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. Liquid crystals are an integral part of modern technology, ranging from displays to advanced sensory systems. In a study published in Scientific Reports, researchers from the Institute of Experimental Physics of the Slovak Academy of Sciences (IEP SAS) in Košice, in collaboration with international partners, have demonstrated how minute changes in material composition can achieve precise control over behavior in electric and magnetic fields. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-hidden-threshold-enables-tunable-liquid.html Soft Matter Fri, 15 May 2026 15:00:04 EDT news698072581 An artificial intelligence (AI) tool built by the U.S. National Science Foundation National Center for Atmospheric Research (NSF NCAR) can help forecasters look further into the future as they work to identify the potential for deadly severe weather outbreaks. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-severe-weather-hazards-future-ai.html Earth Sciences Tue, 05 May 2026 10:40:02 EDT news697191302 From space, Earth's populated areas glow on the otherwise "black marble" of the planet at night. For decades, scientists assumed this glow was steadily increasing as the world developed. However, a new study published in Nature flips this narrative. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-satellites-capture-volatile-humanluminescence-relationship.html Environment Wed, 08 Apr 2026 18:40:01 EDT news694880162 Eight CubeSats and one payload supported by the European Space Agency (ESA) have reached orbit, where they will demonstrate various applications aimed at improving how data is sent around and processed. Thanks to these demonstrations, practical and—sometimes—even life-saving data enabled from space will move more efficiently and reach the right actors on time in the future. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-missions-optimized-space.html Space Exploration Tue, 31 Mar 2026 20:50:01 EDT news694175092 At a potluck, you ate the best chocolate chip cookie—golden-brown, thick and chewy. Unfortunately, you don't know who made the cookie to get the recipe from, so you decide to recreate it. Using forward design principles, you might randomly choose a recipe from dozens of options, bake and observe the resulting cookies. If they are too thin, you might start over with a new recipe, add more flour or chill the dough longer and make a new batch. An alternative method is to start from the cookie characteristics you want and ask: What recipe and baking settings will produce that type of cookie? This method is called inverse design. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-inverse-pathway-custom-functional-polymers.html Polymers Tue, 17 Mar 2026 09:00:07 EDT news692956417 Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IITGN), in collaboration with international partners, have shown that ocean temperature patterns help limit the global spread of droughts. Published in Communications Earth & Environment, the study analyzed climate data from 1901–2020 and found that synchronized droughts affected between 1.8% and 6.5% of global land, far lower than earlier claims that one-sixth of the planet could dry out at once. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-planet-doesnt-dry-scientists-global.html Environment Mon, 23 Feb 2026 17:30:01 EST news691085581 Recently, the German term "lüften" has been circulating on social media and trending on Google. The term refers to the practice of opening windows and doors to replace stale indoor air with outdoor air, a longtime practice in many European homes. Americans have dubbed it "house burping" in many videos on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-lften-simple-house-burping-complicated.html Environment Wed, 04 Feb 2026 11:54:39 EST news689428442 Across the physical world, many intricate structures form via symmetry breaking. When a system with inherent symmetry transitions into an ordered state, it can form stable imperfections known as topological defects. Such defects are found everywhere, from the large-scale structure of the universe to everyday materials, making them a powerful way to study how order emerges in complex systems. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-ai-defect-based-material.html Nanomaterials Tue, 27 Jan 2026 09:21:53 EST news688728061 Conflict between humans and baboons can tear communities apart. Shirley C. Strum has studied wild olive baboons in Kenya for more than 50 years. In that time she's come to understand the species intimately. In this article she argues that humans have taken from nature (without asking) for too long. And that now it's time for us to rethink this relationship. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-conflict-baboons-people-hasnt.html Plants & Animals Thu, 11 Dec 2025 12:25:18 EST news684678302 A global team of experts from academia and industry has joined forces in a landmark Consensus Statement on next-generation photodetectors based on emerging light-responsive materials, which could accelerate innovative applications across health care, smart homes, agriculture, and manufacturing. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-global-advances-generation-sensors-based.html Optics & Photonics Mon, 03 Nov 2025 16:41:03 EST news681410461 A new University of Kentucky study used environmental DNA (eDNA) to search 90 sites across 73 rivers for Eastern hellbenders—large, secretive salamanders nicknamed "snot otters" and "lasagna lizards" for their mucus secretions and the skin folds that help them breathe. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-kentucky-hellbenders-survive.html Ecology Fri, 31 Oct 2025 07:20:05 EDT news681114002 Hurricane season can be stressful for anyone near the potential path of a storm, as powerful winds and heavy rain can cause widespread damage, cut power for days or weeks and otherwise upend people's lives. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-hurricane-threatens.html Environment Mon, 27 Oct 2025 15:18:19 EDT news680797094 A new Danish research breakthrough could make buildings far more energy-efficient in the future. Researchers from Aarhus University's Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center (iNANO) have developed a light-responsive hybrid material based on so-called silver nanorings that automatically responds to solar intensity and regulates how much heat penetrates through windows. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-silver-nanoring-coating-smart-windows.html Nanomaterials Thu, 02 Oct 2025 14:29:02 EDT news678634141 A recent report from the University of Chicago's Air Quality Life Index found that wildfires are worsening air quality in Canada. The report found that in 2023, wildfires caused concentrations of particulate matter to rise to levels not seen since the index started taking records in 1998. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-ai-indoor-ventilation-wildfire-season.html Environment Tue, 30 Sep 2025 11:56:05 EDT news678452162 Half of the sun's radiant energy falls outside of the visible spectrum. On a cold day, this extra infrared light provides additional warmth to residential and commercial buildings. On a warm day, it leads to unwanted heating that must be dealt with through energy-intensive climate control methods such as air-conditioning. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-carbon-nanotube-smart-windows-energy.html Nanophysics Mon, 18 Aug 2025 14:50:02 EDT news674747401 A team of scientists from Korea and Japan has discovered a new type of crystal that can "breathe"—releasing and absorbing oxygen repeatedly at relatively low temperatures. This unique ability could transform the way we develop clean energy technologies, including fuel cells, energy-saving windows, and smart thermal devices. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-crystal-oxygen-possibilities-energy-electronics.html Condensed Matter Fri, 15 Aug 2025 14:12:48 EDT news674485958 The accumulation of misfolded proteins in the brain is central to the progression of neurodegenerative diseases like Huntington's, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. But to the human eye, proteins that are destined to form harmful aggregates don't look any different than normal proteins. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-ai-powered-microscope-tracks-protein.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 24 Jul 2025 05:00:01 EDT news672467779 Cornell researchers have developed a two-phase liquid crystal system that can rapidly change—and hold—its shape, transforming from a transparent thin liquid film to an opaque emulsion, and then back again, all with a brief jolt of a high-frequency electric field. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-shapeshifting-liquid-crystal-emulsions.html Biochemistry Wed, 16 Jul 2025 13:20:12 EDT news671889700 A new coating for glass developed by Rice University researchers and collaborators could help reduce energy bills, especially during the cold season, by preventing heat-loss from leaky windows. The material—a transparent film made by weaving carbon into the atomic lattice of boron nitride—forms a thin, tough layer that reflects heat, resists scratches and shrugs off moisture, UV light and temperature swings. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-boron-nitride-coating-glass-loss.html Materials Science Thu, 10 Jul 2025 16:37:19 EDT news671384233 A University of Tennessee researcher documented an immature Cooper's hawk using vehicle traffic and pedestrian signal patterns as concealment during hunting behavior at a suburban intersection. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-street-smarts-cooper-hawk-pedestrian.html Plants & Animals Mon, 26 May 2025 10:30:01 EDT news667471295 The chameleon, a lizard known for its color-changing skin, is the inspiration behind a new electromagnetic material that could someday make vehicles and aircraft "invisible" to radar. https://phys.org/news/2025-01-electromagnetic-material-shifting-chameleon.html Condensed Matter Wed, 22 Jan 2025 10:27:19 EST news656764027 Researchers at Università Cattolica, Brescia campus, have discovered that the transition from insulating to conductive behavior in certain materials is driven by topological defects in the structure. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-topological-defects-trigger-insulating-behavior.html Condensed Matter Fri, 15 Nov 2024 12:50:04 EST news650897401 "When researching animal intelligence, we still think too much from the human point of view," argues philosopher Bas van Woerkum-Rooker. "For example, just as humans use visual information to remember routes, rats use smells to remember routes. Those are both intelligent approaches to remembering one's way." The philosopher developed a method to study animal intelligence without this bias. He will defend his Ph.D. thesis at Radboud University on 20 November. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-philosopher-animals-doesnt-theyre-smart.html Plants & Animals Fri, 15 Nov 2024 10:06:04 EST news650887561 Livestock production is an important component of U.S. agriculture, with global demand for meat and dairy expected to double in the coming decades. This increase will lead to intensified grazing on U.S. grasslands, potentially exacerbating water quality degradation from livestock waste runoff into waterways. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-climate-smart-grazing-weather-mitigates.html Environment Wed, 25 Sep 2024 16:50:01 EDT news646501384 Cricket swarms—thousands of field crickets assembling in one location, typically around urban/suburban buildings—can be alarming. They can also be annoying. But like most annoyances, they pass with time. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-crickets-swarm-fall.html Plants & Animals Wed, 25 Sep 2024 15:50:01 EDT news646497732 This week, much of the US is suffering from yet another heat wave. So far this year, 15 countries have set records for high heat. Last July, the average global temperature, factoring in heat waves in multiple regions around the world, was likely the hottest in 120,000 years. Heat stress already kills about 500,000 people around the world yearly—a number the World Health Organization expects will rise five-fold by 2050. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-air-conditioning-poses-climate-conundrum.html Environment Thu, 29 Aug 2024 14:51:07 EDT news644161862 The world is facing unparalleled changes in climatic conditions and drastic loss of biological diversity, putting humanity at risk. The breakdown of the Earth's climate and the rapid loss of wildlife are intertwined, yet response by governments to these crises currently fails to recognize the deep connections between them. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-window-opportunity-climate-biodiversity.html Environment Thu, 22 Aug 2024 12:47:03 EDT news643549621 With just the flick of a switch, quantum materials can undergo drastic changes. One notable example is the insulator-to-metal transition, a reversible physical phenomenon in which a material shifts from an insulating state, which will not conduct electricity, to a metallic one that will. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-metal-insulator-transition-quantum-material.html Condensed Matter Mon, 15 Jul 2024 11:09:03 EDT news640260541 Researchers have developed a safer, cheaper, better performing and more flexible battery option for wearable devices. A paper describing the "recipe" for their new battery type was published in the journal Nano Research Energy on June 3. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-safer-cheaper-flexible-battery-wearable.html Nanomaterials Wed, 05 Jun 2024 16:23:49 EDT news636823426 Wifi-enabled washing machines. Voice-controlled microwaves. App-enabled TVs, vacuum cleaners, and even window blinds you can control from the comfort of your couch. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-feature-consumers-intimidated-features-product.html Economics & Business Wed, 29 May 2024 12:53:19 EDT news636205997