Phys.org news

Phys.org / Removing livestock from grasslands could compromise long-term soil carbon storage

Removing sheep and other livestock entirely from upland grasslands—a strategy often promoted as a way to boost carbon storage and tackle climate change—may actually reduce the most stable forms of soil carbon, according ...

Feb 2, 2026 in Biology
Dialog / Infrared running of gravity offers a field-theoretic route to dark matter phenomena

The mystery of dark matter—unseen, pervasive, and essential in standard cosmology—has loomed over physics for decades. In new research, I explore a different possibility: Rather than postulating new particles, I propose ...

Feb 2, 2026 in Astronomy & Space
Phys.org / Focusing and defocusing light without a lens: First demonstration of the structured Montgomery effect in free space

Applied physicists in the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have demonstrated a new way to structure light in custom, repeatable, three-dimensional patterns, all without the use of ...

Feb 2, 2026 in Physics
Phys.org / Jupiter's slimmer profile: Giant planet revealed to be narrower at equator

For over 50 years, we thought we knew the size and shape of Jupiter, the solar system's largest planet. Now, Weizmann Institute of Science researchers have revised that knowledge using new data and technology. In a new study ...

Feb 2, 2026 in Astronomy & Space
Phys.org / Tiny new dinosaur Foskeia pelendonum fills in an evolutionary gap

An international team has described Foskeia pelendonum, a tiny Early Cretaceous ornithopod from Vegagete (Burgos, Spain), measuring barely half a meter long. Led by Paul-Emile Dieudonné (National University of Río Negro, ...

Feb 2, 2026 in Biology
Phys.org / Some tropical land may heat up nearly twice as much as oceans under climate change, sediment record suggests

Some tropical land regions may warm more dramatically than previously predicted, as climate change progresses, according to a new CU Boulder study that looks millions of years into Earth's past. Using lake sediments from ...

Feb 2, 2026 in Earth
Phys.org / Cells adapt to aging by actively remodeling endoplasmic reticulum, study reveals

Improvements in public health have allowed humankind to survive to older ages than ever before, but, for many people, these added golden years are not spent in good health. Aging is a natural part of life, but it is associated ...

Feb 2, 2026 in Biology
Phys.org / Biochemists find solution that lets bacteriophages bypass bacterial immunity

Antimicrobial resistance—when bacteria and fungi defend themselves against the drugs designed to kill them—is an urgent threat to global public health, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. To combat ...

Feb 2, 2026 in Chemistry
Phys.org / Unexpected climate feedback links Antarctic ice sheet with reduced carbon uptake

A study in Nature Geoscience reveals that changes in the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) closely tracked marine algae growth in the Southern Ocean over previous glacial cycles, but not in the way scientists expected. The ...

Feb 2, 2026 in Earth
Phys.org / Machine learning accelerates plasma mirror design for high-power lasers

Plasma mirrors capable of withstanding the intensity of powerful lasers are being designed through an emerging machine learning framework. Researchers in Physics and Computer Science at the University of Strathclyde have ...

Feb 2, 2026 in Physics
Phys.org / Natural magnetic materials can control light in unprecedented ways

Imagine shining a flashlight into a material and watching the light bend backward—or in an entirely unexpected direction—as if defying the law of physics. This phenomenon, known as negative refraction, could transform ...

Feb 2, 2026 in Physics
Phys.org / Bubble bots: Simple biocompatible microrobots autonomously target tumors

The potential of microrobots is enormous. These miniature objects can be designed to carry out actions within the body, such as sensing biomarkers, manipulating objects like blood clots, or delivering drug therapies to tumor ...

Feb 2, 2026 in Nanotechnology