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. University of Canterbury (UC) computer science professor Richard Green leads UC Vision, with researcher Dr. Richie Ellingham developing AI and computer vision technology that can identify, measure and track fruit hidden behind dense foliage. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-ai-technology-horticulture.html Agriculture Tue, 28 Jul 2026 23:00:01 EDT news704440830 Imagine a smart bandage that could continuously monitor an infected wound, alerting doctors when bacteria spread or when treatment begins to work. That vision is one step closer to reality with new research from Virginia Tech. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-nanoscale-sensor-personalized-medicine.html Bio & Medicine Tue, 28 Jul 2026 11:20:05 EDT news704450881 Every human cell has millions of ribosomes that make proteins. For decades, biologists thought of ribosomes as tiny, uniform machines. But now a Stanford Medicine team is showing that ribosomes are much more interesting and complicated than previously thought. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-ribo-tweezer-tool-pluck-individual.html Biotechnology Tue, 28 Jul 2026 09:40:08 EDT news704449321 Complex simulations—the most intricate of their kind to date—carried out by an international research team led by scientists at Heidelberg University's Institute for Physical Chemistry, have revealed how water governs the way protons move through it. Using their modeling, researchers from Cambridge (U.K.), Bochum, Dijon (France) and Heidelberg were able to trace, in full quantum detail, the movements of a proton shared among six water molecules. At its core, the work addresses how a proton moves through water: not as a single particle drifting along, but by "hopping" from one molecule to the next. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-local-asymmetry-proton-molecules-simulations.html Analytical Chemistry Mon, 27 Jul 2026 20:40:04 EDT news704385621 By analyzing 100,000 California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection inspection records from 2013 to 2024, researchers at the University of California, Irvine have identified the key environmental and human factors responsible for the most destructive wildfires, and they have synthesized the knowledge into a high-resolution, actionable fire risk map for the Golden State. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-california-wildfire-factors-linked-severe.html Environment Mon, 27 Jul 2026 18:10:01 EDT news704388902 Every ancient language that has ever been deciphered needed an anchor. Usually that's a bilingual text, like the Rosetta Stone, or a known relative to compare it to. Linear A, the writing system of the Bronze Age Minoan civilization on the Greek island of Crete, has neither. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-code-ai-decipher-ancient-languages.html Social Sciences Mon, 27 Jul 2026 17:20:05 EDT news704376061 Quasars, distant cores of galaxies powered by supermassive black holes, are among the most luminous objects in the universe. While not uncommon, their brightness can make it difficult to accurately measure the galaxies they reside in. This means scientists must use gravitational lensing to assist in analyzing these bright objects, a method that relies on studying how an object's strong gravity bends light around its host galaxy. Yet despite their own powerful gravity, quasars that can act as lenses are rare. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-quasar-lenses-emerge-ai-scan.html Astronomy Mon, 27 Jul 2026 15:20:07 EDT news704377501 Low-level clouds over Earth's oceans play a prominent role in keeping our planet cool by reflecting sunlight away from the surface. But their response to climate change has been hard to model. Now, researchers at Caltech and Google have uncovered important insights into how clouds might respond to warming sea-surface temperatures and rising CO2 levels using a large dataset of simulations developed by the group. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-cloud-loss-amplifies-global-simulations.html Earth Sciences Mon, 27 Jul 2026 13:00:01 EDT news704370962 Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) have found that today's leading artificial intelligence tools for predicting protein structures routinely generate results that are physically and chemically impossible, exposing critical blind spots in how AI is being applied across scientific research. The work, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, serves as a cautionary reminder that AI still requires human oversight and physics-based verification to produce reliable results in the lab. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-ai-tools-protein-chemically-impossible.html Biochemistry Mon, 27 Jul 2026 12:20:03 EDT news704370361 For the first time, researchers can witness nanometer-scale thickness changes across a melting snowflake with a compact, lensless chip that captures gigapixel video at 30 frames per second across centimeter-scale fields. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-christmas-july-capture-gigapixel-3d.html Biotechnology Mon, 27 Jul 2026 12:00:03 EDT news704368931 Biomedical engineers at Duke University have demonstrated a method for systematically developing novel, complex combinations of probiotics and prebiotics to more effectively maintain gut health and treat various gastrointestinal diseases. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-ai-robotics-gut-microbiome-therapies.html Cell & Microbiology Mon, 27 Jul 2026 11:00:01 EDT news704366382 People who receive information on social media play a greater role in the spread of misinformation than research has acknowledged, according to research published in the International Journal of Enterprise Network Management. The researchers argue that efforts to tackle "fake news" should focus as much on why users share false information as on identifying those who create misleading content. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-social-media-users-misinformation.html Social Sciences Sat, 25 Jul 2026 14:00:04 EDT news704030154 Drug development is among the slowest, most failure-prone processes in modern science, with about 90% of drug candidates never reaching the market. Today, artificial intelligence methods have accelerated the first step—plucking promising molecules out of endless possibilities—but countless challenges remain. A successful drug must be not only safe and effective but also able to bypass the body's defenses and reach the right target. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-ai-drug-discovery-qa.html Biotechnology Thu, 23 Jul 2026 20:00:03 EDT news704030459 For more than 20 years, about 4,000 autonomous profiling floats have been drifting through the ocean. They form part of the international Argo program (Argo—global array of profiling floats). At regular intervals, they descend to a depth of 2,000 meters (6,600 feet) and, as they rise, measure parameters such as temperature, salinity and pressure. Once they reach the sea surface again, they transmit these data via satellite to the Argo network, which is available to researchers worldwide. Hardly any other observation system has transformed ocean research so profoundly in recent decades. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-ai-atlantic-circulation-insights-years.html Earth Sciences Thu, 23 Jul 2026 19:20:06 EDT news704030442 What if the Higgs boson found in 2012 is not alone but is the only sibling we have encountered so far? Scientists at CERN discovered the particle that year, and it was a major discovery because it explained how other particles acquire mass. For a long time, scientists thought this was the final piece of the puzzle. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-machine-narrows-additional-particles-higgs.html General Physics Thu, 23 Jul 2026 16:50:01 EDT news704040661 Subseasonal forecasting, or the ability to predict weather trends two weeks to two months in advance, is a capability highly sought after in various economic sectors, including energy, water management and agriculture. Reliable forecasts on this scale have thus far been largely out of reach, but researchers at the U.S. National Science Foundation National Center for Atmospheric Research (NSF NCAR) are leveraging AI to see whether it can help them grasp this elusive capability. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-subseasonal-ai.html Environment Thu, 23 Jul 2026 11:20:04 EDT news704015342 In recent summers, wildfire smoke has been inescapable across Wisconsin, drifting south from Canada and leading to long stretches of poor air quality. Whether that smoke clears or lingers is often influenced in part by the atmospheric boundary layer—the lowest part of the atmosphere, where airborne particles mix and move. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-wildfire.html Earth Sciences Thu, 23 Jul 2026 10:00:03 EDT news704006402 Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) have become a standard in modern devices with incredible contrast and sleek designs. While initially an expensive luxury, OLEDs are gradually becoming more financially accessible as the technology improves. Now, researchers at the Institute of Transformative Bio-Molecules (WPI-ITbM) at Nagoya University and the Institute for Advanced Study at Kyushu University have combined quantum chemistry with machine learning to identify new materials for blue OLEDs for incorporation in next-generation ultra-high-definition displays. Their research was published in Angewandte Chemie on July 21, 2026. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-ai-quantum-chemistry-combine-efficient.html Analytical Chemistry Wed, 22 Jul 2026 16:20:01 EDT news703945861 From microplastics clogging up our oceans to landfills leaching dangerous chemicals, plastic waste is a serious and growing problem for human health and the environment. We need to recycle more and, crucially, recycle better. