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. Many of the drugs that target human brain chemistry, such as antidepressants, are still biologically active when they leave the body. These substances and their metabolites can persist in wastewater and eventually end up in the sea, rivers or other aquatic environments. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-fish-highly-sensitive-antidepressants.html Ecology Sun, 13 Sep 2026 10:30:02 EDT news708178364 Researchers from RMIT University and EPA Victoria detected eight PFAS compounds in rainwater samples collected in Melbourne between 2024 and 2025. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-pfas-compounds-melbourne.html Environment Wed, 09 Sep 2026 20:00:04 EDT news708184141 PFAS, otherwise known as forever chemicals, have become commonplace in numerous everyday and industrial products. At the same time, they are some of the most problematic pollutants of our times: They are extremely durable, accumulate in the environment and in organisms and can only be removed from water with difficulty. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-magnetic-nanoparticles-chemicals.html Nanomaterials Fri, 31 Jul 2026 13:20:06 EDT news704715481 Microplastic contamination has been a much-discussed topic over the last several years, but contamination from even smaller plastic particles represents another pressing issue. Nanoplastics—defined as being under a micrometer in diameter—may pose an even higher ecological risk because they can travel more easily, cross cellular membranes and easily adsorb other pollutants. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-nanoplastics-antarctic-soils-range-atmospheric.html Earth Sciences Wed, 08 Jul 2026 12:30:01 EDT news702729325 Florida International University scientists have, for the first time, detected a toxic tire-derived chemical in Florida waterways and developed a new testing method that makes it easier to find and monitor the pollutant at extremely low levels. The study focuses on 6PPD-quinone (6PPD-Q), a toxic chemical formed when the tire additive 6PPD reacts with ozone in the atmosphere. The compound has been linked to fish deaths in other parts of the country and is drawing increasing concern among environmental scientists. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-heavy-pollution-florida-waterways.html Environment Wed, 24 Jun 2026 14:00:17 EDT news701521322 Water pollution caused by pharmaceuticals, pesticides and other organic contaminants is an increasing global issue, especially in regions with limited wastewater treatment infrastructure. A new doctoral thesis from Umea University in Sweden offers an innovative and sustainable solution by demonstrating how agricultural waste can be converted into effective materials for water purification. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-agricultural-wastewater.html Biotechnology Mon, 08 Jun 2026 20:20:01 EDT news700134908 Ringed seals are among the most common marine mammals in the Canadian Arctic. They strongly rely on sea ice as a habitat, breathing through holes they maintain in the frozen surface, giving birth in snow lairs and diving beneath the ice to hunt Arctic cod and small crustaceans. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-humanmade-chemicals-molecular.html Ecology Fri, 22 May 2026 08:20:02 EDT news698651462 The fresh air, picturesque vistas and pristine bush of the Blue Mountains west of Sydney draw millions of visitors a year. Unfortunately, the Blue Mountains are also the site of a controversial investigation into water contamination with "forever chemicals," also called PFAS. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-chemicals-longer-decades.html Environment Fri, 15 May 2026 09:04:43 EDT news698054581 A large study of London's tap water has revealed that trace amounts of PFAS "forever chemicals" are present, but their levels are within U.K. and EU safety limits. The analysis, led by researchers at Imperial College London in 2024, is the largest study of its kind to look at levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in drinking water in a U.K. city. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-major-survey-london-chemicals-safe.html Environment Tue, 12 May 2026 13:00:06 EDT news697807321 A new study shows that a specific type of silicone, the so-called methylsiloxanes, is widely present in the atmosphere across diverse environments. Also, concentrations appear to be much higher than expected. According to the researchers, this raises concerns about their potential—yet poorly understood—effects on human health and the climate. Methylsiloxanes are commonly used in industry, transportation, cosmetics, and household products. The study was supervised by Utrecht University and the University of Groningen, and the results are published in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-newly-pollutant-widely-atmosphere.html Environment Thu, 16 Apr 2026 19:30:01 EDT news695576521 Parasitic wasps of the genus Trichogramma are among the smallest insects in the world—yet they play an important role in natural ecosystems and agricultural landscapes as natural antagonists of pest species. Research teams from the Universities of Regensburg, Wageningen and Groningen have now identified for the first time the sex pheromone of a Trichogramma wasp. The study shows that unimaginably small amounts of the female pheromone are sufficient to attract males and trigger their courtship behavior. The findings are published in the journal Scientific Reports. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-sex-pheromone-sandgrain-sized-insect.html Plants & Animals Thu, 16 Apr 2026 16:40:04 EDT news695568181 Svalbard reindeer live in a place so remote they have actually evolved to become a subspecies. But that remoteness isn't enough to protect them from contaminants from the industrial world. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-high-chemicals-svalbard-reindeer.html Environment Thu, 09 Apr 2026 11:20:07 EDT news694949881 Earth's "gold kitchen" lies deep beneath the seafloor. Island arcs, whose volcanoes form above subduction zones where one oceanic plate sinks beneath another, are often particularly rich in gold. The reasons for this have long been debated. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-subduction-zones-earth-gold-kitchens.html Earth Sciences Wed, 01 Apr 2026 16:20:01 EDT news694263001 A study conducted by researchers at the Center for Nuclear Energy in Agriculture at the University of São Paulo (CENA-USP) and published in the journal Environmental Sciences Europe identified residues of different classes of antibiotics in the Piracicaba River, one of the main waterways in the interior of the state of São Paulo, Brazil. The study also assessed how these substances accumulate in fish and how an aquatic plant widely found in the region, Salvinia auriculata, can partially mitigate this accumulation. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-aquatic-antibiotics-genetic-fish-piracicaba.html Ecology Fri, 20 Mar 2026 10:30:02 EDT news693220801 Materials that encourage mineralization, mimicking the process in the human body, are becoming increasingly important in medicine and technology. This process, which occurs at the interface between inorganic materials and organic coatings, can facilitate the formation of biological tissue, aid in detecting specific ions, and even assist in removing contaminants from water. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-track-mineral-growth-bioorganic-coatings.html Bio & Medicine Tue, 10 Mar 2026 09:50:04 EDT news692354692 Aleksey Maro knows far more than he cares to know about the urination habits of chimpanzees. But if you want to measure the alcohol intake of chimps in a Ugandan rain forest, where a breathalyzer is impractical, collecting urine for analysis is your only choice. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-urine-alcohol-consumption-wild-african.html Plants & Animals Tue, 24 Feb 2026 19:10:01 EST news691071121 Actinides are a group of heavy, radioactive elements that include uranium, plutonium, americium, curium, berkelium and californium. Understanding how these elements bond with other atoms (known as coordination chemistry), how they behave in water and how they can be separated from one another is crucial for safer nuclear waste management, new reactor technologies and advanced materials. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-americium-curium-californium-crystallizing-rarest.html Analytical Chemistry Fri, 20 Feb 2026 10:31:16 EST news690805861 Colorado farmers plant tens of millions of corn seeds every year, nearly every one of them covered in a thin layer of insecticide. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-corn-seed-colorado-insecticide-lawmakers.html Biotechnology Mon, 05 Jan 2026 06:20:03 EST news686815674 The flames die down. The sirens fade. Firefighters peel off their gear, thinking the danger has passed. But in the quiet aftermath, another enemy lingers, an invisible film of "forever chemicals" clinging to jackets, pants and masks. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-simple-reveals-hidden-pfas-contamination.html Analytical Chemistry Tue, 30 Dec 2025 11:05:00 EST news686315059 The research group FQM-215—Affordable and Sustainable Sample Preparation at the University of Córdoba has developed a method that is not only faster and easier to perform but also more environmentally sustainable. It can detect illicit drugs on surfaces and determine their exact quantity in just five minutes, using everyday items such as cotton fabric swabs for sampling. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-eco-friendly-method-illicit-drugs.html Analytical Chemistry Wed, 26 Nov 2025 14:54:19 EST news683391241 Scientists at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), working with Florida International University's (FIU) Global Forensic and Justice Center, have demonstrated a new method for detecting trace levels of fentanyl using a silicon nanowire (SiNW) array that concentrates chemical vapors for handheld detection instruments. The breakthrough offers first responders a faster, safer way to identify fentanyl and related synthetic opioids without direct contact with the drug. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-contact-method-fentanyl.html Analytical Chemistry Thu, 20 Nov 2025 16:02:03 EST news682876921 One of the highest-risk components of nuclear waste is iodine-129 (I-129), which stays radioactive for millions of years and accumulates in human thyroids when ingested. In the U.S., nuclear waste containing I-129 is scheduled to be disposed of in deep underground repositories, which scientists say will sufficiently isolate it. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-countries-nuclear-strategies-focus-radionuclide.html Environment Wed, 05 Nov 2025 12:28:04 EST news681568081 In a new study appearing in Environmental Science and Technology, researchers found high levels of ultrashort-chain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in blood samples taken from Wilmington, N.C. residents between 2010 and 2016. Two ultrashort-chain PFAS—perfluoromethoxyacetic acid (PFMOAA) and trifluoroacetic acid (TFA)—were detected at high levels in almost every sample. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-high-short-chain-pfas-blood.html Environment Mon, 27 Oct 2025 08:00:03 EDT news680431893 More marine life is living on some World War II munitions disposed of on the Baltic Sea's seabed than on the sediment surrounding it. The findings, reported in a paper in Communications Earth & Environment, show that some marine organisms can tolerate high levels of toxic compounds if there is a hard surface for them to inhabit. The results also demonstrate how detritus from human conflict can provide habitats for wildlife, which is similarly shown in a Scientific Data study mapping a fleet of World War I shipwrecks in Maryland, U.S. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-sunk-debris-world-wars-home.html Plants & Animals Thu, 25 Sep 2025 11:00:03 EDT news677862215 Researchers at the University of Adelaide have developed a sunlight-activated material that can degrade per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in water, breaking down the pollutant into harmless components, including fluoride. The work is published in the journal Small. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-sunlight-material-pfas-harmless-fluoride.html Materials Science Fri, 08 Aug 2025 08:56:03 EDT news673862161 Researchers from the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) have analyzed various bodies of water in Berlin for traces of nicotine. They detected nicotine in all of the samples, with concentrations ranging from 7 to about 1,500 nanograms per liter. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-nicotine-berlin.html Environment Wed, 06 Aug 2025 10:52:03 EDT news673696321 A water contamination scandal has gripped a leafy corner of southern Belgium, causing anxious residents to queue up for blood tests to confirm potential exposure to so-called forever chemicals. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-belgian-region-grapples-chemical-scandal.html Environment Sat, 26 Jul 2025 05:27:16 EDT news672726426 The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has this week released new data which tells us about the presence of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in Australians' bodies. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-pfas-blood.html Environment Thu, 29 May 2025 10:29:04 EDT news667733341 The 120-mile Tijuana River flows from Baja California into the United States and discharges millions of gallons of wastewater—including sewage, industrial waste and runoff—into the Pacific Ocean every day, making it the dominant source of coastal pollution in the region. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-pollution-tijuana-river-affects-air.html Earth Sciences Wed, 28 May 2025 14:00:05 EDT news667641962 An electrochemical sensor designed to address a global health issue that particularly impacts people in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) has been created by a multidisciplinary team at KAUST. The sensor detects low vitamin D levels in blood samples, providing early warning of an essential vitamin deficiency that can have severe health consequences if left untreated. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-mxene-antibody-sensor-enables-accurate.html Bio & Medicine Wed, 14 May 2025 14:25:04 EDT news666451501