Phys.org news

Phys.org / Lifting magnetic fingerprints using scanning probe microscopy

A Czech and Spanish-led research team has demonstrated the ability to distinguish subtle differences between magnetic ground states using a new form of scanning probe microscopy.

Jan 19, 2026 in Nanotechnology
Phys.org / Deadly to amphibians, a fungal strain emerged in Brazil and spread around the world

The chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis), or Bd for short, is considered one of the causes of the worldwide decline in amphibian populations. In recent years, researchers have identified different genetic strains ...

Jan 19, 2026 in Biology
Phys.org / Calm seas can drive coral bleaching, research reveals

New research by Monash University and the ARC Center of Excellence for the Weather of the 21st Century analyzed close to three decades of weather data during the coral bleaching season and identified the prevalence of "doldrum ...

Jan 19, 2026 in Earth
Phys.org / 'Supercooling' keeps salamanders from freezing in Canadian winters

On a frigid April day, Brock University Professor of Biological Sciences Glenn Tattersall, then-Ph.D. student Danilo Giacometti and wildlife researcher Patrick Moldowan ventured out into Ontario's Algonquin Provincial Park ...

Jan 19, 2026 in Biology
Phys.org / COVID-era trick could transform drug and chemical discovery

Laboratories turned to a smart workaround when COVID‑19 testing kits became scarce in 2020. They mixed samples from several patients and ran a single test. If the test came back negative, everyone in it was cleared at once. ...

Jan 19, 2026 in Chemistry
Phys.org / Scientists uncover hidden 'winter memory' inside plants

Scientists have developed a powerful new microscope that reveals, for the first time, how plants store a 'memory' of winter deep inside their cells.

Jan 19, 2026 in Biology
Phys.org / Japan Trench geology confirmed as key driver of 2011 megaquake

Geologists from Heriot-Watt are part of an international research team that has confirmed why the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake off northeast Japan behaved in such an extreme and destructive way.

Jan 19, 2026 in Earth
Phys.org / Seychelles leads the way in the protection of sharks and rays, finds study

A new study published in Ecology and Evolution has evaluated the extent to which recently identified Important Shark and Ray Areas (ISRAs) in the Western Indian Ocean overlap with existing marine protected areas.

Jan 19, 2026 in Biology
Phys.org / 3D mapping of fault beneath Marmara Sea reveals likely sites for future earthquakes

According to researchers from Science Tokyo, a new three-dimensional model of the fault beneath the Marmara Sea in Turkey reveals where a future major earthquake could take place. Using electromagnetic measurements, the team ...

Jan 19, 2026 in Earth
Phys.org / World's smallest capacitor paves way for next-generation quantum metrology

Nanomechanical systems developed at TU Wien have now reached a level of precision and miniaturization that will allow them to be used in ultra-high-resolution atomic force microscopes in the future. Their new findings are ...

Jan 19, 2026 in Nanotechnology
Phys.org / Golden Gate method enables fully-synthetic engineering of therapeutically relevant bacteriophages

Bacteriophages have been used therapeutically to treat infectious bacterial diseases for over a century. As antibiotic-resistant infections increasingly threaten public health, interest in bacteriophages as therapeutics has ...

Jan 19, 2026 in Biology
Phys.org / Mercury's BepiColombo Mio and Earth's GEOTAIL show shared wave frequency properties across planetary magnetospheres

An international team from Kanazawa University (Japan), Tohoku University (Japan), LPP (France), and partners has demonstrated that chorus emissions, natural electromagnetic waves long studied in Earth's magnetosphere, also ...

Jan 19, 2026 in Astronomy & Space