Phys.org news

Phys.org / A star's death throes involve a lot of kicking

When stars like our sun age, they puff up into red giants. Their bubbling outer mass gradually escapes into space, and their remaining cores contract into white dwarfs. Since most stars end their lives this way, the universe ...

Jun 15, 2026
Phys.org / ALMA makes first direct detection of star-forming gas in early galaxies

In the early universe, the first galaxies began to take shape roughly a million years after the Big Bang. Within these young systems, stars formed from vast reservoirs of cold gas, gradually building the structures we see ...

Jun 15, 2026
Phys.org / How plants rush energy to injured tissues to help them heal

A new study finds that plants respond to injury by actively redirecting sugars to damaged tissues, helping fuel the regeneration process. Using a fluorescent sensor to track sugar movement in living plants, researchers have ...

Jun 15, 2026
Phys.org / New imaging technique measures single scramblase proteins, revealing lipid transport rates

A new single-protein analysis technique gives researchers an unprecedented ability to study proteins called scramblases, which have critical roles in biology. The development of the new technique, in a study led by investigators ...

Jun 15, 2026
Phys.org / Plants reveal backup system for sensing and adapting to rising temperatures

University of Mississippi researchers are studying how plants respond to heat at the molecular level, an important consideration for farmers, businesses and policymakers as global temperatures rise.

Jun 15, 2026
Phys.org / Why Arctic sea ice loss could reshape the Gulf Stream's future

The warm Gulf Stream is maintained by coldness. The Barents Sea is a cooling machine. To predict how ocean currents in the Atlantic Ocean may develop, one needs to know what drives them. The hunt for driving forces has led ...

Jun 15, 2026
Phys.org / Some bees cannot escape rising heat, and their tiny homes make crisis even harder

Bee species that nest in plant stems appear to be at the greatest short-term risk from increasing temperatures due to climate change, while those that nest in the ground are better able to evade extreme heat, according to ...

Jun 15, 2026
Phys.org / Only 10 viral particles cause H5N1 avian flu infection in cows

Just 10 viral particles of the H5N1 bird flu that caused hundreds of influenza outbreaks in U.S. dairy cattle can cause infection in cows, a new study shows. The research also hints at why the outbreaks have confounded scientists, ...

Jun 15, 2026
Phys.org / Beyond frozen snapshots, protein 'breathing' comes into view with combined imaging methods

Advances in structural biology have allowed scientists to determine molecular structures with atomic-level detail, sometimes yielding static snapshots that do not reflect the dynamism of proteins. However, these motions are ...

Jun 15, 2026
Phys.org / A waltz over evolutionary timescales: Why it's so hard for animals to invent a new mating dance

"Love makes fools of all of us," wrote 19th-century novelist William Makepeace Thackeray. A moment spent watching the pigeons at your local park suggests he was right: males with puffed-up, shimmering necks hop, pirouette, ...

Jun 15, 2026
Phys.org / Wind patterns play surprising role in tropical rainfall trends

Changes in wind patterns play the leading role in influencing often devastating tropical rainfall changes, rather than simply the warming atmosphere holding more moisture, according to new research.

Jun 15, 2026
Phys.org / Critical cellular system discovery may lead to treatment of some cancers

A molecular geneticist at Montana State University has discovered a cellular process once believed impossible by scientists—the creation of the amino acid cysteine within a living cell when the cell's primary systems for ...

Jun 15, 2026