Phys.org news

Phys.org / Nature-inspired 'POMbranes' could transform water recycling in textile and pharma industries

Scientists have collaborated to develop a new class of highly precise filtration membranes. The research, published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, could significantly reduce energy consumption and enable ...

Jan 21, 2026 in Nanotechnology
Phys.org / A wild potato that changed the story of agriculture in the American Southwest

Starchy residue preserved in ancient stone tools may rewrite the story of crop domestication in the American Southwest, according to research led by the University of Utah.

Jan 21, 2026 in Other Sciences
Phys.org / Innovative optical atomic clock could combine single-ion accuracy with multi-ion stability

For many years, cesium atomic clocks have been reliably keeping time around the world. But the future belongs to even more accurate clocks: optical atomic clocks. In a few years' time, they could change the definition of ...

Jan 21, 2026 in Physics
Phys.org / Scientists design molecules 'backward' to speed up discovery

Every medication in your cabinet, every material in your phone's battery, and virtually every compound that makes modern life work started as a molecular guess, with scientists hypothesizing that a particular arrangement ...

Jan 21, 2026 in Chemistry
Phys.org / Iron Age dental plaque reveals Scythians consumed milk from horses and ruminants

Researchers have deciphered the diet of an important nomadic people in Eastern European history. By analyzing dental calculus, they have provided the first direct evidence that the diet of the Scythians included milk from ...

Jan 21, 2026 in Other Sciences
Phys.org / Using magnetic frustration to probe new quantum possibilities

Research in the lab of UC Santa Barbara materials professor Stephen Wilson is focused on understanding the fundamental physics behind unusual states of matter and developing materials that can host the kinds of properties ...

Jan 21, 2026 in Physics
Phys.org / Sweetening the deal for sustainability, while removing carbon dioxide

Here's a novel pathway to a more sustainable planet: carbo-loading for the public good. In a new study published in Nature Synthesis, chemists at Yale and the University of California-Berkeley have developed a two-step process ...

Jan 21, 2026 in Chemistry
Phys.org / AI helps find trees in a forest: Researchers achieve 3D forest reconstruction from remote sensing data

Existing algorithms can partially reconstruct the shape of a single tree from a clean point-cloud dataset acquired by laser-scanning technologies. Doing the same with forest data has proven far more difficult. But now a team ...

Jan 21, 2026 in Biology
Phys.org / Strategic sex: Alaska's beluga whales swap mates for long-term survival

In the icy waters of Alaska's Bristol Bay, a new study reveals how a small population of beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas) survive the long haul through a surprising strategy: they mate with multiple partners over several ...

Jan 21, 2026 in Biology
Phys.org / Single enzyme found to control formation of immune cells critical for health

A new study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, its Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that an enzyme involved in protein ...

Jan 21, 2026 in Biology
Phys.org / Rye pollen's cancer-fighting structure revealed for first time

Nearly three decades ago, scientists found that a pair of molecules in rye pollen exhibited an unusual ability to slow tumor growth in animal models of cancer. But progress stalled for one seemingly simple reason: No one ...

Jan 21, 2026 in Chemistry
Phys.org / US forests store record carbon as natural and human factors combine

U.S. forests have stored more carbon in the past two decades than at any time in the last century, an increase attributable to a mix of natural factors and human activity, finds a new study.

Jan 21, 2026 in Earth