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. A research team led by Professor Nenad Miljkovic in The Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has published a breakthrough study in Nature Physics. The work reports the first experimental discovery of a previously unknown frost propagation mechanism—a "suspended ice bridge"—offering new pathways for anti-frosting surface design. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-plane-ice-bridges-reveal-suppress.html General Physics Wed, 03 Jun 2026 15:00:05 EDT news699710881 Bats are the only mammals that can actively fly, enabling many species to perform seasonal migrations. In migratory birds, remaining airborne for many hours is supported by burning fatty acids, something most mammals are incapable of. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-distance-migration-fatty-acids-limits.html Plants & Animals Wed, 27 May 2026 16:00:06 EDT news699112022 Bacteria from the Middle East have caused precipitation all the way out in California. The same bacteria, which are known to attack plants, have also been found embedded within lumps of hail in West Africa. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-proteins-ice-cool-applications-cryomedicine.html Biotechnology Tue, 19 May 2026 11:00:09 EDT news698321282 For more than a decade, a fundamental mystery has surrounded graphene—the one-atom-thick "wonder material" known for its exceptional strength, conductivity, and transparency. Despite its seemingly simple structure, one basic question has remained unresolved: Does graphene attract water, or repel it? https://phys.org/news/2026-05-machine-graphene-hydrophobic.html Nanophysics Mon, 11 May 2026 11:40:01 EDT news697713371 Sugar-based amphiphilic molecules, which contain a hydrophilic sugar headgroup and a hydrophobic segment such as an alkyl chain, can assemble in water depending on their concentration, forming hydrophobic microenvironments or organizing at interfaces. These properties are important fundamental phenomena related to detergents, emulsifiers, molecular assemblies, and the dispersion and delivery of drugs and functional molecules. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-sulfur-oxidation-states-behavior-sugar.html Biochemistry Fri, 01 May 2026 14:20:04 EDT news696856501 Gas separation membranes are vital for carbon capture, biogas upgrading, and hydrogen purification, all of which require the separation of carbon dioxide from gases like nitrogen, methane and hydrogen. However, the membranes currently in use for these applications suffer from limitations like low throughput or performance under high pressure and humidity, low gas flow, instability, and reaction rate limits. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-membrane-filters-constant-adjustable-permeance.html Analytical Chemistry Thu, 09 Apr 2026 14:20:03 EDT news694957030 Detergents may begin their journey by cleaning our clothes, but they end up contaminating the environment, flowing into rivers, ponds, and oceans, where they severely disrupt aquatic animal life. Even after wastewater treatment, some chemicals remain and pass through filtration systems, continuing to pollute natural water bodies. A team of researchers from China explored the question: What if our clothes could be washed without detergent? https://phys.org/news/2026-03-fabric-detergent.html Polymers Mon, 23 Mar 2026 11:20:03 EDT news693479435 Researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory have invented a reusable adhesive from waste polymers that is tougher than commercial glues, works underwater as well as in dry environments, and bonds a variety of materials, including wood, glass, metal, paper and polymers. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-mussel-recycled-plastics-detached-reused.html Polymers Sat, 21 Mar 2026 13:00:08 EDT news692964017 Researchers at Arizona State University have uncovered a key scientific principle that governs how what's coated on the surfaces of engineered nanoparticles may ultimately control how they work in our bodies. In a new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team directly measured how water interactions influence nanoparticle biological performance. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-interactions-reveal-surface-coatings-reshape.html Bio & Medicine Mon, 02 Mar 2026 15:00:05 EST news691666202 Industrial yeasts are a powerhouse of protein production, used to manufacture vaccines, biopharmaceuticals, and other useful compounds. In a new study, MIT chemical engineers have harnessed artificial intelligence to optimize the development of new protein manufacturing processes, which could reduce the overall costs of developing and manufacturing these drugs. