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Phys.org / Rich medieval Christians bought graves 'closer to God' despite leprosy stigma, archaeologists find

Medieval Christians in Denmark showed off their wealth in death by buying prestigious graves: the closer to the church, the higher the price. Researchers used these gravesites to investigate social exclusion based on illness, ...

Feb 12, 2026 in Other Sciences
Medical Xpress / Exposure to intense wildfire smoke during pregnancy may be linked to increased likelihood of autism

New research suggests that exposure to intense wildfire smoke during pregnancy may be associated with an increased likelihood of autism in children. The study of more than 8.6 million births in California is the largest to ...

Feb 12, 2026 in Autism spectrum disorders
Phys.org / A DNA 'on-off' switch? Light and redox cues reversibly link strands for nanotech

DNA, the blueprint of life, is best known for its fundamental role as genetic material—storing and transmitting biological information through the precise sequence of its bases. For decades, this information-storage function ...

Feb 12, 2026 in Nanotechnology
Phys.org / Rolling out the carpet for spin qubits with new chip architecture

Researchers at QuTech in Delft, The Netherlands, have developed a new chip architecture that could make it easier to test and scale up quantum processors based on semiconductor spin qubits. The platform, called QARPET (Qubit-Array ...

Feb 12, 2026 in Physics
Phys.org / Silver European eel discovered in Cyprus for the first time

As part of a new study, researchers from Bournemouth University (BU) have discovered European eels, Anguilla anguilla, at the stage of silvering living in the inland waters of Cyprus for the first time. The paper is published ...

Feb 12, 2026 in Biology
Phys.org / Strawberry guava prevents natural forest generation in Madagascar, project reveals

Rice University biologist Amy Dunham has spent decades studying the mountainous rainforests of Madagascar's Ranomafana National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site that was designated a national park in 1991. In a project ...

Feb 12, 2026 in Biology
Phys.org / Fentanyl makeover: Core structural redesign could lead to safer pain medications

Fentanyl is one of the most effective drugs for managing severe pain, yet it carries substantial risks of addiction and respiratory depression, the dangerous and sometimes fatal slowed breathing. These safety concerns have ...

Feb 12, 2026 in Chemistry
Medical Xpress / A glaucoma drug may help prevent opioid relapse

An existing drug currently used to treat glaucoma, altitude sickness, and seizures may also have the potential to prevent relapse in opioid use disorder, according to a study by researchers at University of Iowa Health Care. ...

Feb 12, 2026 in Addiction
Phys.org / Predator stress makes road salt far deadlier for freshwater snails, study finds

Freshwater streams, ponds and lakes across the United States are becoming saltier, and new research from the University of Missouri shows the damage may be greater than scientists once thought. Scientists at Mizzou's College ...

Feb 12, 2026 in Biology
Medical Xpress / As nights warm, study flags possible prenatal link to autism risk

Higher nighttime temperatures during pregnancy may be associated with a higher risk of autism diagnosis in children, according to a new study led by researchers at Tulane University. The research examined nearly 295,000 mother–child ...

Feb 12, 2026 in Autism spectrum disorders
Tech Xplore / Power of the collective: Modular robot boosts resilience by sharing resources

EPFL roboticists have shown that when a modular robot shares power, sensing, and communication resources among its individual units, it is significantly more resistant to failure than traditional robotic systems, where the ...

Feb 12, 2026 in Robotics
Phys.org / Extreme plasma acceleration in monster shocks offers new explanation for fast radio bursts

In a new study published in Physical Review Letters, scientists have performed the first global simulations of monster shocks—some of the strongest shocks in the universe—revealing how these extreme events in magnetar ...

Feb 6, 2026 in Physics