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. Recent U.S. Supreme Court terms have seen justices openly accuse one another of rewriting statutes, ignoring precedent and substituting policy preferences for law. Whether in disputes over presidential immunity, administrative power, nationwide injunctions or transgender rights, justices have demonstrated that they aren't afraid to challenge one another's reasoning. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-supreme-court-decisions-sharper-justices.html Political science Tue, 21 Jul 2026 15:20:11 EDT news703852862 Chemists use single-electron transfers to synthesize complex, ring-shaped molecular structures found in many drug candidates and advanced materials, but current techniques still have limitations. A new study, accepted for publication in Nature, describes a technique that could steer these chemical reactions in ways that were previously limited by the redox potentials of the involved molecules. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-driven-chemistry-electron-redox-limits.html Analytical Chemistry Mon, 20 Jul 2026 16:40:03 EDT news703772249 AI companies increasingly want to move their operations into space. Elon Musk's SpaceX has applied to launch over a million AI data center satellites and ultimately build them on the moon. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-ai-environmental-footprint-wont-orbit.html Earth Sciences Mon, 20 Jul 2026 08:40:02 EDT news703748457 Technological advances in autonomous truck technology are poised to have significant economic ripple effects on U.S. interstate commerce, highway infrastructure and labor costs, according to new research co-written by a team of University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign economists. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-trucks-redraw-economic.html Economics & Business Fri, 17 Jul 2026 11:00:01 EDT news703499155 Consumers have been quick to reject problematic sexual content since the #MeToo movement began in 2018, and new research from the University of Arizona concludes that sentiment has affected their wallets. When small changes can shift millions of dollars at the box office, is it time for Hollywood to rethink its standards? https://phys.org/news/2026-07-metoo-marketplace-social-reform-impact.html Social Sciences Fri, 17 Jul 2026 08:20:03 EDT news703486681 Brown University chemists have provided direct evidence that upends the textbook explanation of how triple chemical bonds work in heavy elements. In a study published in Science, the researchers show evidence that when atomic nuclei are sufficiently heavy, the principles described in Einstein's theory of relativity change the structure of triple bonds—blurring the lines between the two separate types of bonds involved in textbook triple bonding. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-carbonbismuth-bonds-reveal-blurs-textbook.html Materials Science Thu, 09 Jul 2026 18:20:07 EDT news702832022 Mud volcanoes are often pictured as dramatic geological phenomena featuring the sudden eruption of large volumes of fiery mud in short, powerful bursts. By examining recent activity at the Lokbatan mud volcano in Azerbaijan, an international team of researchers led by the University of Oslo has found that many eruptions are relatively small and short-lived, producing only modest amounts of material near the crater. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-rewriting-story-mud-volcano.html Earth Sciences Thu, 09 Jul 2026 17:20:08 EDT news702832823 For more than 150 years, scientists have debated when and how the Colorado River first carved its way through the Grand Canyon. Now, a new study led by researchers at the University of New Mexico offers evidence that the river developed gradually from north to south between 8 million and 4.8 million years ago. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-fish-dna-crystals-rewrite-colorado.html Earth Sciences Thu, 09 Jul 2026 11:20:05 EDT news702808308 Maize (corn) is a major dietary staple in Maya communities past and present because of its reliability, potential for surplus, and suitability as both food and fodder. It became so important to ancient Mesoamerican communities that it even became central to many of their religious beliefs, and arguably, they built their societies on it. Yet maize has a major nutritional limitation. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-maize-fed-animals-maya-farmers.html Ecology Wed, 08 Jul 2026 15:10:01 EDT news702741654 Imagine a student spending hours meticulously erasing and rewriting a paragraph that is already excellent. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-perfectionistic-students-teachers-dont.html Education Mon, 06 Jul 2026 16:40:01 EDT news702560941 Tens of thousands of years ago, Homo sapiens coexisted with Neanderthals, Homo neanderthalensis. Many of us living today carry a small amount of Neanderthal DNA, indicating that the two species may have shared much more than just the same land. Now, a breakthrough archaeological discovery has revealed that the two species did not merely cross paths: they possibly shared a common culture that spanned more than 20,000 years. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-cave-reveal-modern-humans-neanderthals.html Archaeology Mon, 06 Jul 2026 15:00:14 EDT news702537862 Scientists have found the oldest known evidence of the plague, which sparked deadly outbreaks dating back about 5,500 years ago—some 200 years earlier than previously thought. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-ancient-teeth-siberia-rewrite-plague.html Archaeology Sat, 04 Jul 2026 14:40:01 EDT news700915129 Researchers have spent decades—and billions of dollars—sequencing animal and crop genomes, but fungi have historically been the forgotten middle child of genomics, only noticed when they're ruining bread or colonizing toes. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-fungal-genome-tool-fresh-paths.html Biotechnology Fri, 03 Jul 2026 09:40:03 EDT news702287408 A researcher at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), a part of The University of Alabama System, has published a new study in The Astrophysical Journal suggesting that tiny charged dust grains near the sun may significantly influence how energy moves through the solar corona, the outer atmosphere of the sun. The discovery potentially rewrites how scientists understand why the corona is millions of degrees hotter than the surface of the sun itself. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-cosmic-play-key-role-mystery.html Astronomy Wed, 01 Jul 2026 18:40:05 EDT news702142262 Organic molecular crystals can respond to external stimuli such as heat, light, and mechanical force, making them attractive candidates for next-generation functional materials. However, predicting how multiple intermolecular interactions cooperate or compete to govern crystal behavior remains a major challenge. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-crystal-principle-reveals-molecular-phase.html Analytical Chemistry Wed, 01 Jul 2026 13:20:10 EDT news702124982 Two diamonds formed 700 kilometers below the Earth's surface reveal a life-giving synchronicity between shifting continents and the cycling of phosphorus, a vital building block of DNA and cell membranes. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-super-deep-diamond-discovery-rewrite.html Earth Sciences Tue, 30 Jun 2026 16:40:04 EDT news702042162 Amid the peatlands of northern Sweden, billions of microbes are quietly rewriting their genetic playbooks—and doing so far more often than scientists realized. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-tiny-dna-hitchhikers-reshaping-life.html Ecology Mon, 29 Jun 2026 11:40:08 EDT news701950861 Color-changing mood rings, forehead fever strips and car-shade indicators all change hues as they warm and cool, thanks to a phenomenon called thermochromism. On a smaller scale, thermochromism is used in nanotechnologies like sensors, electronics and computing. These applications require smart materials that can be patterned into designs without losing structural integrity, which can be difficult. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-uv-patterns-thermochromic-crystals.html Analytical Chemistry Mon, 29 Jun 2026 10:20:03 EDT news701945222 For decades, stories about the ancient Mediterranean have centered on the grand cultures of Greece, Rome, Phoenicia and Egypt. Northwest Africa seldom enters the picture before the arrival of Phoenician traders on the Moroccan coast about 3,000 years ago. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-morocco-hidden-history-archaeology-dna.html Archaeology Thu, 25 Jun 2026 17:20:05 EDT news701611082 Genome editing lets scientists rewrite DNA, the instruction manual inside every living cell, with a precision that was unthinkable a generation ago. Technologies such as CRISPR have made this almost routine, and its uses now reach far beyond medicine, from engineering hardier crops and more productive microbes to creating sustainable biomaterials. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-cleanfinder-browser-based-genome-analysis.html Biotechnology Wed, 24 Jun 2026 17:20:09 EDT news701528761 Scientists have extracted and analyzed the first-ever ancient proteins from the fossils of Homo naledi, revealing a potential all-female burial site. The study, published in the journal Cell, raises the possibility that South Africa's famous Rising Star Cave system could represent the first known example of a sex-specific burial site by a non-Homo sapiens species. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-ancient-proteins-hint-female-homo.html Evolution Wed, 24 Jun 2026 13:00:06 EDT news701518295 Multicellular life depends on remarkable acts of cooperation. Every cell in the human body must sense what is happening around it, interpret signals from its neighbors and respond in ways that support the larger tissue. These chemical, physical and electrical messages help determine when cells grow, repair damage, fight infection or quiet down after a threat has passed—and tissue health depends on how well those parts come together. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-scientists-cells-language-aim-decode.html Cell & Microbiology Tue, 23 Jun 2026 14:40:01 EDT news701434081 This April, when the spring breeze carried the formal acceptance notice of our paper by the Journal of the American Chemical Society to my desk, my thoughts instantly drifted back to the late Phil Geissler. A legendary physical chemist and the original spark for this research, Geissler had once observed a baffling phenomenon: When the hairy, flexible ligands passivating a nanoparticle's surface spontaneously order themselves into crystalline patterns, a massive, seemingly magical attractive force suddenly erupts between the particles. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-liquid-ripples-rewrite-year-biological.html Nanophysics Tue, 23 Jun 2026 12:00:08 EDT news701427498 Using the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) and the Manchester Echelle Spectrograph (MES), astronomers from Turkey and Mexico have investigated a planetary nebula discovered two centuries ago, known as NGC 6563. Results of the observations, published June 15 in a special issue of Galaxies journal, yield important insights into the morphology and kinematics of this nebula. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-planetary-nebula-ear-lobes-rewrite.html Astronomy Sun, 21 Jun 2026 13:20:01 EDT news701085925 Mosses are survivors. They can dry into what looks like green dust, only to spring back to life minutes after rain. They can grow on rocks, in deserts, and there's talk of using them to terraform Mars someday. According to new research, mosses have also been hiding something. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-hidden-fungus-moss-rewrite-million.html Evolution Thu, 18 Jun 2026 16:40:03 EDT news701012881 Life on our planet began in the water. Eventually, one branch of the fish family tree developed legs and came up on land. These early four-legged animals, the tetrapods, were the forebears of today's mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-fossilized-babies-ancient-crocodile-predators.html Evolution Thu, 18 Jun 2026 14:00:04 EDT news700988881 An international study led by Curtin University has revealed new insights into how an ancient flying reptile was preserved in extraordinary detail for 113 million years, offering a rare glimpse into a vanished world. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-pterosaur-wing-rewrites-fossil-rulebook.html Paleontology & Fossils Thu, 18 Jun 2026 11:00:11 EDT news700897502 In a strong El Niño winter, normally dry regions can suddenly drown in rain. NASA notes that "typically dry regions can experience nearly two times as much rain during a strong El Niño." Indeed, the blockbuster El Niños of 1982–83 and 1997–98 unleashed record-breaking California storms and unusually mild Northeast winters. These far-reaching effects—atmospheric "teleconnections" linking the tropics to North America—arise because Pacific warming steers the jet stream south and east. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-super-el-nios-world.html Earth Sciences Tue, 16 Jun 2026 10:40:08 EDT news700822198 For more than a century, chemists have been building complex molecules step by step—bond by bond, atom by atom. But what if, instead of painstakingly reassembling molecules, they could be directly "rewritten"? This is exactly what a research team led by organic chemist Nuno Maulide from the University of Vienna has now achieved. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-chemists-reveal-alkyl-swap-rewrites.html Biochemistry Mon, 15 Jun 2026 11:40:04 EDT news700735977 Researchers have found evidence of a previously unknown branch of the marsupial family tree, a discovery that could reshape our understanding of how Australia's unique mammals evolved. Published in the Journal of Paleontology, the study describes three new species of small, insect-eating marsupials from Queensland's Riversleigh World Heritage Area. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-teeth-rewrite-story-marsupial-evolution.html Evolution Mon, 15 Jun 2026 10:20:04 EDT news700734181