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. Astronauts aboard the International Space Station have switched on NASA's newly upgraded Cold Atom Lab, a one-of-a-kind facility designed to improve how scientists explore the fundamental workings of matter and develop new quantum technologies. By leveraging the unique environment of microgravity in space, the lab can accomplish cutting-edge science impossible to do anywhere else. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-quantum-lab-aboard-space-station.html Space Exploration Tue, 16 Jun 2026 18:20:06 EDT news700837742 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 People who are hesitant to try insect-based foods may enjoy the experience more than they expect—and can become more open to expanding their diets in the future, according to research published by the American Psychological Association. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-youd-bugs.html Social Sciences Mon, 15 Jun 2026 09:00:03 EDT news700481402 The increased public attention on racial injustice after the murder of George Floyd influenced how Black and white employees interacted at work, new University of Washington research suggests. The study, recently published in the Academy of Management Journal, examines how major societal events tied to race and injustice can shape workplace behavior. Researchers specifically investigated how the heightened salience of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement impacted cooperation between Black and white coworkers. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-black-movement-workplace-cooperation-white.html Social Sciences Sun, 14 Jun 2026 17:00:03 EDT news700148750 A new study challenges a long-standing assumption about how cyanobacteria survive environmental stress. The study, led by researchers at the Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research (IOLR)—the Kinneret Limnological Institute (KLI), shows that survival under prolonged heat stress is not determined solely by the ability to protect photosynthesis. Instead, survival may depend on a remarkable shift in cellular energy balance, with dark respiration compensating when photosynthetic electron transport becomes impaired. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-surviving-cyanobacteria-respiration-photosynthesis-falters.html Ecology Sat, 13 Jun 2026 12:00:03 EDT news700146881 In the split second after you hear a noise, your brain is already making a potentially life-or-death deduction: Did I do that, or did something else? Our nervous systems answer this question using something called corollary discharge, a copy of a motor command that tells sensory areas what to expect from our own actions. This mechanism is at the center of a new study by biologists at Washington University in St. Louis, published in Current Biology. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-brains-sensory-hub-electric-fish.html Plants & Animals Fri, 12 Jun 2026 06:20:04 EDT news700413239 An international team whose research was coordinated by Osaka Metropolitan University (OMU) has reported the survival of metallic behavior in the strongly correlated molecular material ytterbium cesium fulleride (Yb₂CsC₆₀). The electrons in the newly synthesized material remained mobile and continued to conduct electricity even at the lowest temperatures studied, despite strong electron interactions that would normally be expected to drive the material into an insulating state. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-newly-fullerene-material-metallic-temperatures.html Condensed Matter Thu, 11 Jun 2026 17:40:01 EDT news700410601 Our relationships with wildlife are dynamic. They can change rapidly and unexpectedly. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-sharks-hunters-tourists-wildlifehuman-interactions.html Ecology Thu, 11 Jun 2026 15:00:05 EDT news700398601 Researchers in Spain and Japan tested a broad range of pedestrians in varying group sizes to see whether there were any patterns in their turning behaviors, and what factors influenced them, if any. It turns out that the vast majority of people prefer counterclockwise turning. Most factors, such as culture or gender, made little difference. Only age showed a noticeable but small change, in that younger people followed this pattern more strongly. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-people-inherent-counterclockwise-motion-reveals.html Other Wed, 10 Jun 2026 05:00:07 EDT news700215182 A study in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics explores how a machine-learning strategy known as transfer learning could dramatically reduce the computational cost of searching for new physics beyond the standard cosmological model—while also revealing an unexpected risk: Sometimes AI systems can become too reliant on what they already know. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-physics-ai-unlearn.html General Physics Wed, 10 Jun 2026 00:00:01 EDT news700213321 Conservationists analyze overwhelming volumes of ecological data in their work. For example, they might need to process decades of weather data or the movements of millions of insects. Up until now, these scientists and decision makers have had to manually find and sort information, then use statistical tools which often oversimplify the source information. