Phys.org news

Dialog / Hydroclimate whiplash damages California's tallest redwoods after years of drought

Tall trees are generally associated with high-biomass forests. This is particularly true for forests dominated by Sequoia sempervirens (hereafter redwood), the world's tallest tree species. Extreme decay resistance, the ability ...

Aug 25, 2026
Phys.org / JWST reveals a race against time for forming planets

Planets form from disks of gas and dust around young stars, but the gas needed for growth does not last forever. New observations from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) now offer a new view of how this gas escapes ...

Aug 25, 2026
Phys.org / Sound waves do double duty, carrying and protecting quantum information

Researchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have demonstrated a promising new way to protect fragile quantum information using nothing but mechanical vibrations—essentially ...

Aug 25, 2026
Phys.org / Machine learning method uncovers hidden patterns in DNA methylation

In a study recently published in Nature Communications, researchers from Berlin, Potsdam, and Jena present a new method for analyzing the epigenome. The machine-learning method identifies differentially methylated DNA regions ...

Aug 25, 2026
Phys.org / A near extinct plant in Galápagos is now recovering

A 30-year conservation effort has helped the critically endangered Galápagos snapdragon (Galvezia leucantha subsp. leucantha) recover from just six individuals to a small, carefully tended wild population. Following tireless ...

Aug 25, 2026
Phys.org / Cow gut enzyme could help target bacterial biofilms and antibiotic-resistant infections

The bacterium Acinetobacter baumannii poses a substantial threat in health care settings, readily forming biofilms on wounds and medical surfaces and contributing to persistent infections and delayed healing. Its growing ...

Aug 25, 2026
Phys.org / Scientists unlock 'ancestral code' of banana family

Scientists have recently reconstructed the ancestral karyotype of the banana family, revealing how chromosome numbers decreased stepwise from 17 to 9–11 over evolutionary time.

Aug 25, 2026
Phys.org / Forty forest drought experiments reveal trees show little physiological acclimation

Forests support much of the world's biodiversity and play a vital role in regulating Earth's climate, but they are increasingly exposed to drought. To understand the potential consequences of drought, a key question is whether ...

Aug 25, 2026
Phys.org / Using plutonium to probe the universe: Magneto‑ν experiment advances dark matter and neutrino research

Astronomers can't see dark matter directly, but they know it's there: Its gravity shapes galaxies and the large-scale structure of the cosmos. In an effort to uncover the composition of this hidden mass, a team at Lawrence ...

Aug 25, 2026
Phys.org / Chemical physicists quantitatively model electron interactions in real quantum materials

A team of scientists from Caltech and Yale University has shown for the first time how to accurately quantify an important quantum phenomenon in metals, called the Kondo effect, for specific real materials. Unlike previous ...

Aug 25, 2026
Phys.org / Moving turtle nests to save the eggs can have hidden consequences

Moving threatened sea turtle nests to cooler, safer parts of the beach can save entire clutches from rising tides and extreme heat, but new research suggests it may have hidden consequences for the hatchlings that emerge.

Aug 25, 2026
Phys.org / Rare medieval manuscript fragments reveal Guernsey's lost literary history

Seventeen medieval manuscript fragments have been identified in Guernsey with support from Kent manuscript expert Dr. David Rundle, offering an unprecedented insight into the island's literary and intellectual life during ...

Aug 25, 2026