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. 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 Scientists have long explored the idea of using insects as our agents in the field in places where humans won't fit or survive. Imagine a cockroach in an earthquake zone, able to skitter into the rubble to map out exactly where human chemical signatures can be found, or a grasshopper leaping through a minefield to bring back a map of the bombs based on the vapors it encountered. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-locusts-sensory-nanomaterials-chemicals.html Bio & Medicine Tue, 20 Oct 2026 10:40:07 EDT news711706419 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 Black-necked swans, spot-flanked gallinules, southern lapwings, austral thrushes and dozens of other bird species fly across the Río Cruces Wetland, carrying the biocultural memory of the territory. Both resident birds and species that migrate throughout the year bear witness to the many changes this landscape has undergone over time. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-explore-valuable-birds-memory-territory.html Ecology Tue, 20 Oct 2026 09:20:04 EDT news711700407 Modern education is predominantly shaped by approaches that emphasize efficiency, measurable achievement, prediction and the ability to solve problems through rational intervention. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-japanese-philosophy-perspective.html Education Mon, 19 Oct 2026 07:40:03 EDT news711605534 A new international study led by Lund University examines what happened to population levels after the Kikai-Akahoya volcanic eruption in prehistoric Japan. The results paint a more complex picture than what had previously been believed. The paper is published in the journal Science Advances. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-earth-worst-volcanic-disasters-affected.html Archaeology Sat, 17 Oct 2026 16:00:01 EDT news711298336 When a massive environmental disaster strikes, do societies simply collapse and disappear? Or do people find a way to adapt, rebuild and recover? https://phys.org/news/2026-10-ancient-volcanic-eruption-resilience-today.html Earth Sciences Sat, 17 Oct 2026 13:00:05 EDT news711298328 The University of Bristol–led study, published in Nature Communications, could help millions of people living in earthquake-prone countries make better-informed decisions about seismic risk, particularly during ongoing periods of increased earthquake activity. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-california-earthquakes-validate-day-seismic.html Earth Sciences Thu, 15 Oct 2026 14:40:01 EDT news711292441 A magnitude 7.7 earthquake jolted Panama on Friday, setting off panic in the capital city and warnings of dangerous tsunami waves. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-tsunami-major-earthquake-panama.html Environment Sat, 10 Oct 2026 08:19:53 EDT news710839169 Episodic lava fountaining is a rare volcanic behavior in which repeated, hours-long bursts of molten lava and gas are spewed from volcanic vents, with quiet pauses lasting days to weeks between episodes. These lava fountains have been observed in active volcanoes in places like Hawaii, Iceland and Italy, but researchers still do not fully understand what starts, sustains or stops these individual fountain episodes. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-klauea-summit-scientists-lava-fountain.html Earth Sciences Fri, 09 Oct 2026 12:40:08 EDT news710765919 The discovery of an unexpectedly hot rock beneath Earth's surface is challenging scientists' understanding of how heat is distributed deep inside the planet, with potential implications for how they understand earthquakes, volcanic activity and the movement of carbon through Earth. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-mysterious-papua-guinea-reveals-unexpected.html Earth Sciences Wed, 07 Oct 2026 15:20:01 EDT news710594942 A better understanding of how earthquakes occur and what happens during a rupture is important for assessing seismic risk. Small earthquakes, which are more frequent than large ones, are a tempting data set, but they're hard to study, in large part because their energy is quickly sapped as it travels through Earth. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-pulses-kilometer-borehole-illuminate-seismic.html Earth Sciences Tue, 06 Oct 2026 13:00:01 EDT news710501401 Small, hairy and cheekily charismatic. Those words sprang to mind when I first met a Sumatran rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) after traversing the maze of wooden slat paths at the conservation center in the dense, humid forests of Malaysian Borneo. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-africa-rhinos-spotlight-indonesia-rhino.html Plants & Animals Tue, 06 Oct 2026 08:20:05 EDT news710488682 Japan has the lowest measured rate of homelessness of any wealthy nation. Finland is the only country in Europe that has driven homelessness down over decades rather than watched it climb. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-homelessness-wont-pay.html Social Sciences Mon, 05 Oct 2026 10:40:01 EDT news710407202 The sun had barely risen, but diver Elizaveta Bodrova was already raring to plunge into the cold waters of Lake Issyk-Kul, where the ruins of a once-thriving city have lain submerged for centuries. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-sunken-silk-road-city-reveals.html Archaeology Mon, 05 Oct 2026 02:38:24 EDT news710386670 Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha | University of Canterbury (UC) School of Earth and Environment senior lecturer Dr. Robinson was part of an international research team investigating the Aug. 26 disaster, when a massive rock and ice avalanche in the Himalaya rapidly transformed into a devastating debris flood. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-nepal-disaster-highlights-nz-mountains.html Environment Fri, 02 Oct 2026 08:40:05 EDT news710138162 On July 29, 2025, at 23:24 Universal Time, a long stretch of seafloor off Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula was thrust upward. The magnitude 8.8 earthquake was the largest on Earth since the Tohoku earthquake of 2011, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, and within minutes a tsunami was spreading across the Pacific. Warnings went out from Japan to Chile. On Shumshu, in the Kuril Islands, the water splashed up to about 19 meters (62 feet) high. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-kamchatka-tsunami-pacific-ten-hours.html Earth Sciences Thu, 01 Oct 2026 17:20:02 EDT news709910514 The storm ends, the fire goes out, floodwaters recede. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-storm-recovery-community-crisis.html Social Sciences Thu, 01 Oct 2026 08:00:01 EDT news710055662 Many cities around the world are sinking because too much water is extracted from the groundwater reservoirs beneath them. This sinking makes these coastal cities more exposed to rising seas as the climate warms. But as our new research shows, this process can work in reverse: When groundwater is replenished, cities can rise. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-cities-world-groundwater-depletion-reversed.html Earth Sciences Wed, 30 Sep 2026 11:40:10 EDT news709982462 In 2025, along parts of Kamchatka's coast in Russia, a magnitude 8.8 earthquake caused a tsunami to surge nearly 20 meters (65 feet) above sea level. Yet across the Pacific, its waves were much smaller than those produced by the region's great 9.0 earthquake in 1952. How could the tsunami climb so high near the source yet have a comparatively modest impact far away? https://phys.org/news/2026-09-kamchatka-giant-earthquake-smaller-tsunami.html Earth Sciences Wed, 30 Sep 2026 08:40:05 EDT news709909032 While not quite a fatal attraction, the gravitational pull of the moon and sun creates tiny stresses on Earth that can trigger events known as slow earthquakes. These are movements along fault lines (fault slips) that release their energy gradually over much longer periods than ordinary quakes. Although they have been observed, exactly how these celestial bodies trigger them has been a relatively tough nut to crack. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-moon-sun-trigger-earthquakes-earth.html Earth Sciences Tue, 29 Sep 2026 14:00:01 EDT news709902367 Extending some 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) along the length of Italy, the Apennine Mountains present a challenging puzzle for geologists. In some places, the mountains are steadily being stretched apart, while in regions just tens of kilometers away, they are squeezing together. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-crust-beneath-italy-apennines-mountains.html Earth Sciences Tue, 29 Sep 2026 09:40:12 EDT news709811036 Japan's population peaked around 2008 and has been steadily declining since. But construction hasn't stopped. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-asia-future-embrace-limitations-people.html Social Sciences Mon, 28 Sep 2026 23:00:01 EDT news709803952 How are species boundaries maintained in the face of environmental disturbance? This is not only a fundamental question in evolutionary biology but also an increasingly important one as human activities and climate change alter habitats and bring previously separated species into contact. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-japan-tsunami-fish-hybridization-species.html Evolution Sun, 27 Sep 2026 16:00:01 EDT news709555869 When we think of a volcanic eruption, rivers of glowing lava or giant columns of ash come to mind. But beneath Earth's surface, a more complex story is unfolding. Magma deep within volcanoes is more than molten rock. It is a thick mixture of melted rock and solid mineral crystals known as "magma mush". To picture it, imagine a semi-frozen granita: a slushy blend of solid ice crystals suspended in sweet liquid syrup. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-volcanic-crystals-black-tracking-magma.html Earth Sciences Sun, 27 Sep 2026 15:00:01 EDT news709471362 It's already been an intense hurricane season in the Pacific Ocean—and there's still quite a ways to go. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-intense-hurricane-season-pacific.html Environment Fri, 25 Sep 2026 03:42:22 EDT news709526446 Like tendrils on a vine, lava spreads out from the northern crater of Krasheninnikov, a volcano pair on the Pacific coast of Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula. On July 30, 2025, an 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck in the nearby ocean, apparently jolting one of the two volcanoes awake. A few days later, for the first time in nearly five centuries, Krasheninnikov started erupting. Since then, the northern volcano has been spilling a steady, eastward-flowing field of molten rock and debris, and the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission has been tracking the changes in the landscape. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-india-satellite-captures-lapse-video.html Planetary Sciences Thu, 24 Sep 2026 19:40:05 EDT news709473121 As Arctic sea ice retreats, new shipping routes, expanding resource development and growing geopolitical competition are transforming one of the world's least-monitored regions. Scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory have established one of the first long-term acoustic baselines for the Arctic's underwater soundscape. This work strengthens the detection and interpretation of earthquakes, underwater and nearshore detonations, ship traffic and other events of national security interest. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-scientists-arctic-global.html Earth Sciences Thu, 24 Sep 2026 17:40:05 EDT news709468682 Segregation is a multidimensional phenomenon deeply intertwined with historical, social and ecological contexts. Yet this more integrated perspective has received limited attention in the Global South. A recent study focusing on the city of Valdivia offers an exception, examining three key historical moments: colonization, the devastating 1960 earthquake and current struggles to protect urban wetlands. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-urban-segregation-history-ecology-inequality.html Social Sciences Mon, 21 Sep 2026 20:00:01 EDT news709221182 Where is Earth's center of mass? The answer seems trivially obvious. It's right in the middle of the planet. Ah, but that kind of thinking won't get you a paper in the Geophysical Journal International. It's also not a trivial question. Knowing Earth's center of mass to within millimeters reveals some interesting facts about our planet. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-earth-center-mass-drifts-thought.html Planetary Sciences Mon, 21 Sep 2026 15:40:06 EDT news709213021