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-ai-nature-powerful-tool-dangerous.html Ecology Tue, 09 Jun 2026 15:00:04 EDT news700229101 Florida State University physicists are part of a team that has discovered unusual superconducting states in parts of graphene, with the potential to drive unexpected quantum technologies. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-uncovers-electronic-properties-quantum-material.html Superconductivity Mon, 08 Jun 2026 15:00:02 EDT news700148352 Raman optical activity, long thought to require chiral molecules or magnetic order, has been demonstrated in an achiral, nonmagnetic crystal by researchers at the Institute of Science Tokyo. The effect arises through ferroaxial order, a coordinated rotation of atoms within the lattice, and is detected using circularly polarized Raman spectroscopy. The findings show that optically inactive materials can also display chirality-like optical responses and expand the scope of optical techniques for discovering new materials. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-achiral-crystal-reveals-raman-optical.html Optics & Photonics Mon, 08 Jun 2026 13:20:04 EDT news700138441 Most sharks and rays inhabit the oceans, but a small proportion thrive in freshwater. Approximately 4% to 5% of all shark and ray species live in tropical and subtropical rivers around the world. Two main ecological strategies can be distinguished among freshwater sharks and rays. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-km-journey-freshwater-stingray-held.html Plants & Animals Mon, 08 Jun 2026 11:40:10 EDT news700134733 The horses at the Children's Zoo in Gothenburg don't mind being petted by children and adults. However, they do get stressed by the noise from an excavator. Researchers at the University of Gothenburg discovered this after fitting heart rate monitors to eight Gotland Russ horses. The research is published in the journal Zoo Biology. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-horses-unaffected-petting-children-zoo.html Plants & Animals Mon, 08 Jun 2026 09:56:04 EDT news700131340 Inside cells, certain functions are carried out by locally adjusting molecular composition. This condensation of material results in the formation of dense droplets that can dynamically rearrange. Because of this, interactions between such dense regions determine the shaping of condensates. Scientists from the Department of Living Matter Physics at MPI-DS recently developed a model that can describe such phase separation dynamics based solely on attraction. The work is published in the journal Physical Review Letters. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-physicists-molecular-condensates.html General Physics Fri, 05 Jun 2026 18:00:01 EDT news699875073 The concept of the "15-Minute City" has gained global traction as a blueprint for more livable, sustainable communities by placing daily essentials—such as grocery stores, schools, restaurants and parks—within easy reach of residents. The idea envisions neighborhoods where people can meet most of their daily needs within a 15-minute walk, bike ride or transit trip from home, reducing automobile dependence while improving quality of life. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-minute-cities-nearby-jobs-streets.html Social Sciences Thu, 04 Jun 2026 16:20:01 EDT news699795787 Using box jellyfish as an example, researchers from Kiel University show how the physics of density, not behavior or physiology, can prevent animals from reaching the surface even as they actively swim upward. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-jellyfish-surface.html Plants & Animals Thu, 04 Jun 2026 10:40:03 EDT news699782281 Nuclear physicists used a little magic in their latest experiment conducted at the U.S. Department of Energy's Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, and the result has revealed surprising new information about the behavior of protons and neutrons inside the atom's nucleus. Specifically, the research revealed another requirement that determines how protons and neutrons pair up. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-quantum-shell-reveals-proton-neutron.html General Physics Thu, 04 Jun 2026 10:20:09 EDT news699781262 Researchers have discovered that atoms can be mixed, separated, and recombined within the same experiment, providing a pathway to a record-breaking catalyst for green hydrogen production. In their study, the team created nanoscale particles containing only a few dozen platinum and nickel atoms and observed unusual dynamic behavior in direct space and in real time. As the two metals separate from one another while maintaining an interface, they become highly active for electrochemical water splitting, leading to efficient hydrogen evolution. