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. Alzheimer's disease is a neurodegenerative brain disorder characterized by progressive memory loss and a decline in other mental functions. Past studies have consistently linked this disorder to the accumulation of the protein amyloid-β (Aβ) between brain cells, ultimately resulting in the formation of so-called amyloid plaques. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-gold-nanoclusters-alzheimer-amyloid-plaques.html Bio & Medicine Mon, 17 Aug 2026 10:00:01 EDT news706177996 A genetically engineered bacterium can rapidly break down one of Earth's most abundant minerals, opening a promising new pathway for simultaneously removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and recovering critical elements used in electric vehicle batteries, according to new Cornell research. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-microbe-capture-recovers-critical-metals.html Cell & Microbiology Fri, 14 Aug 2026 17:40:01 EDT news705934681 Understanding how ions diffuse in solid materials is essential for technologies including batteries, electronics and chemical catalysts, but it has been hard for a simple reason: the materials are solids. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-tracer-exchange-reveals-ions-battery.html Nanophysics Thu, 13 Aug 2026 18:40:03 EDT news705850816 Scientists from the University of Manchester's Department of Chemistry, Centre for Radiochemistry Research and Photon Science Institute, led by Professor Steve Liddle, have uncovered why a rare class of metal clusters appears to behave differently in experiments and theoretical calculations, resolving a debate about the nature of chemical aromaticity and revealing a previously overlooked type of magnetic response. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-magnetic-mystery-thorium-clusters.html Analytical Chemistry Thu, 13 Aug 2026 15:40:05 EDT news705843396 Astronomers have captured an unprecedented image of a cosmic recycling project in progress—fragments of a dying star being busted up, stripped and absorbed into interstellar space. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-dying-star-rare-glimpse-universe.html Astronomy Wed, 12 Aug 2026 18:00:07 EDT news705759061 Whether it's neurons responding to electrical signals or plants stretching toward light, nature is filled with examples of biological materials that respond to their environment. Now, researchers want to develop new responsive materials for a wide range of applications, such as sensing or low-energy technologies. However, achieving a balance of useful properties at the molecular level is challenging. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-molecular-possibilities-future-electronics-storage.html Polymers Wed, 12 Aug 2026 13:00:01 EDT news705755360 Signals ride on waves of one kind or another: light, sound, radio. But new carriers are needed to relay information in next-generation devices. Disturbances or waves in magnetic materials called magnons could be an efficient option—if scientists can tame them. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-spontaneous-magnons-synchronize-external-room.html Condensed Matter Wed, 12 Aug 2026 12:00:05 EDT news705746821 Researchers at the Department of Energy's (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and the University of Tennessee (UT), Knoxville, have made an advance by using a natural substance from fungi called chitin to create hydrogels that are significantly stronger and tougher. This new material could lead to safer medical devices, longer-lasting coatings and other innovations that improve everyday technology and health care. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-fungal-chitin-route-tougher-hydrogels.html Biotechnology Tue, 11 Aug 2026 17:00:05 EDT news705670982 A new study led by University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign scientists reveals critically low genetic variation in one of the country's primary breeding stocks for corn. The finding relates specifically to grain yield in intermediate-maturity hybrids, which dominate commercial production in the U.S. and represent nearly a third of the world's corn production. The researchers say it's a crisis waiting to happen. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-major-genetic-weakness-threatens-future.html Molecular & Computational biology Tue, 11 Aug 2026 16:00:04 EDT news705670021 Using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, an international team of astronomers has discovered that dust and water can form and survive surprisingly close to the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy. The observations reveal that the evolved star IRS 3 continues to enrich its surroundings with newly formed material despite the intense radiation environment around Sagittarius A*. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-webb-reveals-oxygen-rich-surviving.html Astronomy Tue, 11 Aug 2026 13:00:02 EDT news705665284 In the early hours of Wednesday morning, Aug. 5, the upper stage of a Falcon 9 rocket crashed into the moon in an uncontrolled collision. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-rocket-debris-moon-threaten-future.html Space Exploration Mon, 10 Aug 2026 17:20:09 EDT news705594061 By rapidly twisting a microscopically small tip back and forth, researchers at the University of Maryland (UMD) have unlocked a new way to detect subtle changes on the surface of a material flexing in response to infrared light. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-high-res-view-2d-materials.html Nanomaterials Fri, 07 Aug 2026 18:00:03 EDT news705327588 An international team of researchers has succeeded in producing atomic quantum gas mixtures with an unprecedented particle flux. In the journal Nature Communications, the scientists report on experiments conducted with the MAIUS-B apparatus, in which Bose–Einstein condensates (BECs) consisting of two different atomic species—rubidium and potassium—were generated and studied under microgravity conditions in the Einstein Elevator at Leibniz University Hannover in Germany. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-miniaturized-laser-technology-paves-fundamental.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 05 Aug 2026 19:40:04 EDT news705162354 The signals that cells use to switch genes on have remained almost unchanged across 2 billion years of evolution, but the ones used to switch genes off vary dramatically from one branch of life to another, according to a new study from the Center for Genomic Regulation (CRG) in Barcelona. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-life-universal-language-genes-silence.html Cell & Microbiology Mon, 03 Aug 2026 05:00:01 EDT news704706301 "An island of biodiversity in a sea of monoculture": This is how a recent study characterized the Pimentel Barbosa Indigenous Territory (TIPB), located in the northeastern part of Mato Grosso state in Brazil's Central-West region. The study showed that the area's human occupation patterns and vegetation cover have remained largely unchanged for four decades. Meanwhile, the surrounding area has been altered by the expansion of livestock ranching, soybean farming and the construction of major highways (BR-158 and BR-163), which are part of Brazil's efforts to extend its agricultural frontier. The TIPB covers 329,000 hectares (1,270 square miles) and was home to 2,369 people in 2022, according to a census by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). https://phys.org/news/2026-08-indigenous-territory-ecological-stability-agricultural.html Environment Sun, 02 Aug 2026 07:40:01 EDT news704769487 Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IITGN) and the Regional Centre for Biotechnology, Faridabad, have developed and tested a new class of fluorescent probes that enable scientists to visualize xylem, the specialized tissue responsible for transporting water and minerals through plants. The work, published in Plant and Cell Physiology, introduces a faster, more specific and sensitive staining method than conventional dyes, creating avenues to strengthen research on plant development, vascular biology and crop resilience. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-fluorescent-probes-sharper-view-tissues.html Plants & Animals Sat, 01 Aug 2026 20:30:01 EDT news704463978 A team of Brazilian researchers discovered the first direct evidence that goethite—the mineral responsible for the brown color of soils—can withstand extreme pressures and temperatures all the way to the planet's interior inside a diamond just 3 millimeters (0.1 inch) long, within a microscopic impurity. Goethite forms in soil and on the ocean floor from iron-rich minerals in the presence of water. It incorporates some of these water molecules into its mineral structure. The study suggests that goethite may transport and release water into a region known as the lower mantle. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-ancient-diamond-evidence-mineral-deep.html Earth Sciences Sat, 01 Aug 2026 07:20:01 EDT news704769346 Two organisms inhabiting a common environment can sometimes mutually influence each other, either benefiting or, in some cases, damaging one another. This mutually beneficial or ambivalent biological relationship is known as symbiosis. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-lichen-life-million-years-fungal.html Evolution Fri, 31 Jul 2026 15:40:05 EDT news704709354 Scientists have discovered a remarkably well-preserved 100-million-year-old beetle fossil that provides a rare glimpse into the evolution of the intricate sensory and communication systems used by fireflies and their relatives today. Fireflies belong to the order Coleoptera, which includes all beetles. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-cretaceous-beetle-fossil-reveals-early.html Evolution Fri, 31 Jul 2026 14:40:04 EDT news704718424 Adorning the walls of San Ildefonso College in Mexico City is artist Diego Rivera's masterpiece, rendered in fresco and gold leaf, The Creation, or La Creacioń. It depicts a man standing with his arms outstretched beneath a deep blue celestial disk studded with stars and constellations, while figures seated on clouds watch from either side. The work catalyzed the revival of the encaustic painting technique in the 1920s. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-diego-rivera-mural-creation-wax.html Analytical Chemistry Fri, 31 Jul 2026 13:40:07 EDT news704709331 The energy system of the future will require sustainable catalysts that, for example, enable the efficient production of green hydrogen. Materials consisting of mixtures of five chemical elements show great promise for enabling ideal catalysts in the future. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-randomly-atoms-rows-columns-sustainable.html Nanomaterials Fri, 31 Jul 2026 11:00:05 EDT news704710261 How did the first solids that made up planets, moons and asteroids form from the "hot soup" that characterized our solar system's earliest years? New research from Caltech analyzing pieces of a meteorite has found that, just as snowflakes crystallize around grains of dust, ancient stardust grains left over from long-gone suns may have been the seeds of our solar system's earliest solids. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-ancient-stardust-grains-seeds-earliest.html Astronomy Thu, 30 Jul 2026 14:40:01 EDT news704631661 Every year, thousands of satellites are launched into orbit around our planet. The result is an increasingly congested "space" above Earth populated by equipment that provides services to the surface. At the same time, these satellites affect ground-based astronomy and create the potential for damage when they eventually fall through Earth's atmosphere to the surface. In addition, near-Earth space hosts old rocket bodies and other materials (cameras, gloves, etc.) left in orbit by past missions. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-tracking-satellites-space-debris-radio.html Space Exploration Thu, 30 Jul 2026 11:20:04 EDT news704622625 Nanoplastics—plastic particles smaller than one micrometer—are generated through the degradation and abrasion of plastic products and are increasingly detected in food, drinking water, air and biological tissues. Although the presence of plastic particles in animals and humans is well-established, determining how nanoplastics are distributed within complex organs, such as the brain, remains challenging. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-dimensional-visualization-nanoplastic-neonatal-mouse.html Bio & Medicine Wed, 29 Jul 2026 21:40:01 EDT news704540097 A school district in a rural corner of upstate New York is hitting pause on plans to deploy an AI-powered, humanoid robot in the classroom after state education officials, teachers and local residents raised concerns, including the maker's ties to a company that produces hyper realistic sex bots. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-york-school-deploy-humanlike-ai.html Education Wed, 29 Jul 2026 04:30:01 EDT news704517396 A research team led by Dongwoo Lee, an associate professor in the School of Mechanical Engineering at Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), and Yanhui Liu of the Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), has developed a new electrical resistivity-based indicator for rapidly screening alloy compositions with high glass-forming ability. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-indicator-metallic-glass-discovery.html Analytical Chemistry Tue, 28 Jul 2026 18:00:06 EDT news704457804 Spin waves (SWs), or magnons, are collective excitations of magnetization in magnetic materials arising from electron spins. They have attracted considerable attention as information carriers and have shown promise in logic circuits, memory devices and physical neural networks. Among the emerging platforms for manipulating SWs are magnonic crystals (MCs), engineered magnetic materials with periodic structures designed to control magnon propagation. These periodic structures give rise to magnonic band structures and mode profiles, much like semiconductor crystals control electron transport. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-inverse-2d-magnonic-crystals-widen.html Nanophysics Tue, 28 Jul 2026 17:00:07 EDT news704470382 "Dead stars" known as white dwarfs have already shown the potential to help us better understand how planetary systems, including our own solar system, take shape and evolve. Now, research from the University of Michigan and the University of Colorado Boulder suggests that potential could be even greater than anticipated. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-dead-stars-healthy-appetites.html Astronomy Mon, 27 Jul 2026 15:40:03 EDT news704380621 Photographs can reveal things that are otherwise impossible for the naked eye to see, be they distant galaxies or microscopic cells. Researchers at Osaka Metropolitan University have developed a practical and versatile imaging technique that makes another usually invisible phenomenon visible: surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs), light waves that travel along metal surfaces. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-quantum-dots-reveal-hidden-metal.html Nanophysics Fri, 24 Jul 2026 14:40:07 EDT news704113602 Tanneries generate large quantities of skin trimmings before hides are tanned. These trimmings contain collagen but are commonly treated as low-value waste. An international research team has developed a method that uses ficin, a protein-digesting enzyme obtained from fig leaves, to recover type I collagen from lambskin trimming waste. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-fig-leaf-enzyme-tannery-high.html Biotechnology Thu, 23 Jul 2026 09:40:01 EDT news704005801