Phys.org news

Phys.org / Reuniting forcibly separated families: How a machine-learning model can help

Around the world, millions of families have suffered forcible separation, through war, trafficking, natural disasters, or socioeconomic crises. In China, family separation is a particularly large-scale and far-reaching problem. ...

Feb 4, 2026 in Other Sciences
Phys.org / Nanobodies: A cure for treatment-resistant depression depression?

A new study led by the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine's Kirill Martemyanov, Ph.D., and international collaborators highlights a new approach to treating depression that bypasses many limitations of traditional ...

Feb 4, 2026 in Nanotechnology
Phys.org / TESS observations reveal sustained quasi-periodic oscillations in multiple blazars

Quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) are a rare phenomenon in active galactic nuclei. They have been observed to occur at periods ranging from minutes to hours, days, weeks, and even years across the electromagnetic spectrum. ...

Feb 4, 2026 in Astronomy & Space
Phys.org / Stacking the genetic deck: How some plant hybrids beat the odds by erasing lethal genes

In the plant world, when two different species mate, their offspring often don't survive. The reason lies in their DNA: incompatible genes often mix in their offspring, triggering a fatal breakdown known as hybrid lethality ...

Feb 4, 2026 in Biology
Phys.org / How cities primed spotted lanternflies to thrive in the US

Spotted lanternflies are adapting to the pressures of city life such as heat, pollution, and pesticides, according to genomic analyses of the invasive insects in the US and their native China. The findings, published in the ...

Feb 4, 2026 in Biology
Phys.org / Did we just see a black hole explode? Physicists think so—and it could explain (almost) everything

In 2023, a subatomic particle called a neutrino crashed into Earth with such a high amount of energy that it should have been impossible. In fact, there are no known sources anywhere in the universe capable of producing such ...

Feb 3, 2026 in Astronomy & Space
Phys.org / Physicists achieve near-zero friction on macroscopic scales

For the first time, physicists in China have virtually eliminated the friction felt between two surfaces at scales visible to the naked eye. In demonstrating "structural superlubricity," the team, led by Quanshui Zheng at ...

Feb 3, 2026 in Physics
Phys.org / Ultra-thin metasurface can generate and direct quantum entanglement

Quantum technologies, devices and systems that process, store, detect, or transfer information leveraging quantum mechanical effects, have the potential to outperform classical technologies in a variety of tasks. An ongoing ...

Feb 3, 2026 in Physics
Phys.org / Solid, iron-rich megastructure under Hawaii slows seismic waves and may drive plume upwelling

Mantle plumes beneath volcanic hotspots, like Hawaii, Iceland, and the Galapagos, seem to be anchored into a large structure within the core-mantle boundary (CMB). A new study, published in Science Advances, takes a deeper ...

Feb 3, 2026 in Earth
Phys.org / Open-access software tool helps researchers spot fake journals

Research papers in peer-reviewed academic journals are at the heart of academic integrity. New ideas and discoveries are vetted and checked by experts in the field as the boundaries of scientific knowledge are pushed forward. ...

Feb 3, 2026 in Other Sciences
Phys.org / JWST discovers a new extremely metal-poor dwarf galaxy

Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers have discovered a new dwarf galaxy, which received designation CAPERS-39810. Further investigation of CAPERS-39810 revealed that it is an extremely metal-poor galaxy. ...

Feb 3, 2026 in Astronomy & Space
Phys.org / Weight-loss drugs are creating an environmental disaster—a new water-based method aims to change that

The world is in the middle of a peptide drug revolution. These short chains of amino acids—the building blocks of proteins—sit at the heart of some of the most successful medicines ever created, from weight-loss injections ...

Feb 3, 2026 in Chemistry