only after being hooked on a fishing line and hauled to the surface, where divers could observe them and where they soon died. The new study, published in Journal of Fish Biology, documents two live observations of one of the most elusive yet iconic sharks on the planet—one at a seamount near Jarvis Island and another on the slope of the Tonga Trench. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-rare-deep-sea-goblin-sharks.html Plants & Animals Thu, 11 Jun 2026 13:20:08 EDT news700396981 Deep in Book VII of Plato's Republic, Socrates describes prisoners chained inside a cave, mistaking shadows cast on a wall by firelight for reality itself. They name the shadows, debate them and develop expertise about them. The prisoners are completely, sincerely wrong, and they have no idea. The cave isn't a place of stupidity; it's a place of convincing, well-organized illusion. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-ai-doesnt.html Education Thu, 11 Jun 2026 13:20:06 EDT news700395302 Global migration has risen sharply from approximately 13 million people per year in 2000 to around 35 million people per year in 2023. This is according to a new dataset on human migration published in Nature by researchers from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), IIASA and the University of Hong Kong. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-annual-global-migration-tripled-reshaping.html Social Sciences Wed, 10 Jun 2026 19:40:04 EDT news700323661 The complex puzzle known as little red dots has become more complete since their initial discovery by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope in 2022. Now a particular little red dot's spectrum is helping connect many of the pieces. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-black-hole-stars-webb-strongest.html Astronomy Wed, 10 Jun 2026 14:40:03 EDT news700313821 As the school year winds down and families start planning summer activities, possibly anticipating those inevitable rainy days, I have found myself returning to a simple but powerful joy: sharing museum experiences with young children. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-day-museum-kids-curiosity-generations.html Education Wed, 10 Jun 2026 12:00:07 EDT news700307221 Recent years have witnessed great advances in applying deep learning to improve fluorescence microscopy imaging. However, enhancing the fidelity of image restoration networks and improving their robustness under fluorescence noise remain significant challenges. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-tunnel-vision-imaging-ai-fluorescence.html Cell & Microbiology Tue, 09 Jun 2026 17:40:03 EDT news700239961 Our novel artificial intelligence model can predict extreme storm surges with high accuracy, including under future climate conditions. Because the AI model runs much faster, it can help researchers and practitioners better assess coastal flood risk for adaptation planning. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-ai-coastal-cities-seas-extreme.html Earth Sciences Tue, 09 Jun 2026 12:40:01 EDT news700223161 Deep beneath the icy waters surrounding Antarctica, a small marine organism may hold clues to a future cancer treatment. Researchers from USF recently returned from a six-week expedition in one of the most remote environments on Earth to study a species of ascidian, or sea squirt, that contains a bacterium capable of killing melanoma cancer cells. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-antarctica-advances-potential-melanoma-treatment.html Plants & Animals Mon, 08 Jun 2026 22:20:02 EDT news700134893