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-super-enzymes-recycling.html Polymers Wed, 22 Jul 2026 12:20:04 EDT news703937221 Penn Engineers have developed PeptiVerse, an AI-powered platform that predicts key chemical and biological properties of peptides, strings of amino acids whose medical potential has been demonstrated by the success of GLP-1 drugs, widely used weight-loss treatments. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-source-ai-key-peptide-traits.html Biochemistry Tue, 21 Jul 2026 17:30:01 EDT news703867621 In the United States, Google's, now Alphabet's, Debug initiative has asked the federal government for permission to release up to 32 million sterilized male mosquitoes in California and Florida. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-google-million-sterile-mosquitoes-australian.html Ecology Tue, 21 Jul 2026 12:40:01 EDT news703846561 University of Virginia School of Medicine scientists have identified a widespread source of error in a popular method for studying the genome and created a machine-learning tool to correct it. The free tool could improve the reliability of both conventional and single-cell data generated using this method, giving researchers a clearer view of how gene activity is controlled in health and disease and providing stronger foundations for future diagnostic and drug-development efforts. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-machine-tool-accuracy-genomics.html Biotechnology Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:40:02 EDT news703759809 Researchers have copied massive quantities of publicly available climate and environmental data from NASA onto a Swiss supercomputer to train artificial intelligence models—and for safekeeping amid U.S. funding cuts. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-swiss-hoard-vast-trove-nasa.html Earth Sciences Mon, 20 Jul 2026 09:50:02 EDT news703758824 A technology has been developed that allows artificial intelligence to inversely determine the process conditions for quantum-dot light-emitting diode (QLED) devices—conditions that previously required extensive trial and error to identify. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-ai-qled-recipe-efficiency-boosts.html Optics & Photonics Sat, 18 Jul 2026 08:00:09 EDT news703512040 When it comes to statistics, we usually expect to be informed about what happens "on average." But sometimes the key information lies in deviations from that mean: how likely is heavy rain, and how likely is it to remain dry? So-called distributional regression describes not only the mean but also the distribution of possible values. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-statistical-method-broadens-uncertainty-average.html Mathematics Thu, 16 Jul 2026 11:20:03 EDT news703406752 In science, researchers often focus their entire careers on the pursuit of one primary field. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-bridging-gap-math-ai-discovery.html Education Wed, 15 Jul 2026 13:00:12 EDT news703338263 A technique for judging whether a common mineral formed through biological activity could aid the search for ancient life on Earth and Mars. Apatite is a ubiquitous phosphate mineral found in terrestrial and extraterrestrial environments. It is a major component of teeth and bones, but it also occurs in igneous rocks and sedimentary phosphorites. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-driven-tool-mineral-biosignatures-worlds.html Astrobiology Tue, 14 Jul 2026 11:50:01 EDT news703246314 For anyone worried about AI's effects on jobs, here's good news: New research by Stanford economist Lukas Althoff concludes that artificial intelligence is likely to reshape jobs rather than eliminate entire occupations and will ultimately increase wages for all workers—with the biggest gains benefiting lower-skilled workers. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-skilled-workers-ai-world.html Economics & Business Tue, 14 Jul 2026 07:40:03 EDT news703228441 Portable screen-printed carbon electrode (SPCE) biosensors offer a rapid, low-cost way to detect microcystin-lysine-arginine (MC-LR), an extremely potent toxin produced by cyanobacteria during harmful algal blooms in freshwater. Even at low concentrations, MC-LR can damage the liver and has been linked to an increased risk of liver and colon cancer, and the World Health Organization has set a guideline value of 1 microgram per liter for MC-LR in drinking water. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-machine-calibration-biosensors-microcystin-toxin.html Environment Sun, 12 Jul 2026 18:20:01 EDT news702901295 A team at the Applied Physics Lab is working to understand the complex science behind predicting invisible threats that can quickly cripple electric grid infrastructure on Earth. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-solar-storms-million-miles-earth.html Earth Sciences Fri, 10 Jul 2026 11:20:05 EDT news702896122