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-atomic-reshuffle-catalysts-hydrogen-production.html Nanomaterials Tue, 02 Jun 2026 19:10:01 EDT news699630241 The rotation of a protoplanetary disk (a disk where planets are being formed) has been observed directly for the very first time by mapping the emissions from the dust grains within it. The disk in question surrounds the young star AB Aurigae. Although it appears to generally rotate in accordance with the laws of physics, certain regions close to the star show an unexpected departure from this behavior. A body of evidence suggests that this anomaly is caused by the presence of giant planets in the process of formation. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-view-tracks-planet-disk-ab.html Astronomy Mon, 01 Jun 2026 13:20:05 EDT news699535021 Proteins systematically lose their protective hydration shell when their environment becomes more acidic. Until recently, this was just a theory. State-of-the-art imaging techniques have helped researchers at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) directly observe this process for the first time at the level of the individual water molecule. This has answered a question in biochemistry that had remained unanswered for 50 years. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-fifty-year-protein-mystery-acid.html Biochemistry Mon, 01 Jun 2026 11:40:07 EDT news699528961 Across much of the northern hemisphere, extreme weather events like heat waves and heavy precipitation have increased in frequency and severity over the last several decades. A new study from the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) shows that one proposed partial explanation, so-called "quasiresonant amplification of quasistationary Rossby waves," may not be capable of explaining any of this increase in severe weather events. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-atmospheric-theory-falls-short-extreme.html Earth Sciences Mon, 01 Jun 2026 10:40:01 EDT news699528542 New research has unearthed new insights into the disruptive and detrimental effects that human-produced electromagnetic noise can have on the ability of bats to migrate effectively. The study, published in the journal Science, and led by researchers at Bangor University, the University of Latvia and the University of Oldenburg, in Germany, has revealed unexpected effects of exposure to electromagnetic noise that is an ever-present feature of urban environments. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-electromagnetic-noise-migrating-effects-hours.html Plants & Animals Thu, 28 May 2026 14:00:08 EDT news699182761 Quantum mechanics is a physics framework that describes how matter and energy behave at an extremely small scale, specifically at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles. An effect predicted by the laws of quantum mechanics is superposition, which entails that particles can exist in multiple states or positions simultaneously, which remain indefinite until they are measured or observed. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-generation-massive-schrdinger-cat-states.html Condensed Matter Thu, 28 May 2026 07:10:01 EDT news698933812 Researchers at Cornell University have developed a safer and more precise way to study how genes function in living tissues by refining a recently developed CRISPR-based genetic technique in fruit flies, enabling researchers to better study how genes contribute to development and disease. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-dna-nicks-safer-precise-genetic.html Biotechnology Wed, 27 May 2026 18:20:01 EDT news699117421 Researchers have developed a novel virtual model for simulating how astronauts in future moon base operations might interact with each other and with their environment, with preliminary simulations revealing potential opportunities to boost the chances of a successful mission. Raymond Vera and colleagues at George Mason University in Virginia, U.S., present these findings in PLOS One. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-moon-base-missions-unseen-threat.html Space Exploration Wed, 27 May 2026 14:00:04 EDT news699025896 The liquid iron in Earth's outer core doesn't always behave as expected. When it changed direction in an unexplained way, ESA satellites provided data on the direction of flow, helping scientists gain better insight into the dynamics at the center of our planet. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-earth-outer-core-beneath-pacific.html Planetary Sciences Fri, 22 May 2026 10:29:20 EDT news698664530 Urbanization is rapidly transforming natural habitats and poses growing challenges for wildlife. One lesser-known consequence is its potential impact on bird song, which plays a crucial role in communication, reproduction, and survival. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-city-life-bird-song-species.html Plants & Animals Wed, 20 May 2026 12:40:05 EDT news698495281 It's a tale as old as time: parents don't like the company their children keep—and don't hesitate to say so. Often, parents openly state their disapproval, hoping that children will abandon unwelcome affiliates and seek out more acceptable companions. This raises the question: "Is friend disapproval an effective parenting strategy?" https://phys.org/news/2026-05-forbidden-friends-moms-voice.html Social Sciences Wed, 20 May 2026 10:40:01 EDT news698490841