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Phys.org / Light can now be shaped in empty space, and it could simplify sensing and boost data links

Scientists at the University of East Anglia have uncovered a hidden property of light that allows it to twist, spin and behave differently—without mirrors, materials or special lenses. In a breakthrough that could transform ...

Apr 28, 2026
Phys.org / How hard-surface feeding unlocked a burst of reef fish evolution 50 million years ago

Why are there so many species of coral reef fish? According to a new study, it's because about 50 million years ago, some fish figured out how to bite food from hard surfaces.

Apr 28, 2026
Phys.org / Decades-long study finds 'stable' soil carbon degrades

After nearly four decades, the world's longest-running soil warming experiment is revealing a surprising result: even "stable" carbon in forest soils can break down as temperatures rise, releasing more CO₂ into the atmosphere. ...

Apr 28, 2026
Phys.org / Flipping the K⁺ switch: First potassium-gated ion channel discovered in animal

Researchers from the National Institute for Physiological Sciences, Nagoya City University, and Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science in Japan have identified the first animal ion channel molecules that open and ...

Apr 28, 2026
Phys.org / Hidden stripe pattern lets microscopes auto-focus across 400 times deeper range

Anyone who has ever used a microscope knows that it takes time to bring a sample into sharp focus. Each time you move the slide, the image blurs, and you have to stop and carefully turn a knob to bring everything back into ...

Apr 28, 2026
Medical Xpress / AI model detects normally 'invisible' tissue changes of pancreatic cancer at stage 0

An AI model (REDMOD) can pick up the very early subtle tissue changes of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, the most common form of pancreatic cancer, which conventional imaging and the human eye find difficult to detect, ...

Apr 28, 2026
Medical Xpress / Turning immune cells into tumor allies: A cancer cell protein can reprogram frontline defenders

Cancer cells can disarm the immune system not just by hiding from it, but by actively reprogramming nearby immune cells into a suppressed state. This previously unrecognized molecular interaction, discovered by scientists ...

Apr 27, 2026
Tech Xplore / Computer-designed thermoelectric generator achieves more than 8-fold improvement in efficiency

A thermoelectric generator with a shape that no human designer would likely have imagined has now been created by a computer—and it performs more than eight times better than conventional designs. Rather than relying on intuition ...

Apr 28, 2026
Phys.org / Natural rubber process boosts tire toughness about tenfold while preserving stiffness

Natural rubber, tapped from trees as latex, is the world's most widely used bio-elastomer. Comprising long molecular chains that make it pliable and stretchy yet highly resistant to cracking and strain, natural rubber is ...

Apr 28, 2026
Medical Xpress / How the immune system battles lifelong viral infections acquired at birth

Millions of people worldwide carry viral infections they acquired at birth, often for life. For a long time it was assumed that the immune system hardly fights these pathogens. Researchers from the University of Basel show ...

Apr 28, 2026
Phys.org / Astronomers release massive set of 'virtual universes' for global research

Understanding the universe as a whole requires simulations on cosmic scales. An international team of astrophysicists, with a leading role for researchers at Leiden University, Netherlands, has now released one of the largest ...

Apr 28, 2026
Phys.org / New microscope reveals previously hidden differences in photosynthetic light-harvesting antennae

How do photosynthetic organisms harvest light so efficiently? To help answer this question, researchers have developed an ultrafast transient absorption microscope with sensitivity approaching the single-molecule level.

Apr 28, 2026