Phys.org news

Phys.org / New photonic crystal method improves single-photon sources for quantum networks

Quantum communication promises many advantages over today's standard technologies, including absolutely secure transmission of large amounts of data. However, it requires single photons—and generating them is very difficult. ...

1 hour ago
Phys.org / Deep-learning approach rapidly predicts where metals bind within proteins

In the living world, roughly a third of all proteins we know rely on metals to function. Zinc helps enzymes break down molecules, iron helps carry oxygen in the blood, calcium helps relay signals in cells and potassium flows ...

2 hours ago
Phys.org / Layered rock in India shows potential signs of microbial life dating to 3.5 billion years ago

A team of researchers reports that they may have found rock containing some of the earliest forms of microbial life on Earth. Their study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, describes the biosignatures ...

7 hours ago
Phys.org / Secrets of a mystery mammal from Patagonia revealed at last

Eight years of painstaking research on the virtually unknown Wolffsohn's viscacha have helped to shine the spotlight on this super-rare South American rodent and catalyze the conservation action it so urgently needs.

3 hours ago
Phys.org / Sound-based traps reveal how fragile biomolecular droplets move, merge and change stiffness

Being able to measure something plays a vital role in our ability to understand many phenomena. But measuring can often affect what we are trying to measure. This is particularly the case when measuring substances that are ...

3 hours ago
Phys.org / NASA's LRO images Falcon 9 crater on moon, learns new details

Between Aug. 11–12, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) captured a series of images of a new crater on the moon. The crater formed Aug. 5, when a SpaceX Falcon 9 upper stage impacted the surface following its Jan. 2025 ...

1 hour ago
Phys.org / Climate doom may discourage climate action, but there's a way to counter it

Every summer is getting hotter. Wildfires are blazing, and the worst is yet to come. There's nothing to be done—we're doomed! Sound familiar?

3 hours ago
Phys.org / Scientists 'see' nanoscale forces, providing evidence of electric fields at the air‑water interface

Bubbles are round, and we know surface tension does that. But squeeze that gas-liquid boundary into a space only a few tens of nanometers wide—could other forces be at work?

3 hours ago
Phys.org / 'Switchable' smart gel may pave way for next-gen drug delivery and sensing tech

University of Birmingham scientists have developed a new material that changes from a gel to a liquid-like state under ultraviolet light and can be rebuilt using heat or dismantled by acid.

2 hours ago
Phys.org / Existing drug could treat invasive canine oral tumors

A benign but invasive canine oral cancer is often mistaken for a similar malignant one, leading to misdiagnoses in close to a third of cases. But a new diagnostic tool can now distinguish between the two, according to a new ...

1 hour ago
Phys.org / Experiment shows how AI discoveries can shape human cultural evolution

Artificial intelligence can develop solutions that humans would be unlikely to discover on their own. But what happens when machines do more than solve individual problems and actually discover entirely new solution strategies? ...

4 hours ago
Phys.org / Genome-folding complex reveals a mechanism that helps establish neuron identity

A functional nervous system depends on the cooperation of many kinds of cells. As developing organisms build their nervous systems, their neurons must take on different forms and functions to fulfill their designated roles. ...

3 hours ago