Phys.org news

Phys.org / New light-emitting nanoparticles can detect subtle chemical differences

A team of researchers from University of Toronto Engineering has created a new type of dye-sensitized nanoparticle that can detect target chemicals at very low concentrations while also distinguishing between molecules with ...

Sep 14, 2026
Phys.org / Magma repeatedly breaks and heals during eruptions, microscopic evidence suggests

Explosive volcanic eruptions can be as destructive as they are difficult to predict, launching pyroclasts—the fragments of magma and rock blasted from a volcano—into the air and surrounding areas. These particles can have ...

Sep 14, 2026
Phys.org / Room-temperature skyrmion-based synapses could pave the way for energy-efficient AI

Artificial intelligence is transforming how information is generated, processed and stored, but its rapid expansion is also driving unprecedented demand for computing power and electricity. Developing hardware that can process ...

Sep 14, 2026
Phys.org / Getting photons into shape for reliable quantum communication

The vast majority of modern quantum technologies—from quantum cryptography to the quantum internet to the quantum computer—rely on one essential element: the transmission of photons. Two qubits (two atoms, for example) exchange ...

Sep 14, 2026
Phys.org / Hidden receptor interactions may explain past failures of brain disorder drugs

Metabotropic glutamate receptors, which are important but difficult drug targets, interact in surprisingly varied ways with their principal regulatory proteins, according to two new studies led by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators. ...

Sep 14, 2026
Phys.org / AI models enable cross-species mapping of cell biology

Researchers at Stanford Medicine have developed two new artificial intelligence models of the biological cell. The first, called universal cell embedding, paved the way for a second-generation model called TranscriptFormer, ...

Sep 14, 2026
Phys.org / Scientists discover dispersal mechanism and new gene family in harmful E. coli strains

Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have identified how certain dangerous bacteria spread. They studied chain-like adherence pattern (CLAP) varieties of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC), finding that single ...

Sep 14, 2026
Phys.org / Parakeets, male or female, love a good fight

In a study of monk parakeets, researchers at the University of Cincinnati and Duke University found that sex has little to no impact on who initiates fights, who is targeted or who rises in the dominance hierarchy.

Sep 14, 2026
Phys.org / Lebanon: 400,000 years of climate and landscape history rediscovered

An international research team led by Dr. Gabriele Russo of the Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment at the University of Tübingen has re-examined historical fossil collections from Lebanon using modern ...

Sep 14, 2026
Phys.org / Unused natural gas behind NYC's $300 million waste of a potent greenhouse gas

Methane emissions from the New York City metropolitan area are largely driven by natural gas use, according to a new study published today in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics by researchers at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, ...

Sep 14, 2026
Phys.org / How the 2024 solar superstorm drained Earth's radiation belt

In May 2024, Earth experienced its most intense geomagnetic storm since the Halloween storms of 2003. This "superstorm" filled night skies in many parts of the world with colorful aurorae, and it disrupted some infrastructure, ...

Sep 14, 2026
Phys.org / 40-year-old prediction of how plastics 'mix' confirmed for the first time

A "mixing" phenomenon between plastic layers that had been predicted only in theory for 40 years has now been experimentally confirmed.

Sep 14, 2026