Phys.org news

Phys.org / After 80 years, elusive molecules reveal how ozone starts turning plant emissions into haze

Scientists have directly observed a fleeting chemical reaction that creates a key ingredient in urban smog. The research offers insight into the earliest stages of pollution formation and could help improve air quality forecasting ...

Aug 26, 2026
Phys.org / Climate change exposes up to 560 million children globally to at least one additional month of dangerous heat per year

New research by Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) shows that globally, up to 560 million children ages 0–9 (43% of all children in this age group) experience at least one additional month (30 or more days) of heat stress per ...

Aug 26, 2026
Phys.org / Fossil-fuel carbon fingerprint reaches the deep North Atlantic

The use of fossil fuels alters both the concentration and the carbon isotope composition of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Since surface water exchanges carbon dioxide with the atmosphere, this also alters the isotopic ...

Aug 26, 2026
Phys.org / For Legionella bacteria, taking over a cell means playing by its rules

When it comes to invading healthy cells, Legionella bacteria rely on blending in rather than breaking in. New research from Van Andel Institute scientists demonstrates how a protein produced by Legionella mimics the behavior ...

Aug 26, 2026
Phys.org / Congo Basin study reveals nuanced relationship between people and flooding

In the Lac Télé Community Reserve, a vast tropical peatland in Africa's Congo Basin that is home to about 20,000 people, the forces of climate change and globalization are hitting residents hard. The seasonal floods upon ...

Aug 26, 2026
Phys.org / Human activity is pushing lakes beyond their natural carbon limits

Lakes play an important role in capturing and storing carbon, which accumulates in their sediments. But the amounts they can absorb have varied considerably over time. Jean-François Lapierre, a professor in the Department ...

Aug 26, 2026
Phys.org / A field guide for the Wild West of AI-assisted environmental science

Researchers at UC Santa Barbara's National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) are blazing a trail through the Wild West of AI-assisted science, with a field guide aimed at environmental data scientists.

Aug 26, 2026
Phys.org / Chagas parasite's survival trick offers antimalarial-style target

Researchers at the University of Cincinnati have identified a potential new target to prevent the spread of Chagas disease. The parasitic infection is transmitted through the bite of the kissing bug in Central and South America ...

Aug 26, 2026
Phys.org / Gamma-ray signal could be long awaited evidence for WIMPs

Dark matter is known to make up roughly 85% of all mass in the universe, as evidenced by the way galaxies spin and how galaxy clusters are held together under gravity. Yet despite decades of searching, physicists have never ...

Aug 25, 2026
Phys.org / Setting limits on phase transitions in the dark energy era

The universe is known to be expanding at an accelerating rate. Physicists typically attribute this acceleration to dark energy, a mysterious component of the universe that exerts negative pressure, causing space to expand ...

Aug 25, 2026
Phys.org / The little red dots of our cosmos might hide something big

Little red dots may reside in small, dense galaxies with total masses equivalent to around 1 billion times that of the sun, according to research published in Nature Astronomy.

Aug 25, 2026
Phys.org / Archaeologists investigate a feared young woman's 17th century vampiric grave in Poland

In 2022, excavations at a cemetery in Pień, Poland, led by researchers from the Institute of Archaeology at Nicolaus Copernicus University, led to a mysterious discovery. In what they call Grave 75, they uncovered the 400-year-old ...

Aug 25, 2026