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-ai-yeast-dna-language-boost.html Biotechnology Tue, 17 Feb 2026 04:23:46 EST news690524561 Osmotic energy, often called blue energy, is a promising way to generate sustainable electricity from the natural mixing of salt and fresh water. It exploits the voltage that arises when ions from saltwater pass through an ion-selective membrane toward water with a lower salt concentration. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-slippery-ions-smoother-path-blue.html Nanophysics Mon, 16 Feb 2026 09:40:02 EST news690456559 Polymer micelles are tiny, self-assembled particles that are revolutionizing the landscape of drug delivery and nanomedicine. They form when polymer chains containing both hydrophilic and hydrophobic segments organize into nanoscale spheres in liquid solutions; these structures can trap and hold drugs that are otherwise difficult to dissolve. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-unveiling-polymeric-interactions-critical-future.html Bio & Medicine Mon, 09 Feb 2026 18:40:08 EST news689862052 The world is in the middle of a peptide drug revolution. These short chains of amino acids—the building blocks of proteins—sit at the heart of some of the most successful medicines ever created, from weight-loss injections to advanced cancer therapies. Peptides are also used as crop treatments, veterinary drugs and even some cosmetic ingredients. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-weight-loss-drugs-environmental-disaster.html Biochemistry Tue, 03 Feb 2026 10:11:24 EST news689335861 In a study published in Nature on January 28, a research team led by Eric H. Xu (Xu Huaqiang) from the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, along with Ma Xiong from Renji Hospital, determined how Ostα/β transports bile acids and why it differs fundamentally from previously characterized carriers through cryo-EM structure determination, molecular dynamics simulations, and electrophysiological analyses. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-northwest-passage-mechanism-bile-acid.html Cell & Microbiology Mon, 02 Feb 2026 11:10:01 EST news689252691 Inserting, removing or swapping individual atoms from the core of a molecule is a long-standing challenge in chemistry. This process, called skeletal editing, can dramatically speed up drug discovery or be applied for upcycling of plastics. Consequently, the field is witnessing a surge of interest spanning from fundamental chemical research to applications in the pharmaceutical industry. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-molecular-surgery-deleting-atom-molecule.html Analytical Chemistry Thu, 22 Jan 2026 16:28:20 EST news688321681 An innovative product with the potential to replace polymers used in soil fertilizers is being developed in São Carlos in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-starch-sachets-fertilizer-manner-petroleum.html Biotechnology Tue, 13 Jan 2026 16:58:18 EST news687545882 As children, we're taught that the functions of a leaf are photosynthesis (turning sunlight into chemical energy) and storing water. This is generally true, including for the lettuce leaves we eat. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-lettuce-bad-quickly.html Molecular & Computational biology Wed, 17 Dec 2025 11:18:17 EST news685192682 Scientists used a 3D-printing approach to pattern hydrophobic barriers inside hydrophilic filter paper. These barriers, designed in different geometries, guide liquids along precise paths and shape their flow behavior, demonstrating effective use in mixing, gradient generation, and two-phase separation within miniaturized systems. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-everyday-filter-paper-miniature-microfluidic.html Polymers Wed, 10 Dec 2025 15:44:19 EST news684603841 Cholera is a deadly bacterial disease that kills about 95,000 people every year. Vibrio cholerae bacteria infect cells in the small intestine, which the bacteria can do in part due to their flagella—powerful tail-like structures that the pathogen uses to move around. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-molecular-view-cholera-tail-treatment.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 04 Dec 2025 11:20:18 EST news684069562 Advances in materials science have led to the development of "smart materials," whose properties do not remain static but change in response to external stimuli. One such material is poly(N-isopropylacrylamide), or PNIPAM, a polymer gel that alters its solubility with temperature. The polymer contains hydrophilic amide groups and hydrophobic isopropyl groups. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-smart-gels-scientists-capture-dynamic.html Polymers Thu, 04 Dec 2025 08:08:20 EST news684058081 In hydrogen production catalysts, water droplets must detach easily from the surface to prevent blockage by bubbles, allowing for faster hydrogen generation. In semiconductor manufacturing, the quality of the process is determined by how evenly water or liquid spreads on the surface, or how quickly it dries. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-success-nano-droplets-real-images.html Nanophysics Wed, 03 Dec 2025 09:40:33 EST news683977201 Japan's Innovation Center of NanoMedicine reports on a new stealth coating for tiny medicine-carrying particles that doesn't depend on PEG-style shields. By locking positive and negative charges together into a tight net, the coating prevents protein buildup and avoids pickup by immune cells, so the particles stay in the blood for more than 100 hours. Packed with the enzyme asparaginase, the particles act like small reactors that drain asparagine to starve difficult-to-treat cancers. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-ion-pair-stealth-shield-nanoparticles.html Bio & Medicine Mon, 10 Nov 2025 09:30:01 EST news681989050 Short ultraviolet/ozone (UVO) treatment optimizes cell adhesion on plastic culture substrates by selectively enriching adhesion proteins, as reported by researchers from Institute of Science Tokyo. Their latest study explains the underlying reason why there is an optimal UVO treatment time, with the optimal surface condition arising when the ability to selectively adsorb and immobilize key adhesion proteins is maximized. This study paves the way for the design of polymeric materials used in medical research. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-revealing-cells-adhere-surface-plastic.html Biochemistry Thu, 06 Nov 2025 17:11:04 EST news681671462 A glass plate, a delicate tube and an oil bath are all that is required: thanks to a new method, researchers at ETH Zurich can produce tens of thousands of tiny droplets within minutes. This enables them to test enzymes and active ingredients faster, more precisely and in a more resource-efficient manner than previously. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-drugs-tens-thousands-minuscule-droplets.html Biotechnology Fri, 17 Oct 2025 12:09:04 EDT news679921741 Griffith University researchers have shown that the shape and surface chemistry of microscopic "re-entrant" structures—tiny overhanging caps arranged like mushroom tops—can tune how cancer cells stick, spread and multiply. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-tiny-surface-cancer-cells-paving.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 09 Oct 2025 08:55:04 EDT news679218902 A new metal-organic framework (MOF), APF-80, enables the crystalline sponge method to capture and analyze nucleophilic compounds. Alkaloids, a diverse group of biologically active compounds, usually damage MOF crystals and resist study. By incorporating multiple structural motifs, these guests are encapsulated inside APF-80, which allows high-quality crystallographic data collection. This development opens new possibilities for structural analysis, advancing drug development and biochemistry. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-analysis-alkaloids-metal-framework.html Biochemistry Mon, 06 Oct 2025 11:42:04 EDT news678969721 If you have ever cooked on a gas stove or seen a flame flicker to life with the turn of a knob, you have seen natural gas in action. Supplying that energy at scale, however, is far more complicated. Today, natural gas is mostly stored under high pressure or cooled into liquid at -162°C—both methods that are energy-intensive and costly. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-ice-amino-acids-methane-minutes.html Analytical Chemistry Thu, 02 Oct 2025 09:06:05 EDT news678614761 Despite being one of the most familiar substances on Earth, water holds many secrets that scientists are still working to understand. When confined to extremely small spaces—such as within certain proteins, minerals, or artificial nanomaterials—water behaves in ways that are drastically different from its bulk liquid form. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-deep-unique-behavior-confined.html Nanophysics Mon, 22 Sep 2025 08:45:04 EDT news677749502 When a droplet of liquid the size of a grain of icing sugar hits a water-repelling surface, like plastics or certain plant leaves, it can meet one of two fates: stick or bounce. Until now, scientists thought bouncing depended only on how repellent the surface was and how the droplet lost its impact energy. Speed, they assumed, didn't matter. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-tiny-droplets-physics-size.html General Physics Wed, 10 Sep 2025 08:38:04 EDT news676712281 Two-dimensional nanomaterials only a few atoms thick are being explored for a range of critical applications in biomedicine, electronics, nanodevices, energy storage and other areas, especially to enhance performance in extreme environments and ultra-demanding conditions. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-2d-nanomaterials-metals-extreme-conditions.html Nanomaterials Fri, 05 Sep 2025 13:19:04 EDT news676297138