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Phys.org / Why your brain has to work harder in an open-plan office than private offices

Since the pandemic, offices around the world have quietly shrunk. Many organizations don't need as much floor space or as many desks, given many staff now do a mix of hybrid work from home and the office. But on days when ...

Feb 22, 2026 in Other Sciences
Phys.org / Ultra-stable lasers that rely on crystalline mirrors could advance next-generation clocks and navigation

Lasers, devices that emit intense beams of coherent light in specific directions, are widely used in research settings and are central components of various technologies, including optical clocks (i.e., systems that can keep ...

Feb 18, 2026 in Physics
Phys.org / Measuring chaos: Researchers quantify the quantum butterfly effect

For the first time, researchers in China have accurately quantified how chaos increases in a quantum many-body system as it evolves over time. Combining experiments and theory, a team led by Yu-Chen Li at the University of ...

Feb 18, 2026 in Physics
Phys.org / Metamaterial image sensor keeps colors clear even under oblique light

Smartphone cameras are becoming smaller, yet photos are becoming sharper. Korean researchers have elevated the limits of next-generation smartphone cameras by developing a new image sensor technology that can accurately represent ...

Feb 21, 2026 in Physics
Phys.org / Giant DNA viruses encode their own eukaryote-like translation machinery, researchers discover

In a new study, published in Cell, researchers describe a newfound mechanism for creating proteins in a giant DNA virus, comparable to a mechanism in eukaryotic cells. The finding challenges the dogma that viruses lack protein ...

Feb 18, 2026 in Biology
Medical Xpress / Why nighttime heat drives a surge in suicide-related calls to crisis lines in Louisiana

Extreme heat poses serious risks to physical health but can also trigger a mental health emergency for some people. While the link between heat and suicide is well-documented, the specific stressors that drive someone to ...

Feb 20, 2026 in Psychology & Psychiatry
Phys.org / Cosmic curveball: Distant system challenges planet-formation theory

An international team of astronomers has discovered a distant planetary system that challenges long-standing theories of how planets form. Across our galaxy, astronomers routinely observe a characteristic pattern in planetary ...

Feb 21, 2026 in Astronomy & Space
Phys.org / Araish spiral galaxy observations uncover a 26,700-light-year radio jet

An international team of astronomers has performed multi-wavelength observations of the nearby Araish galaxy to investigate the origin of its radio emission. As a result, they detected an extended radio jet of this galaxy. ...

Feb 18, 2026 in Astronomy & Space
Phys.org / Quantum entanglement pushes optical clocks to new precision

By replacing single atoms with an entangled pair of ions, physicists in Germany have demonstrated unprecedented stability in an optical clock. Publishing their results in Physical Review Letters, a team led by Kai Dietze ...

Feb 19, 2026 in Physics
Phys.org / How early farming unintentionally bred highly competitive 'warrior' wheat

An evolutionary "arms race" for light and space led to the early domestication of wheat, according to new research that could offer fresh insights into crop design. The study led by Dr. Yixiang Shan and Professor Colin Osborne, ...

Feb 20, 2026 in Biology
Medical Xpress / Recurrent prostate cancer: Two treatment strategies with uncertain outcomes compared

Imperial College London investigators compared focal therapy with prostate removal surgery for men with prostate cancer that returned after radiotherapy. Matched analyses estimated 10-year cancer-specific survival at 92% ...

Feb 18, 2026 in Oncology & Cancer
Phys.org / Proton's width measured to unparalleled precision, narrowing the path to new physics

Physicists in Germany have carried out the most accurate measurement to date of the width of the proton. By examining a previously unexplored energy-level transition in the hydrogen atom, Lothar Maisenbacher and colleagues ...

Feb 17, 2026 in Physics