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. A new report co-authored by researchers from the University of York and WWF highlights how local communities across the U.K. imagine positive, sustainable, and resilient futures for the places where they live and work. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-optimistic-climate-futures-local-communities.html Environment Wed, 28 Oct 2026 22:00:02 EDT news712393576 Using advanced new simulations, a team of astronomers in the U.S. has developed a promising new theory for how giant, gaseous exoplanets migrate into stiflingly close orbits around their host stars. Led by J. J. Zanazzi at The Pennsylvania State University, the team showed how both massive "hot Jupiters" and smaller, Neptune-sized planets could migrate from distant, elliptical orbits as they release energy via dramatic shock waves in their outer atmospheres. Their results have been published in The Astrophysical Journal. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-supersonic-strange-orbits-hot-jupiters.html Planetary Sciences Wed, 28 Oct 2026 14:20:06 EDT news712412094 Finding an Earth-like world beyond the solar system is the holy grail of exoplanet research, and the field has seen remarkable technological advances in detecting and studying exoplanets since the first confirmed exoplanet around a sun-like star was discovered in 1995. These advances include ground- and space-based telescopes, notably the James Webb Space Telescope. Although astronomers have already directly imaged some exoplanets, directly imaging Earth-like planets around sun-like stars remains a major technological challenge, primarily because these planets are extremely faint compared with their host stars and appear very close to them in the sky. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-nasa-team-habitable-worlds-observatory.html Astronomy Wed, 28 Oct 2026 11:40:11 EDT news712394053 The theory that comets delivered the molecular building blocks for life on Earth is a long-standing one, since comets are known to carry many of these molecules. However, a new study challenges this idea. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-comets-didnt-seed-life-earth.html Astrobiology Wed, 28 Oct 2026 06:00:10 EDT news712240261 The CONFETI project, coordinated by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), has concluded three years of research with the commissioning of a pilot system capable of producing urea, a nitrogen fertilizer widely used in agriculture, directly in the field using renewable energy. This fertilizer is produced from carbon dioxide (CO₂) and nitrates in an electrochemical reactor powered by energy from biobatteries and solar panels. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-urea-field-powered-biobatteries-solar.html Biotechnology Tue, 27 Oct 2026 21:40:01 EDT news712315058 Scientists may add a new dwarf planet to the official roster of our solar system. The distant, icy body, provisionally dubbed 2026 ED138, orbits our system beyond Pluto. It was spotted earlier this month by a scientist combing through data from the Simonyi Survey Telescope at the NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-rubin-observatory-reveals-dwarf-planet.html Planetary Sciences Tue, 27 Oct 2026 18:30:05 EDT news712338601 Every summer, Québec rivers increasingly reach water temperature levels that threaten Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar). Just a few extra degrees can make the difference between a favorable and hostile habitat for this iconic species. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-trees-riverbanks-salmon-rivers-global.html Ecology Tue, 27 Oct 2026 18:20:04 EDT news712316245 Astronomers using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (ESO's VLT) have found a rare disk of debris around a dead star that provides a glimpse of what may happen to our solar system. Unlike in similar systems previously found, the debris—the leftovers of planets that once orbited the star—is organized in a double disk, the two parts separated by a clear gap. The disk appears to be shaped by two planetary bodies, one possibly as big as Pluto, that have survived the violent death of the star. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-debris-disk-orbiting-dead-star.html Astronomy Tue, 27 Oct 2026 18:00:12 EDT news712322463 Long before modern astronomy, humans looked to the stars and were astounded by what they saw. Even by the most ancient reckoning, the night sky offered enough to inspire awe and wonder, make us feel insignificant, fire our imaginations and foster hope and a sense of connection. Yet, for as long as humans have surveyed the heavens, they have seen no indication that life as we know it exists elsewhere—what has come to be known as the "Great Silence." https://phys.org/news/2026-10-ish-history-meti-early-ideas.html Astrobiology Tue, 27 Oct 2026 17:10:01 EDT news712315667 There is a problem in low Earth orbit, and it's growing. According to the European Space Agency, there are about 19,440 satellites on orbit, 3,540 of which are nonfunctioning and/or not emitting a signal to warn other spacecraft of their location. The need to service these sleepwalking satellites in space will only increase as more are launched. