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. Generating hydrogen without releasing carbon dioxide sounds simple: pass electricity through water, split water molecules and generate green hydrogen. The hard part is the electrocatalyst. The best ones rely on platinum, ruthenium and iridium, which are scarce and expensive. We wanted to know whether a small amount of iron and nickel oxides, anchored on carbon nanofibers grown by chemical vapor deposition the right way on the right scaffold, could do the job instead. Our results are published in ACS Applied Nano Materials. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-fuel-nanomaterial-green-hydrogen.html Nanomaterials Mon, 26 Oct 2026 19:00:03 EDT news712234922 Is masculinity a barrier to green jobs? https://phys.org/news/2026-10-treehugging-optional-today-green-tradespeople.html Environment Mon, 26 Oct 2026 16:40:11 EDT news712232185 Researchers have developed a self-driving laboratory that combines artificial intelligence and robotics to automate laboratory tasks, from accurately measuring and mixing chemical ingredients to high-temperature furnace processing and sample retrieval. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-ai-powered-robotic-laboratory-paves.html Materials Science Mon, 26 Oct 2026 15:09:12 EDT news712246132 A rocky lava planet once thought to be too extreme to have an atmosphere appears to be wrapped in one with a reflective layer of vaporized silicate mineral clouds, the same family of compounds that make up quartz and sand. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-clouds-lava-planet-astronomers.html Planetary Sciences Mon, 26 Oct 2026 13:20:01 EDT news712234995 From its visible surface, the sun radiates heat at a relatively cool temperature of 5,800 Kelvin. Yet within the thin outer layer of the sun's atmosphere known as the corona, electrons can reach temperatures of millions of degrees, for reasons astronomers have yet to fully explain. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-laser-blasted-plasma-instabilities-sun.html Astronomy Mon, 26 Oct 2026 13:00:10 EDT news712234865 High temperatures can significantly impair the growth and yield of crops, including tomatoes. A new study by an international research team led by Dr. Justyna Olas, of the Leibniz Institute for Horticultural Sciences (IGZ), has shown that tomatoes can respond better to subsequent heat stress following moderate heat exposure. The work is published in The Plant Journal. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-thermal-priming-tolerance-yield-tomatoes.html Agriculture Mon, 26 Oct 2026 10:20:11 EDT news712218928 Every shallow-water coral reef ecosystem in Australia faces an extremely high risk of collapse by 2075, driven largely by projected ocean warming, according to a global assessment. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-australian-coral-reefs-collapse-years.html Earth Sciences Sun, 25 Oct 2026 15:30:01 EDT news711972395 Whether a community is prioritized for public support can depend on how its needs are measured, according to new research from the University of New Hampshire. The study found significant differences in how government screening tools identify communities, particularly in rural areas where those differences could affect access to funding. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-screening-tools-disadvantage-rural-communities.html Economics & Business Sun, 25 Oct 2026 14:00:02 EDT news711814459 A team at HZB has, for the first time, reported polar vortices in (BaTiO₃/SrTiO₃)₁₀ superlattices on silicon. These results expand the range of materials and substrates on which polar topological textures can occur and open up new options for incorporating complex ferroelectric states into silicon-based technologies. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-patterns-polar-vortices-free-superlattices.html Condensed Matter Sun, 25 Oct 2026 13:00:01 EDT news711645241 Raw, grilled, roasted, stuffed—there are many ways to enjoy bell peppers, also called capsicums, sweet peppers or paprika. Bell peppers originated in Central and South America and belong to the nightshade family along with tomatoes and eggplants. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-bell-pepper-reveal-differences-sweetness.html Agriculture Sat, 24 Oct 2026 17:00:07 EDT news711972174 Relatively simple changes to the way traditional brick kilns operate in Bangladesh can reduce pollution, save fuel and improve the quality of bricks they produce. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-cleaner-brick-kilns-pollution-gains.html Environment Sat, 24 Oct 2026 08:00:07 EDT news711976603 Researchers at AIST have directly observed magnetic flux quanta generated in a superconductor by photon absorption and demonstrated a new principle of photon detection that identifies the number of photons based on the number of these flux quanta. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-magnetic-flux-quanta-photon.html Optics & Photonics Fri, 23 Oct 2026 17:20:02 EDT news711982021 Potatoes could hold the key to making better gluten-free plant-based meat, according to a new study. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-potatoes-secret-based-meat-food.html Materials Science Fri, 23 Oct 2026 15:20:11 EDT news711977061 Establishing a long-term presence on the moon will require solving challenges that are easy to overlook on Earth. Lunar temperatures, for instance, can vary from hundreds of degrees below zero to boiling, making effective insulation essential for lunar habitats. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-everyday-mylar-insulator-lunar-habitats.html Space Exploration Fri, 23 Oct 2026 15:20:01 EDT news711979621 A new study led by University of Hawai'i (UH) at Mānoa researchers reveals how extreme ocean warming disrupts whale metabolism, nutrition and reproductive success and what the developing 2026–2027 El Niño could mean next. As climate change drives increasingly intense marine heat waves, scientists are uncovering how these extreme warming events disrupt the biology of humpback whales. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-marine-suppress-nutrient-reproductive-flexibility.html Plants & Animals Fri, 23 Oct 2026 13:20:19 EDT news711972450 More than 50,000 heat-related deaths are estimated to have occurred in urban areas across Europe during summer 2026, with around two-thirds attributed to human-induced climate change, according to new research led by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and Imperial College London. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-summer-toll-exceeded-deaths-european.html Environment Fri, 23 Oct 2026 12:20:01 EDT news711968002 Glass can keep a drink safely contained, protect a smartphone screen, or serve as a foundation for electronic components. But when it comes to controlling heat, this familiar material still holds some scientific mysteries. Now, researchers have identified a key factor governing how efficiently heat travels through silicate glass, offering a new guideline for designing glass materials for next-generation electronic devices. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-glass-good-key.html General Physics Fri, 23 Oct 2026 10:20:25 EDT news711967502 El Niño is part of a natural climate pattern that occurs roughly every two to seven years, bringing warmer-than-normal water to parts of the equatorial Pacific. The most recent very strong El Niño events, in 1997–98 and 2015–16, upended weather patterns. Impacts spanned the planet, from fires in Indonesia and the Amazon to crop failures due to drought in southern Africa to heavy rain and coastal flooding in Southern California. The current El Niño rivals these past heavyweights. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-el-nio-1.html Earth Sciences Fri, 23 Oct 2026 09:40:02 EDT news711963762 A joint research team from KAIST and the APEC Climate Center has found that the East Asian summer front has migrated north over the past half century, with the shift exceeding 200 km (124 miles) in late summer. This raises the risk that the Korean Peninsula will experience heavy rain and heat stress at the same time. The findings suggest that summer disaster planning should address flood prevention and heat-illness management together, through late September. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-east-asia-summer-belt-shifted.html Earth Sciences Fri, 23 Oct 2026 09:00:06 EDT news711963421 Modern agriculture's selective breeding of crops for particular requirements may now be a roadblock to further gains, prompting a trio of senior University of Queensland plant scientists to call for a new way forward. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-agriculture-hidden-genetic-potential.html Agriculture Fri, 23 Oct 2026 08:50:02 EDT news711954818 Blistering record heat in Europe this summer helped kill more than 50,000 people, with nearly two-thirds of that death toll blamed on human-caused climate change, a new study found. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-europe-killer-summer-climate-blamed.html Environment Fri, 23 Oct 2026 04:20:01 EDT news711945851 What would it take to watch an electron move through a material? Researchers would need to see individual atoms and capture an electron's motion at incredibly short timescales. A Technion-led team has brought those two capabilities together in a scanning tunneling microscope, using carefully shaped laser pulses to control the direction of electron flow while preserving nanoscale spatial resolution. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-based-method-enables-precise-ultrafast.html Optics & Photonics Fri, 23 Oct 2026 04:10:01 EDT news711945760 In the deepest region of the Earth's mantle, just above the core, much of the material consists of crystals of magnesium oxide. In larger rocky exoplanets called super-Earths, the higher pressures in the lower mantle may drive magnesium oxide to transform into a new high-pressure crystal structure or a metallic, electrically conductive liquid that generates a magnetic field. And in gas giants, magnesium oxide could exist in the cores themselves. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-mineral-planets-reveals-lesson.html Planetary Sciences Fri, 23 Oct 2026 03:42:44 EDT news711945720 A technique for detecting potentially harmful metals in regenerated cellulose food packaging is discussed in the International Journal of Environment and Pollution. The new tool can be used for safety assessments of materials increasingly used as alternatives to conventional plastics. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-potentially-metals-cellulose-food-packaging.html Analytical Chemistry Thu, 22 Oct 2026 21:00:01 EDT news711905821 A new design methodology for school playgrounds is demonstrating how children can still enjoy their playtime while being protected from the harmful effects of the sun. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-revamped-playground-children-world-dangers.html Social Sciences Thu, 22 Oct 2026 19:10:01 EDT news711864815 New research started with a special material that behaves unusually when it's extremely cold—135 degrees below zero Fahrenheit (minus 93 degrees Celsius), close to the most frigid temperature ever recorded in Antarctica—and showed that the unusual behavior could be extended to well above room temperature—up to about 135 F (57 degrees Celsius), close to the highest heat ever measured in Death Valley, California. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-amino-acid-stabilizes-material-quantum.html Nanophysics Thu, 22 Oct 2026 17:40:13 EDT news711902942 Natural disasters. Hikes. Long, dark nights alone. For many people, dogs offer a sense of safety and comfort in challenging or uncertain times. Cancer researchers at a new lab at Purdue University are partnering with dogs to make cancer less frightening—and less deadly—to some of humanity's very best friends using a technique called tumor ablation. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-canine-cancer-patients-contribute-generation.html Veterinary medicine Thu, 22 Oct 2026 17:20:23 EDT news711885373 In a review article recently published in the journal Earth-Science Reviews, researchers from the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW), in collaboration with colleagues from the University of Leicester (United Kingdom), report on how human activity has altered Earth's sediments over the decades. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-microplastics-sediment-decades-human-worldwide.html Earth Sciences Thu, 22 Oct 2026 16:20:19 EDT news711901381 In Australia, the days are growing longer and summer is fast approaching. But a very strong El Niño—a natural weather phenomenon that drives variations in temperature and winds across the Pacific—could make this summer a sweltering one. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-entire-cities-extreme-reveals.html Environment Thu, 22 Oct 2026 15:20:02 EDT news711880157 Say you buy shares in a company. The price climbs and months later you sell for a healthy profit. Ask why it worked, and the answer is often some version of "I made a good call." Now imagine the trade had lost money instead. Would you be as quick to blame your own judgment? Many of us wouldn't. We may point to bad timing, a jittery market, anything but ourselves. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-psychology-investors-bad-financial-decisions.html Economics & Business Thu, 22 Oct 2026 15:00:25 EDT news711880096