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. Scientists have successfully demonstrated a breakthrough in how sensitive radio telescopes can be used to significantly improve the world's ability to detect, track and characterize satellites and space debris in orbit. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-scientists-radio-telescopes-space-scanners.html Astronomy Wed, 22 Jul 2026 07:20:01 EDT news703917601 In a new paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a team of 41 authors from around the globe argue that virtual reality has the potential to do the same for behavioral science and help solve the reproducibility crisis. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-virtual-reality-behavioral-science.html Social Sciences Sat, 18 Jul 2026 15:00:01 EDT news703338608 Seeds from South Africa's world-famous rooibos tea are headed to the International Space Station to see how they respond to space conditions in the first such experiment for Africa, organizers announced Thursday. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-south-africa-rooibos-space.html Space Exploration Thu, 16 Jul 2026 11:13:11 EDT news703419164 A U.S.-Russian space crew arrived Tuesday at the International Space Station after launching from the Russia-leased Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-russian-crew-blast-month-stint.html Space Exploration Tue, 14 Jul 2026 13:48:07 EDT news703255627 More than a century after Albert Einstein first transformed our understanding of gravity, his general theory of relativity continues to withstand ever more demanding experimental tests. Now, an international team led by Ignazio Ciufolini at the Chinese Academy of Sciences has carried out the most precise measurement yet of one of the theory's most subtle predictions: the dragging of spacetime caused by Earth's rotation. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-validate-einstein.html Astronomy Tue, 14 Jul 2026 07:30:01 EDT news703154341 The Space Aquaculture Project at Okayama University of Science is an ambitious research initiative aimed at cultivating fish and crustaceans on the moon and Mars, which are expected to serve as food production bases for future space exploration. The project ultimately seeks to improve astronauts' quality of life through better food options in space. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-shrimp-behavior-simulated-microgravity.html Plants & Animals Mon, 13 Jul 2026 13:54:20 EDT news703169626 China successfully recaptured the first stage of a rocket after a launch on Friday in a breakthrough for the country's space program, state media said. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-china-page-spacex-recaptures-stage.html Space Exploration Fri, 10 Jul 2026 13:30:01 EDT news702908159 Cities are often described as "heat islands," with media reports warning that some neighborhoods can be 20° F (7° C) hotter than others. But those temperatures are often based on satellite data rather than the conditions people actually experience, due to the dearth of near-surface urban observations. This data gap hinders understanding public health risks during heat waves, planning for energy demand, infrastructure resilience, and climate adaptation. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-block-ai-uncover-real-urban.html Environment Wed, 08 Jul 2026 17:10:01 EDT news702746045 Building material samples from the University of Delaware spent six months mounted outside the International Space Station, where the harsh conditions of low Earth orbit tested their limits. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-lab-moon-lunar-cement-alternative.html Space Exploration Wed, 08 Jul 2026 13:00:03 EDT news702724623 What does a hantavirus do inside its rodent hosts? How do these viruses move through animal populations? And how is it that they cause almost no apparent symptoms in rodents, yet can be nearly fatal in humans? Specially Appointed Professor Hiroaki Kariwa has been studying hantaviruses at Hokkaido University for more than 35 years, and these are some of the questions that have driven his research. Over the years, his team has uncovered important insights into the ecology and evolution of hantaviruses, including the discovery of a previously unknown strain, the Hokkaido virus. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-hantaviruses-evolved-rodents-ages-silent.html Plants & Animals Thu, 02 Jul 2026 20:20:03 EDT news702226922 NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory has officially begun full operations for the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), one of the world's largest astronomical imaging surveys. Behind the scenes, Japanese researchers and engineers are drawing on technologies and expertise cultivated through the development and operation of the Subaru Telescope to support the project's software, systems and operations. More than 80 researchers from Japan are already participating in LSST science through access to its data. Looking ahead, the combination of Rubin's wide-area survey and the Subaru Telescope's detailed follow-up observations will help advance our understanding of fundamental mysteries of the universe. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-lsst-full-key-contributions-japanese.html Astronomy Wed, 01 Jul 2026 21:40:05 EDT news702117091 Imagine a piece of space debris the size of a hockey puck slams into a Starlink satellite at about 10 kilometers per second. The kinetic energy is equivalent to 2 kilograms of TNT, or a fully loaded semitruck traveling at 100 kilometers an hour. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-clock-chance-satellite-collisions-fast.html Planetary Sciences Wed, 01 Jul 2026 14:40:10 EDT news702128224 Seventy years ago, Earth had only one satellite: the moon. Now it has more than 15,000—about 10,000 of which are owned by Elon Musk's SpaceX. The world's first trillionaire plans to launch 1 million more satellites, each roughly 70 meters (230 feet) long and 20 meters (66 feet) wide, that would form a data center megaconstellation. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-tons-space-junk-clutters-earth.html Planetary Sciences Wed, 01 Jul 2026 12:40:04 EDT news702125102 NASA's chief on Tuesday tried to rally Team U.S. players in this year's World Cup tournament, promising to send a soccer ball to the moon if they win it all. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-nasa-vows-ball-moon-world.html Space Exploration Wed, 01 Jul 2026 02:06:30 EDT news702090374 When a bright fireball streaked across the Alaska sky last spring, the usual tools scientists rely on to track such events—cameras and satellites—did not provide a detailed picture. But the meteoroid left behind something else: low-frequency sound waves that traveled hundreds of miles and were captured by a dense network of earthquake and volcano-monitoring sensors on the ground. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-reconstruct-alaska-fireball-path-cameras.html Planetary Sciences Tue, 30 Jun 2026 16:00:10 EDT news702041402 Greece is planning "a first historic mission" to send a Greek astronaut to the International Space Station, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis' office announced Friday. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-greece-historic-iss-space-mission.html Space Exploration Fri, 26 Jun 2026 12:00:07 EDT news701692001 The NASA Artemis program, now supported by 67 countries under the Artemis Accords, plans to return humans to the moon by 2028. A recent White House Executive Order has gone further, directing NASA to establish a permanent lunar outpost by 2030. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-china-moon-bases-life-earth.html Space Exploration Fri, 26 Jun 2026 08:40:05 EDT news701674081 The Black Sea sits at the boundary between Europe and Asia and connects to the Mediterranean Sea via a chain of waterways. Its surface often appears dark, but each spring and summer it transforms into a striking expanse of swirling turquoise. The OCI (Ocean Color Instrument) on NASA's PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) satellite captured this image (above) on June 22, 2026. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-turquoise-tint-black-sea-phytoplankton.html Environment Thu, 25 Jun 2026 08:20:05 EDT news701594342 An international collaboration has discovered two of the lowest-density giant planets ever detected: rare "super-puff" planets with densities lower than candy floss. The study—led by the University of Oxford, in collaboration with Université Côte d'Azur/Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur and the University of Birmingham—has been published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-super-puff-planets-lighter-candy.html Astronomy Wed, 24 Jun 2026 21:10:02 EDT news701508781 For five years now, a distinctive green laser beam has been shining at night up to 30 kilometers (19 miles) above the harbor of the island's capital. It forms part of a high-energy lidar with which the Leibniz Institute for Atmospheric Research (TROPOS) operates continuous aerosol and cloud measurements at the Ocean Science Center Mindelo (OSCM). https://phys.org/news/2026-06-years-aerosol-remote-mindelo-milestone.html Environment Wed, 24 Jun 2026 09:40:03 EDT news701511087 Millions of light-years away, millions of years ago, a star exploded. In this violent process, it ejected incredible amounts of mass, including carbon, nitrogen and oxygen—the building blocks of life. In fact, the star may have produced elements on the periodic table all the way up to iron. As it exploded, it spewed these elements into deep space. Only a burnt-out core remained. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-alpha-magnetic-spectrometer-reveals-cosmic.html Astronomy Thu, 18 Jun 2026 16:00:05 EDT news701011442 Researchers from Texas A&M AgriLife are sending hundreds of grape seeds to the International Space Station, where the seeds will spend approximately six months exposed to cosmic radiation before returning to Earth for planting and study. The project could produce what researchers believe to be the first wine made from grapes grown from seeds that traveled through space. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-texas-wine-grapes-space-mission.html Space Exploration Thu, 18 Jun 2026 07:20:03 EDT news700980662 Even at this early stage in our spacefaring age, humanity has already begun sending probes that will eventually reach other solar systems, even if that was not their original intention. Five robotic explorers—Pioneer 10 and 11, Voyager 1 and 2, and New Horizons—are all on escape trajectories out of the solar system and might someday enter another one. They will no longer be operational at that point, but they serve as proof of concept that spacefaring civilizations do indeed build interstellar probes. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-alien-probes-backyard-weve.html Astronomy Tue, 16 Jun 2026 21:40:05 EDT news700833931 Astronauts aboard the International Space Station have switched on NASA's newly upgraded Cold Atom Lab, a one-of-a-kind facility designed to improve how scientists explore the fundamental workings of matter and develop new quantum technologies. By leveraging the unique environment of microgravity in space, the lab can accomplish cutting-edge science impossible to do anywhere else. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-quantum-lab-aboard-space-station.html Space Exploration Tue, 16 Jun 2026 18:20:06 EDT news700837742 Scientists await a big splash in the Pacific Ocean as one of the most research-packed Dragon spacecraft to date returns, completing the 34th SpaceX commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station for NASA. Biological and materials samples, along with tested hardware, are heading back to research teams on Earth for further analysis, advancing NASA's work to prepare humans for exploration beyond low Earth orbit and to deliver benefits back home. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-nasa-spacex-crs-dragon-space.html Space Exploration Tue, 16 Jun 2026 13:00:01 EDT news700823435 Could Earth have seeded Jupiter's moon Europa with bacterial life, where it could have taken hold in Europa's ocean and perhaps evolved into something more? That's the hypothesis of a new paper in the International Journal of Astrobiology by Zaza Osmanov of the Free University of Tbilisi in Georgia. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-earth-life-jupiter-moon-europa.html Astrobiology Tue, 16 Jun 2026 09:20:07 EDT news700742290 The UK Space Agency has announced an agreement with Vast—a US commercial space company—that could send British astronaut John McFall into orbit as early as 2027. If the mission goes ahead, he would become the first person with a physical disability to live and work in space. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-extraordinary-physiological-amputee-john-mcfall.html Space Exploration Sun, 14 Jun 2026 20:30:04 EDT news700145681 More than 20 years after its founding, SpaceX made history Friday with its record-high stock market debut, crowning a unique journey marked by dazzling successes but also catastrophic failures and unfulfilled promises. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-spacex-key-moments-starship-megarocket.html Space Exploration Sat, 13 Jun 2026 06:14:54 EDT news700550056 The United States government's recent release of hundreds of previously classified unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs) cases spanning the 1940s to the present, along with the new Steven Spielberg movie, "Disclosure Day," about extraterrestrial life, has fueled the idea that aliens are visiting Earth. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-aliens-theyre.html Space Exploration Fri, 12 Jun 2026 10:00:08 EDT news700475161 Private commercial operators are launching more rockets into space, carrying more people and pursuing more ambitious missions than ever before. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-private-space-tourism-laws-outer.html Space Exploration Thu, 11 Jun 2026 11:40:01 EDT news700394341