Phys.org news

When Blue Origin's New Glenn launch vehicle accidentally exploded during a static test fire in May 2026, the explosion generated low frequency soundwaves below the range of human hearing.

RNA-based therapeutics use RNA as a blueprint that enables cells to produce specific proteins—including proteins that can precisely modify genes. For this to work, the RNA must reach the inside of the cell intact. Delivery ...

It's a small, simple ring made of copper alloy and engraved with a handful of Greek letters and the image of a pottery vessel. But its unremarkable appearance belies a remarkable history: The signet was likely connected in ...

A good adhesive is unequivocally sticky. A great adhesive is sticky until you don't want it to be sticky anymore—a label on cardboard until it's time to recycle it. Medical tape on a cut until the wound heals. A GWAR poster ...

Inside some fusion energy systems, particles hotter than the core of the sun can become unruly in a few thousandths of a second, far faster than any human operator can react. A new software framework developed by researchers ...

Copper roofs lose their reddish color over time because a pale green layer of copper oxide forms on their surface, protecting the roof from further corrosion for many years. But what exactly happens during the first steps ...

We often think of microbes as organisms that live around us, like the Salmonella bacteria and flu viruses that cause illness. But some of our most intimate relationships are with the microbes living inside us.

As proteins are made in a cell, they are folded into the 3D structure that allows them to work, but sometimes this process can go wrong. When it does, the misfolded proteins lose some or all of their function and usually ...

Astronomers at Lund University in Sweden have found evidence of exocomets—comets in other solar systems—orbiting a young star similar to our sun. The observations point to a possible mechanism for how water might be transported ...

Imagine a construction site where the bricks are individual molecules and the "cranes" are microscopic needles so sharp they can feel a single atom. For decades, building at this scale was a laborious, time-consuming task ...

High above Earth, thin veils of metallic haze drift through the edge of space. Known as sporadic E layers, these high-altitude "clouds" form from the vaporized dust of burned-up meteors, earning their name from the unpredictable ...

Is a kiss just a kiss? Or is it a sign of love, affection, a biological urge, a contract or even an assault? Law, history, evolution and anthropology show that it can be all those things.