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. For life to develop on a planet, certain chemical elements are needed in sufficient quantities. Phosphorus and nitrogen are essential. Phosphorus is vital for the formation of DNA and RNA, which store and transmit genetic information, and for the energy balance of cells. Nitrogen is an essential component of proteins, which are needed for the formation, structure, and function of cells. Without these two elements, no life can develop out of lifeless matter. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-small-planets-suitable-life.html Astrobiology Mon, 09 Feb 2026 13:12:42 EST news689865122 If you've watched a giraffe browsing in the tree canopy, a white rhino meandering across open grassland, or a warthog shuffling around on its knees in South Africa's Kalahari desert, you know what they eat: leaves, grass, shoots, and roots. With every mouthful, they swallow something less obvious—soil. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-grazing-herbivores-greater-toxic-elements.html Plants & Animals Wed, 04 Feb 2026 12:00:47 EST news689428802 Astronomers at Texas A&M University have discovered a rare, tightly packed collision of galaxies in the early universe, suggesting that galaxies were interacting and shaping their surroundings far earlier than scientists had predicted. Using observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the researchers identified an ongoing merger event of at least five galaxies about 800 million years after the Big Bang, along with evidence that the collision was redistributing heavy elements beyond the galaxies themselves. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-webb-reveals-galaxy-merger-million.html Astronomy Fri, 30 Jan 2026 09:18:44 EST news688987082 Researchers from the Institute of Cosmos Sciences of the University of Barcelona (ICCUB) and the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC), in collaboration with the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands (IAC), have led the most extensive observational study to date of runaway massive stars, which includes an analysis of the rotation and binarity of these stars in our galaxy. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-massive-runaway-stars-milky-explores.html Astronomy Wed, 28 Jan 2026 16:51:41 EST news688841461 Ordinary matter, when cooled, transitions from a gas into a liquid. Cool it further still, and it freezes into a solid. Quantum matter, however, can behave very differently. In the early 20th century, researchers discovered that when helium is cooled, it transitions from a seemingly ordinary gas into a so-called superfluid. Superfluids flow without losing any energy, among other quantum quirks, like an ability to climb out of containers. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-superfluids-indefinitely-physicists.html Soft Matter Wed, 28 Jan 2026 12:46:29 EST news688826716 Rising tensions between the US and China are changing how companies design global supply chains in strategic industries such as semiconductors and rare earths. New research shows firms are no longer just reacting to trade rules—they are proactively redesigning supply chains to reduce political risk and secure access to critical technologies. The work is published in the journal Production Planning & Control. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-great-power-rivalry-reshaping-global.html Economics & Business Mon, 26 Jan 2026 17:30:01 EST news688656157 A research team affiliated with UNIST has reported a novel synthesis strategy that enables the direct intercalation of a wide range of metal cations into the interlayer spaces of layered titanate (LT) structures. This approach opens new possibilities for designing highly tailored catalysts and energy storage materials for specific industrial applications. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-art-custom-intercalating-metals-layered.html Materials Science Fri, 23 Jan 2026 11:35:25 EST news688390502 Sweeping winds of vaporized metals have been found in a massive cloud that dimmed the light of a star for nearly nine months. This discovery, made with the Gemini South telescope in Chile, one half of the International Gemini Observatory, offers a rare glimpse into the chaotic and dynamic processes still shaping planetary systems long after their formation. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-massive-cloud-metallic-orbiting-mystery.html Astronomy Wed, 21 Jan 2026 17:17:20 EST news688238221 The city of Pompeii was buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. Researchers at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) have now reconstructed the city's water supply system based on carbonate deposits—particularly the transition from wells to an aqueduct. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-hygienic-conditions-pompeii-early-poor.html Archaeology Tue, 13 Jan 2026 09:30:04 EST news687517802 A new study by the University of Minnesota challenges previous classifications paleontologists use to determine how the fossil record is formed. They investigated how dinosaur and mammal bones are transported and buried by floodwaters to understand how the remains of animals might disperse prior to being buried and becoming fossils. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-floodwaters-impact-fossil-formation.html Paleontology & Fossils Mon, 12 Jan 2026 14:29:01 EST news687450528 Happy new year! If you're a redhead, the pigments in your hair are protecting you from cellular damage. A post-stroke injection comprising regenerative nanomaterial can protect the brain. And researchers have developed a method to extract rare earth elements from coal tailings. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-saturday-citations-dinosaurs-quiescent-black.html Other Sat, 10 Jan 2026 08:30:01 EST news687184109 The conservation of genome regulatory elements over long periods of evolution is not limited to vertebrates, as previously thought, but also in echinoderms (invertebrates). This is one of the most notable conclusions of a study published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, which expands our knowledge of the mechanisms governing genomic regulation and biological evolution. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-genome-regulatory-elements-vertebrates-echinoderms.html Evolution Thu, 08 Jan 2026 15:16:23 EST news687107762 Greenland, the largest island on Earth, possesses some of the richest stores of natural resources anywhere in the world. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-greenland-rich-natural-resources-geologist.html Earth Sciences Thu, 08 Jan 2026 12:06:18 EST news687096302 France on Wednesday officialized a ban on food imports containing traces of five pesticides currently banned in the EU, a move aimed at easing farmers' opposition to the Mercosur trade deal with four South American nations. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-france-halts-imports-food-pesticides.html Environment Wed, 07 Jan 2026 11:07:19 EST news687006320 Using NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have spotted two rare kinds of dust in the dwarf galaxy Sextans A, one of the most chemically primitive galaxies near the Milky Way. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-webb-early-universe-analog-unexpected.html Astronomy Tue, 06 Jan 2026 14:35:28 EST news686932501 Astronomers have captured the most detailed look yet at faraway galaxies at the peak of their youth, an active time when the adolescent galaxies were fervently producing new stars. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-young-galaxies-fast-reveals-unexpected.html Astronomy Tue, 06 Jan 2026 13:20:02 EST news686927516 Many stars die spectacularly when they explode as supernovae. During these violent explosions, they leave behind thick, chaotic clouds of debris shaped like cauliflowers. But supernova remnant Pa 30 looks nothing like that. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-stars.html Astronomy Fri, 02 Jan 2026 09:22:20 EST news686568122 One of the biggest quests in biology is understanding how every cell in an animal's body carries an identical genome yet still gives rise to a kaleidoscope of different cell types and tissues. A neuron doesn't look nor behave like a muscle cell but has the same DNA. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-ancient-sea-anemone-animal-cell.html Evolution Mon, 22 Dec 2025 05:00:04 EST news685363501 How common are Earth-like planets in the universe? When I started working on supernova explosions, I never imagined that my research would eventually lead me to ask a question about the origin of Earth-like planets. Yet that is exactly where it brought me. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-cosmic-rays-nearby-supernova-earth.html Astronomy Sun, 21 Dec 2025 15:00:01 EST news685011574 A new study from the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences (LMS) in London, UK reveals how ancient viral DNA once written off as "junk" plays a crucial role in the earliest moments of life. The research, published in Science Advances, begins to untangle the role of an ancient viral DNA element called MERVL in mouse embryonic development and provides new insights into a human muscle wasting disease. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-ancient-viral-dna-early-embryonic.html Cell & Microbiology Fri, 19 Dec 2025 14:00:01 EST news685268881 Scientists specializing in soil geochemistry, environmental engineering, and health affiliated with the University of São Paulo (USP) and the Federal University of Espírito Santo (UFES) in Brazil and the University of Santiago de Compostela in Spain assessed the risks of consuming bananas, cassava, and the pulp of cocoa grown in soils impacted by iron mining waste in the Doce River estuary in Linhares in the Brazilian state of Espírito Santo. The region has received the material since the Fundão tailings dam collapsed in the neighboring state of Minas Gerais in November 2015. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-potentially-toxic-elements-bananas-grown.html Environment Fri, 19 Dec 2025 13:42:19 EST news685374121 A team of researchers at UNIST, in collaboration with the University of Cologne and Purdue University, has unveiled a rapid, sustainable method to create complex nanomaterials containing up to 30 different metals in just one minute at room temperature. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-driven-method-rapidly-complex-nanomaterials.html Nanomaterials Fri, 19 Dec 2025 11:38:37 EST news685366682 The group of rare earth elements (REEs) comprises a total of 17 elements, all of which possess similar chemical properties. In addition to the two lightest elements, scandium and yttrium, the group also includes lanthanum, cerium and neodymium, as well as the radioactive promethium. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-rare-earth-elements-peptides-life.html Biochemistry Thu, 18 Dec 2025 13:21:29 EST news685286461 Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) engineers and scientists, in collaboration with Stanford University, have demonstrated a breakthrough 3D nanofabrication approach that transforms two-photon lithography (TPL) from a slow, lab-scale technique into a wafer-scale manufacturing tool without sacrificing submicron precision. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-team-shatters-3d-nanofabrication-limits.html Nanophysics Thu, 18 Dec 2025 09:01:33 EST news685270861 When the most massive stars reach the ends of their lives, they blow up in spectacular supernova explosions, which seed the universe with heavy elements such as carbon and iron. Another type of explosion—the kilonova—occurs when a pair of dense dead stars, called neutron stars, smash together, forging even heavier elements such as gold and uranium. Such heavy elements are among the basic building blocks of stars and planets. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-superkilonova.html Astronomy Tue, 16 Dec 2025 13:09:31 EST news685112942 A newly discovered promoter element "start" points to a shared regulatory syntax for controlling transcription initiation in bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotes. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-ancient-genetic-bacteria-archaea-eukaryotes.html Evolution Mon, 15 Dec 2025 16:56:14 EST news685040161 As part of the EU project ECOTIP, an international team of researchers, including the Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon, has analyzed the sea off Greenland more comprehensively than ever before. The key question: How is the area developing in the face of climate change and environmental pollution? Most of the samples were examined in the Hereon laboratories. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-humans-arctic-ocean.html Earth Sciences Wed, 10 Dec 2025 23:00:01 EST news684593751 Cradled in the nose of a high-altitude research airplane, a new NASA sensor has taken to the skies to help geoscientists map rocks hosting lithium and other critical minerals on Earth's surface some 60,000 feet below. In collaboration with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the flights are part of the largest airborne campaign of its kind in the country's history. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-nasa-sensor-critical-minerals.html Planetary Sciences Tue, 09 Dec 2025 15:41:15 EST news684517261 One of the most important steps in the evolution of modern mammals was the development of highly sensitive hearing. The middle ear of mammals, with an eardrum and several small bones, allows us to hear a broad range of frequencies and volumes, which was a big help to early, mostly nocturnal mammal ancestors as they tried to survive alongside dinosaurs. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-analysis-thrinaxodon-fossils-uncovers-unexpectedly.html Evolution Mon, 08 Dec 2025 15:00:01 EST news684415081 The Fertile Crescent, a boomerang-shaped region spanning modern-day Middle Eastern countries, is considered the cradle of civilization and where farming first emerged. But little is known about how climate change influenced early societies in this part of the world. Now, new research into ancient climate history is shedding light on how farming and civilization began. And the insights are coming from an analysis of a stalagmite in a cave in Kurdistan. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-ancient-stalagmite-insights-climate-affected.html Earth Sciences Tue, 02 Dec 2025 13:30:01 EST news683904538