Phys.org news

Phys.org / Overlooked hydrogen emissions are heating Earth and supercharging methane, research finds

Rising global emissions of hydrogen over the past three decades have added to the planet's warming temperatures and amplified the impact of methane, one of the most potent greenhouse gases, according to new research published ...

Dec 17, 2025 in Earth
Phys.org / Gut bacteria rapidly adapt to digest starches in ultra-processed foods, study finds

Gut bacteria evolve rapidly in response to different diets, UCLA evolutionary biologists report in a new study. The researchers found that gene variants that help microbes digest starches found in ultra-processed foods have ...

Dec 17, 2025 in Biology
Phys.org / The perfect polymer? Plant-based plastic is fully saltwater degradable and leaves behind zero microplastics

Researchers led by Takuzo Aida at the RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science (CEMS) in Japan have one-upped themselves in their quest to solve our microplastic problem.

Dec 17, 2025 in Chemistry
Phys.org / Shortest light pulse ever created captures ultrafast electron dynamics

Electrons determine everything: how chemical reactions unfold, how materials conduct electricity, how biological molecules transfer energy, and how quantum technologies operate. But electron dynamics happens on attosecond ...

Dec 17, 2025 in Physics
Phys.org / One and done is not enough: Study challenges traditional evolutionary research

Every living being must cope with a changing world—summer gives way to winter, one year it floods and the next is a drought. It's obvious that populations of plants and animals must constantly face new challenges, says ...

Dec 17, 2025 in Biology
Phys.org / Prehistoric elephant footprints documented for first time in Murcia's fossil dunes

An international team, involving researchers from the University of Seville, the Andalusian Institute of Earth Sciences in Granada and the University of Huelva, has identified the first fossilized vertebrate footprints from ...

Dec 17, 2025 in Biology
Phys.org / Saturn's biggest moon might not have an ocean after all

Careful reanalysis of data from more than a decade ago indicates that Saturn's biggest moon, Titan, does not have a vast ocean beneath its icy surface, as suggested previously. Instead, a journey below the frozen exterior ...

Dec 17, 2025 in Astronomy & Space
Phys.org / Bronze Age DNA from Calabria reveals a distinct mountain community

An international team of researchers led by scientists from the Max Planck Harvard Research Center for the Ancient Mediterranean (Leipzig, Germany) and the University of Bologna (Italy) has reconstructed, for the first time, ...

Dec 17, 2025 in Other Sciences
Phys.org / An 'origami' airless wheel to explore lunar caves

A joint research team from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and the Unmanned Exploration Laboratory (UEL) has developed a transformative wheel capable of navigating the moon's most extreme terrains, ...

Dec 17, 2025 in Astronomy & Space
Phys.org / 13 years of detailed US CO₂ emissions data released

New research from Northern Arizona University shows detailed CO2 emissions for the United States from 2010 to 2022.

Dec 17, 2025 in Earth
Phys.org / Perseverance Mars rover ready to roll for miles in years ahead

After nearly five years on Mars, NASA's Perseverance rover has traveled almost 25 miles (40 kilometers), and the mission team has been busy testing the rover's durability and gathering new science findings on the way to a ...

Dec 17, 2025 in Astronomy & Space
Phys.org / Rate of US coastal sea level rise doubled in the past century, study finds

A July 2025 report from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) claims that U.S. tide gauge measurements "in aggregate show no obvious acceleration in sea level rise beyond the historical average rate." However, a new study by ...

Dec 17, 2025 in Earth