Phys.org news

Phys.org / JWST finds a stellar bar in the early universe that breaks all rules

Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have discovered a stellar bar in GN20, a massive galaxy seen just 1.5 billion years after the Big Bang. The new paper was submitted to the preprint server arXiv on May ...

2 minutes ago
Phys.org / Hidden tick saliva protein may help stop disease spread at source

Few creatures inspire as much universal dislike as ticks. Though small, these parasites have an enormous impact on human and animal health. Each year, ticks spread viruses and bacteria that infect people, livestock, wildlife, ...

52 minutes ago
Phys.org / Researchers teach brain cells to play 'Doom'

Australian researchers have trained lab-grown brain cells on a silicon computer chip to play the nineties shooter game "Doom" and say they are just scratching the surface of what the neurons could be capable of doing.

1 hour ago
Phys.org / Quantum light gives a 20-fold boost to ultrafast laser processes

Nonlinear interactions between light and matter are at the heart of some of the most powerful tools in modern optics, but pushing these processes to their limits has long been hampered by a fundamental constraint: the stronger ...

19 hours ago
Phys.org / Pulsar wind nebula inside supernova remnant explored with Chandra

Astronomers from the George Washington University (GWU) in Washington, DC, and elsewhere have employed NASA's Chandra X-ray spacecraft to observe a pulsar wind nebula inside a supernova remnant known as CTA 1. Results of ...

22 hours ago
Phys.org / Rainfall near 700 mm marks turning point in ecosystem nitrogen retention

In a study published in Nature Geoscience, a research team led by Prof. Liu Lingli from the Institute of Botany of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IBCAS) has identified a mean annual precipitation (MAP) threshold of approximately ...

17 hours ago
Phys.org / Nanofiber implant delivers three drugs, doubles survival in glioblastoma mice

Researchers with the University of Cincinnati and Johns Hopkins Medicine developed a potential treatment for brain cancer that uses nanofibers embedded with a combination of drugs that work in concert to target tumors. The ...

15 hours ago
Phys.org / Saturday Citations: Failure to launch; cellular mortality; heavy weather

Highlights from the last week of May, 2026: A key climate tipping point is disrupting the Arctic Ocean food chain (more of a lowlight, I guess). Scuba-diving tourism may not be the benefit to coral reef systems that we once ...

23 hours ago
Phys.org / Inside Europe's largest Copper Age tomb, children's bones expose an ancient health crisis hidden for 5,000 years

Nearly 5,000 years ago, respiratory infections, possibly including tuberculosis, were ravaging the children buried at Camino del Molino (CMOL), Spain. The massive circular burial cave carved into rock is Europe's largest ...

May 30, 2026
Phys.org / Evidence of cosmic-ray acceleration from a nearby supernova remnant

Cosmic rays seen at Earth show a wide range of particle energies, from 107 electron-volts (eV) to more than 1020 eV, the latter being about the same as the kinetic energy of a 450 gram football (soccer ball) being kicked ...

May 30, 2026
Phys.org / Ohio wall lizards overcame genetic bottleneck through rapid population boom, genomes reveal

Non-native wall lizards living in Cincinnati, Ohio, have thrived against the odds thanks to an ability to expand their population more quickly than any inbreeding-amplified harmful genes could weaken their chances for survival, ...

May 30, 2026
Phys.org / Webb reveals black hole that formed before its galaxy

Which comes first, the galaxy or the black hole? We don't know, but scientists have long thought it could be the galaxy: Large stars within an existing galaxy consume their fuel and collapse to form black holes, which can ...

May 29, 2026