Phys.org news

Phys.org / New optogenetic tool inhibits activity in neurons and heart muscle cells

Researchers from Ruhr University Bochum have partnered with colleagues in Göttingen, Berlin, Paris and Essen to develop new optogenetic tools that can selectively inhibit cellular activity through light. These tools could ...

Oct 21, 2026
Phys.org / Ultrafast light can control ferromagnetism without relying on heating

Despite being known for more mundane uses such as sticking notes to refrigerators or keeping bags shut, magnetization is one of the most fundamental and useful properties of a material. Indeed, it forms the physical basis ...

Oct 21, 2026
Phys.org / Compulsive social media use is linked with wanting closeness but fearing reliance on others

Compulsive use of social media may be associated with a strong desire for reassurance among people who are afraid to rely on others and engage in face-to-face interactions, according to a study published Oct. 21, 2026, in ...

Oct 21, 2026
Phys.org / Perovskite laser maintains stable performance over 400 million pulses

In a study published in Advanced Optical Materials, researchers at Vilnius University (VU) demonstrated perovskite-based laser structures that maintained stable performance over more than 400 million pulses. Their findings ...

Oct 21, 2026
Phys.org / AI listens to bee buzzes to monitor activity without lethal traps

Populations of many pollinators, including bumblebees, have been crashing over the last few decades, thanks to the widespread use of chemical pesticides, loss of habitat and the acceleration of climate change. But it can ...

Oct 21, 2026
Phys.org / Laser-made lattice reveals discrete light solitons in tunable atomic vapor

Scientists from the Quantum Technologies Group at the Institute of Physics Zagreb, in collaboration with a colleague from the Physics Department at the Faculty of Science (PMF), have experimentally demonstrated for the first ...

Oct 21, 2026
Phys.org / Ancient fish bones reveal how Arctic cod species survived the last ice age

The glacial Arctic Ocean was not a barren ice desert but a breeding ground for the evolution of cold adaptation in marine fish. This is the main conclusion of a new scientific publication from Stockholm University that examines ...

Oct 21, 2026
Phys.org / The ocean's most abundant 'loner' microbe has a sticky second life

The oxygen in about every other breath we take comes from microscopic cells—phytoplankton—drifting in the surface of the ocean. Among them is Prochlorococcus, the smallest and most abundant photosynthetic organism in the ...

Oct 21, 2026
Phys.org / AI designs functional enzyme components that could help expand drug discovery

New active ingredients for drugs to treat infections, cancer or other serious diseases are often based on substances originally discovered in microorganisms, plants or other living organisms. Producing or improving such active ...

Oct 21, 2026
Phys.org / Serengeti hyenas manage to keep clans stable as climate change alters animal migrations

Although the main prey of spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta), migratory ungulates such as blue wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus), now spend substantially less time within hyena territories than they did 30 years ago, hyena ...

Oct 21, 2026
Phys.org / Swiss barn owls are gradually changing color

Over the past 30 years, Swiss barn owls have become more reddish-brown and more heavily spotted. By analyzing the genomes of more than 3,000 birds, scientists at the University of Lausanne identified the genetic variants ...

Oct 21, 2026
Phys.org / Astronomers uncover the engine behind the most powerful stellar flares in the Kepler field

A new study led by researchers at the Konkoly Observatory of the HUN-REN Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences (HUN-REN CSFK) in Budapest has revealed what makes a distant red giant star the most explosively active ...

Oct 21, 2026