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. Fusion reactors, devices that generate energy by fusing light atomic nuclei at extremely high temperatures, could contribute to ongoing efforts aimed at producing electricity more sustainably. The extreme environment inside these devices, however, can damage materials that surround the superheated, electrically charged plasma where the nuclear fusion reaction takes place. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-tungsten-fusion-reactors.html Condensed Matter Sat, 15 Aug 2026 08:40:01 EDT news705839207 Long before dark sunspots appear on the sun's surface, a new active region—where powerful solar eruptions can originate—begins showing subtle signs of its formation. Now, researchers say a new artificial intelligence model can detect those early signals and forecast the emergence of solar active regions nearly nine hours in advance on average. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-ai-hidden-solar-eruptions-hours.html Planetary Sciences Fri, 14 Aug 2026 09:00:01 EDT news705840421 Ask a teen what they want to be when they grow up, and there's a fair chance being an influencer is on their list. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-degree-colleges-content-creator-major.html Social Sciences Fri, 14 Aug 2026 05:40:02 EDT news705896229 Future fusion power plants aim to recreate the heart of a star here on Earth to power our future energy needs. While the core fusion plasma will burn at hundreds of millions of degrees, the surrounding structural components must handle sudden, punishing heat loads that rival the extreme temperatures faced by spacecraft upon reentry into Earth's atmosphere. Copper and its alloys are primary candidates for handling these intense heat fluctuations, making it vital to understand exactly how the metal behaves when pushed to its melting point. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-copper-behavior-insights-future-fusion.html Condensed Matter Thu, 13 Aug 2026 15:20:03 EDT news705842131 From smartphones to data centers, modern electronics rely on billions of tiny switches that consume electricity every time they turn on or off. As global demand for computing continues to grow, so does the energy required to power it. Scientists are therefore searching for alternatives that can perform the same tasks while using far less energy. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-magnetic-path-power.html Nanophysics Thu, 13 Aug 2026 10:00:04 EDT news705831481 For dogs with heart disease, a fraction of a centimeter can make a life-changing difference. Veterinarians often rely on chest radiographs to monitor subtle changes in heart size that help determine when treatment should begin. But those measurements can vary from one doctor to the next, making it difficult to know whether a dog's condition is truly changing or whether the difference is simply the result of human interpretation. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-ai-tool-veterinarians-track-heart.html Veterinary medicine Wed, 12 Aug 2026 15:30:01 EDT news705765121 More than 100,000 people are awaiting an organ transplant in the United States, with a new candidate added to the list every 10 minutes. Even if the transplant is carried out successfully, recipients must take immunosuppressive medications, elevating their risk of broader infections, and adhere to a strict lifestyle for the rest of their lives—all while facing the possibility that their body could reject the donated organ at any time. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-hybrid-bioprinter-capillary-networks-narrower.html Biotechnology Wed, 12 Aug 2026 13:40:06 EDT news705752101 Quantum advantage refers to the point at which a quantum computer solves a clearly defined task faster or more efficiently than any classical computer—or makes it solvable in the first place. For many practical applications, this has not yet been demonstrated. Research therefore relies heavily on theoretical models and simulations to explore where and under what conditions such an advantage may realistically be achieved in the future. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-quantum-advantage-reassessed-realistic-benchmarks.html General Physics Wed, 12 Aug 2026 09:20:08 EDT news705742802 When it comes to identifying harmful bacteria, it helps to look at the company their genes keep. Researchers with the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, the research arm of the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture, used a machine-learning approach to study not just which genes a bacterium has, but also where those genes sit next to each other. That "genetic neighborhood" helped researchers distinguish disease-causing strains of Enterococcus cecorum, a poultry pathogen, from nonpathogenic strains. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-genetic-neighborhoods-distinguish-poultry-bacteria.html Cell & Microbiology Tue, 11 Aug 2026 19:40:02 EDT news705683881 What if scientists could get a taste of discovery as soon as their experiment finishes? Thanks to a new machine learning tool called DONUT, researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory are transforming how experiments are run at the Advanced Photon Source (APS), a DOE Office of Science user facility. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-real-ray-analysis-donut-materials.html Nanophysics Tue, 11 Aug 2026 19:20:01 EDT news705682545 Capturing carbon or storing hydrogen to combat global warming requires compressing gases into sponge-like porous materials. Until now, gas molecules were thought to adsorb in a disordered manner throughout the pores. But what if invisible gas molecules could be lined up in regular order—like ice crystals or LEGO bricks? https://phys.org/news/2026-08-porous-material-disordered-gas-molecules.html Analytical Chemistry Tue, 11 Aug 2026 18:20:05 EDT news705678721 In the Midwestern summer, humans and plants have to breathe through the heat and humidity. Researchers hope that a retooled crop plant—one with an improved ventilation system within its leaves—could thrive while avoiding drought stress by reducing "crop sweat." Thanks to next-generation imaging technology powered by Argonne National Laboratory's particle collider beamline, a team of scientists now has precise schematics of the leaf's interior and can refine approaches to breeding hardier crop plants. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-ray-analysis-reveals-life-advancing.html Biotechnology Tue, 11 Aug 2026 17:50:01 EDT news705684001 While the link between financial stability and mental health is well-established, a new University College Dublin (UCD) study reveals a major blind spot in current research: an overreliance on self-reported surveys rather than objective financial data. The joint review published in Frontiers in Public Health by UCD School of Computer Science and UCD School of Psychology evaluated 43 studies on financial habits and mental illness, uncovering significant gaps. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-banking-apps-mental-health.html Social Sciences Tue, 11 Aug 2026 13:20:03 EDT news705665409 Combining drone data and machine learning can help cover more ground in monitoring forest soil health, University of Alberta research shows. The findings are published in the journal Forest Ecology and Management. Using both tools to map and monitor soil fungal diversity—a key indicator of a healthy forest ecosystem—proved highly effective and could help reduce the need for boots-on-the-ground soil sampling over huge areas of forest, says Dr. Cameron Carlyle, a professor in the Faculty of Agricultural, Life & Environmental Sciences and a co-author of the study. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-machine-forest-soil-fungal-diversity.html Ecology Mon, 10 Aug 2026 19:40:02 EDT news705600242 Scientists—and dog lovers—have long known that dogs are remarkably good at interpreting our laughs, frowns and tears. But the biology behind this ability has remained largely unexplored until now. In a study published in the journal iScience on Aug. 7, researchers peered inside the brains of dogs as they viewed images of various human expressions. The brain scans revealed that dogs process smiles in a unique brain region and, for the first time, provided evidence that dogs can distinguish between negative facial expressions, including anger, sadness and fear. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-mri-dogs-distinguish-human-sadness.html Plants & Animals Mon, 10 Aug 2026 11:00:07 EDT news705246541 How much ice is stored in the world's glaciers? And where exactly is it located? A new study led by Ca' Foscari University of Venice, in collaboration with the Institute of Polar Sciences of the National Research Council of Italy (CNR-ISP), provides an updated global map of glacier ice volume. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-ai-reveals-volume-world-glaciers.html Earth Sciences Fri, 07 Aug 2026 18:40:01 EDT news705329281 You need to tread carefully among the leaf litter of the Indonesian scrubland and its tropical rainforests. The dead leaves might seem caught in a gentle breeze, but there's more here than meets the eye. Try plucking one from the ground and you'll find an insect caught in the act of prayer. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-creatures-born-code-generative-ai.html Evolution Fri, 07 Aug 2026 14:00:11 EDT news705329101 Microbial communities are highly sensitive to environmental changes, yet their enormous diversity makes it difficult to identify ecological patterns. A research team from the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW) has shown that an AI method originally developed for text analysis can be successfully applied to analyzing complex environmental samples. The method identified five seasonally successive microbial subcommunities in the Warnow Estuary while preserving ecological and functional information just as well as conventional methods—in some cases, it performed better. The study was published in the journal Environmental Microbiome. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-ai-method-reveals-hidden-patterns.html Ecology Fri, 07 Aug 2026 13:00:01 EDT news705324962 Using a detector filled with nearly 9 metric tons of liquid xenon, researchers have delivered some of the most sensitive dark matter results ever recorded. In the latest analysis from the XENON collaboration, working at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory in Italy, researchers carried out a "blind" test to avoid bias in measurements of the XENONnT detector, pushing the experiment's sensitivity to unprecedented levels. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-xenonnt-detector-narrows-dark.html General Physics Fri, 07 Aug 2026 11:20:01 EDT news705310263 When Pepper the social robot was given the chance to try its hand as a teaching assistant, it showed that it can be even better than a human teacher at motivating pupils and helping them learn. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-social-robots-teachers-workload-trial.html Education Thu, 06 Aug 2026 17:40:03 EDT news705255242 Early last month, Utah experienced two historic wildfires at the same time, highlighting the record-setting fire season continuing to unfold in the Beehive State. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-utah-historic-season.html Environment Thu, 06 Aug 2026 15:40:09 EDT news705239042 Fluorescent dyes have long been used in biological research to identify and visualize structures within living cells. Although effective, they have several drawbacks, including altering the cells under study, limiting the number of structures that can be examined at once and reducing measurement accuracy. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-ai-ramanomics-major-obstacle-cells.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 06 Aug 2026 15:40:01 EDT news705240841 As consumers, we are constantly making choices about things like what to eat at a restaurant, what clothing to buy at a store and the type of car we'd like to purchase, and so much more. Savvy producers of such goods look to economists to help estimate what products people want and how demand might shift when factors like price and availability change. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-consumer-choices.html Mathematics Thu, 06 Aug 2026 14:00:15 EDT news705237002 If scientists could find a material that acts as a superconductor—that is, one that transmits energy with zero resistance—at normal pressures and relatively high temperatures, it would open up a vast number of possibilities. These include medical imaging, quantum computing and numerous other fields. So, yes, it would be a big deal. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-repurposing-deep-earth-tools-superconductors.html Superconductivity Thu, 06 Aug 2026 10:00:03 EDT news705220742 From routine surgeries to cancer treatment, modern medicine depends on drugs that can fight infections caused by microbes such as bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites. But some microbes are becoming resistant to the drugs used to treat them, which has wide-reaching consequences for global public health. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-backpack-lab-wastewater-contamination-drug.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 05 Aug 2026 10:40:01 EDT news705142621 East Africa's shrinking mountain glaciers on three peaks in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania will soon be no more. The 2025 State of the Climate in Africa report (page 13) estimates that the ice areas on Mount Kenya, the continent's second-highest peak, have shrunk 96% in the past 115 years. The ice cap will cease to exist in three to five years, says the report. Rainer Prinz, who studies climate-glacier relationships, explains the intricate processes behind the retreat and what the consequences will be. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-east-africa-iconic-peaks-good.html Earth Sciences Tue, 04 Aug 2026 19:20:01 EDT news705063361 To turn abundant carbon dioxide into valuable fuel, we need a fast and efficient way to determine which catalysts work best over the longest time. AI models have the potential to help guide catalyst selection, but as with internet chatbots, AI models are only as good as the data you put into them. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-labs-experimental-differences-undermine-ai.html Analytical Chemistry Mon, 03 Aug 2026 19:20:01 EDT news704992501 A research team at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has successfully demonstrated an AI modeling approach that accurately and rapidly predicts how reactions between solid materials unfold over time. It is the first predictive model that accounts for how atoms travel through materials during solid-state reactions. Importantly, its predictions provide practical insights into the best recipes for making advanced materials. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-ai-atom-movement-solid-state.html Analytical Chemistry Mon, 03 Aug 2026 18:00:06 EDT news704987485 When a hurricane roars toward land, forecasters try to predict how high sea levels will rise to help coastal communities prepare for the worst impacts. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-hurricane-storm-surge-patterns.html Earth Sciences Mon, 03 Aug 2026 14:40:07 EDT news704980741 While Earth's core consists mostly of iron, its density implies that lighter elements are also mixed in. Because hydrogen is abundant in the universe and can mix with iron under certain conditions, scientists suspect it makes up part of the lighter-element composition. Data from earthquakes suggest the inner part of the core also changes with depth, but scientists aren't sure exactly how this occurs. Now, a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences indicates that hydrogen likely exists in a gradient within the inner and outer core that arises from thermodynamic equilibrium. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-exotic-phase-hydrogen-earth-core.html Earth Sciences Mon, 03 Aug 2026 13:20:01 EDT news704977583