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-autonomous-rendezvous-simulated-spacecraft-failures.html Space Exploration Tue, 27 Oct 2026 16:00:03 EDT news712333651 The European Space Agency's Hera spacecraft for planetary defense has resolved its two target asteroids separately for the first time, revealing the binary nature of the Didymos system, currently some 197 million km (122 million miles) away from Earth. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-hera-asteroids.html Space Exploration Tue, 27 Oct 2026 14:10:09 EDT news712327742 Earth may have produced much of its water during the planet's formation, as rocky pebbles reacted with the hydrogen-rich atmosphere surrounding the young planet, according to new research published in Nature Geoscience. The findings offer a potential explanation for how Earth acquired one of the essential ingredients for life and suggest that similar water-producing processes could be common on rocky planets beyond our solar system. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-earth-planet-grew.html Astrobiology Tue, 27 Oct 2026 11:40:01 EDT news712312933 A Southwest Research Institute–led study used NASA's James Webb Space Telescope to examine ice grains streaming from interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, just the third object from beyond our solar system ever identified. The observations point to tiny aggregates of water ice and dust, about a micron or smaller. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-webb-links-interstellar-comet-3iatlas.html Astronomy Tue, 27 Oct 2026 10:00:13 EDT news712310882 In our solar system's corner of the galaxy, stars rarely collide. It makes sense: Space is vast, and stars have room to roam. Even in most of the present-day universe, stellar collisions are rare. The James Webb Space Telescope, however, peers deep enough into space to see the universe as it was not too long after the Big Bang. Its observations have revealed extraordinarily compact stellar systems, raising the possibility that collisions between stars were once much more common. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-stellar-collisions-common-universe-young.html Astronomy Mon, 26 Oct 2026 11:00:32 EDT news712225924 To produce hydrogen using sunlight, the energy obtained from light must be retained until it can be used in a chemical reaction. However, if an electron that has gained energy from light quickly returns to its original position, it becomes difficult to make use of that energy. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-electron-room-blue-titanium-dioxide.html Analytical Chemistry Mon, 26 Oct 2026 10:20:06 EDT news712224902 A new study reveals a dust-reddened quasar from a time when the universe was less than a billion years old. Located at a redshift of 6.5488, the object J1440+0019 contains a rapidly accreting supermassive black hole with a mass of about 1.1 billion suns. The paper was posted to the arXiv preprint server on Oct. 9. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-jwst-alma-reveal-dusty-rapidly.html Astronomy Mon, 26 Oct 2026 09:20:36 EDT news711982981 Astronomers have found a vast reservoir of hydrogen with something conspicuously missing: detectable starlight. The object, called AGC 322753, contains roughly 2 billion times the sun's mass in neutral hydrogen, a potential supply of material for making stars. Its radio signal suggests the gas may be rotating in a disk, yet deep astronomical images reveal no matching glow. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-fast-arecibo-dark-galaxy-vast.html Astronomy Mon, 26 Oct 2026 06:55:00 EDT news712216463 The Milky Way is home to hundreds of billions of stars arranged in a glorious spiral pattern. But beyond the obvious spiral, our galaxy has other physical characteristics. It's divided into a galactic bulge, a galactic disk and a galactic halo. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-milky-disk-grew-upside-younger.html Astronomy Sun, 25 Oct 2026 14:30:02 EDT news711894297 Many topics in astronomy and astrophysics are esoteric. There's not much of a relationship between something like the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way and the life of a regular person going about their business. But the sun is different. Its presence in our lives is inescapable. Its behavior, especially its flaring, has an impact. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-flare-ribbons-reveal-hidden-solar.html Astronomy Sat, 24 Oct 2026 14:00:01 EDT news711886210 In places like South Asia, Africa and parts of the Americas, monsoon rains supply water for drinking, crops and hydropower for billions of people. Understanding the patterns that monsoons tend to follow can help people plan for drought risks affecting agriculture, reservoirs and hydropower across distant regions. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-ancient-stalagmites-reveal-exceptions-asiasouth.html Earth Sciences Sat, 24 Oct 2026 09:00:01 EDT news711981698 With a successful Mars gravity assist in its rearview mirror, NASA's Psyche spacecraft has fired up its thrusters and is accelerating toward the metal-rich asteroid of the same name. During the first leg of its journey, following an October 2023 launch, the mission used its electric propulsion system intermittently to maneuver into the right position to harness Mars' gravity for a propellant-saving speed boost and a slight trajectory change. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-metal-nasa-psyche-asteroid-belt.html Planetary Sciences Fri, 23 Oct 2026 11:10:01 EDT news711962086 A sweeping barred spiral galaxy marks the spot in this image, but the real treasure is the gravitational lens in the lower-right corner, where a distant background galaxy is being magnified and distorted by the gravity of a closer galaxy. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-nasa-hubble-path-roman-gravitational.html Astronomy Fri, 23 Oct 2026 10:50:01 EDT news711961666 Alexander the Great, king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon, reportedly bathed in saffron to heal his battle wounds. Doctors once prescribed this rare plant as a treatment for the bubonic plague. Cleopatra even used it as a fragrance to entice potential suitors. And now, this tiny flower associated with the Middle East could have a new use: providing Colorado farmers with supplemental income in the drought-stricken American West. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-world-expensive-spice-lifeline-colorado.html Agriculture Fri, 23 Oct 2026 08:10:01 EDT news711951514 A new design methodology for school playgrounds is demonstrating how children can still enjoy their playtime while being protected from the harmful effects of the sun. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-revamped-playground-children-world-dangers.html Social Sciences Thu, 22 Oct 2026 19:10:01 EDT news711864815 An international study involving ICTA-UAB reveals that large energy corporations use corporate sustainability narratives to legitimize wind, solar and hydropower projects that, in practice, exclude communities from fair economic and financial returns and ignore the projects' social and environmental impacts. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-dark-side-energy-transition-renewable.html Economics & Business Thu, 22 Oct 2026 14:40:02 EDT news711894001 Technion researchers have presented evidence for the existence of solar-storm-like outbursts near supermassive black holes, which can be a million times larger than the sun or more. The phenomenon was discovered in the vicinity of the black hole in the galaxy NGC 3783, and the researchers' findings were published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-black-hole-uncover-evidence-solar.html Astronomy Thu, 22 Oct 2026 11:03:31 EDT news711885705 Scientific estimates show that there should be between about 100 million and 1 billion stellar-mass black holes in the Milky Way. But they aren't easy to locate. They're not like supermassive black holes (SMBH) at the centers of galaxies. Those are usually easy to spot for different reasons. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-black-holes-neighborhood.html Astronomy Thu, 22 Oct 2026 10:40:07 EDT news711871458 In a study published in Advanced Optical Materials, researchers at Vilnius University (VU) demonstrated perovskite-based laser structures that maintained stable performance over more than 400 million pulses. Their findings address one of the major challenges limiting the practical use of perovskites: their instability. These semiconductor materials could play an important role in next-generation optical technologies, but their tendency to degrade has long posed a challenge for researchers worldwide. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-perovskite-laser-stable-million-pulses.html Condensed Matter Wed, 21 Oct 2026 18:00:02 EDT news711813781 Researchers at Keele University have discovered that migratory butterflies may use different navigation systems to find their way during migrations, highlighting the importance of understanding how different species may respond to environmental changes. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-butterfly-reveal-migrating-species-natural.html Plants & Animals Wed, 21 Oct 2026 14:20:01 EDT news711801421 Climate change can look very different at the scale of a forest, field or hillside. A new review shows how changes in vegetation and atmospheric conditions can cause local microclimates to warm at very different rates from the regional climate—and why this matters for understanding how biodiversity will respond to climate change. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-life-earth-climate.html Earth Sciences Wed, 21 Oct 2026 12:20:23 EDT news711798782