Phys.org news

Phys.org / When lasers cross: A brighter way to measure plasma

Measuring conditions in volatile clouds of superheated gases known as plasmas is central to pursuing greater scientific understanding of how stars, nuclear detonations and fusion energy work. For decades, scientists have ...

5 hours ago in Physics
Phys.org / Live-cell tracking reveals dynamic interaction between protein folding helpers and newly produced proteins

Proteins are the molecular machines of cells. They are produced in protein factories called ribosomes based on their blueprint—the genetic information. Here, the basic building blocks of proteins, amino acids, are assembled ...

6 hours ago in Biology
Phys.org / CRISPR screen maps 250 genes essential for human muscle fiber formation

Muscles make up nearly 40% of the human body and power every move we make, from a child's first steps to recovery after injury. For some, however, muscle development goes awry, leading to weakness, delayed motor milestones ...

7 hours ago in Biology
Phys.org / Seeds 'listen' to mom: Study finds mother plants send ABA hormone signals that set seed dormancy

Whatever challenges life throws, mothers often know best as they guide offspring through the risky stages of early development. This scenario, familiar when applied to humans, turns out to be true for plants too, according ...

7 hours ago in Biology
Phys.org / Ancient bird routes mapped via plant diversity

It's not what they intended to do or expected to find. They're not even all that interested in birds. When Andre Naranjo and his colleagues began work on a new study published in the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, ...

7 hours ago in Biology
Phys.org / Faster enzyme screening could cut biocatalysis bottlenecks in drug development

A team of biochemists at the University of California, Santa Cruz, has developed a faster way to identify molecules in the lab that could lead to more effective pharmaceuticals. The discovery advances the rapidly growing ...

6 hours ago in Chemistry
Phys.org / When Earth's magnetic field took its time flipping

Earth's magnetic field is generated by the churn of its liquid nickel-iron outer core, but it is not a constant feature. Every so often, the magnetic north and south poles swap places in what are called geomagnetic reversals, ...

7 hours ago in Astronomy & Space
Phys.org / The compleximer: New type of plastic mixes glass-like shaping with impact resistance

Researchers at Wageningen University & Research have developed a new type of plastic that, according to materials theory, should not be able to exist. Its properties sit somewhere between those of glass and plastic: it is ...

8 hours ago in Chemistry
Phys.org / A new comet was just discovered. Will it be visible in broad daylight?

A newly discovered comet has astronomers excited, with the potential to be a spectacular sight in early April. C/2026 A1 (MAPS) was spotted by a team of four amateur astronomers with a remotely operated telescope in the Atacama ...

9 hours ago in Astronomy & Space
Phys.org / Increasing pesticide toxicity threatens global biodiversity protection goal: Only one country is currently on target

At the 15th UN Biodiversity Conference (COP15) in Montreal, Canada, in 2022, nations committed to reducing the risks associated with pesticide use in agriculture by 50% by 2030. A new study by a research team from RPTUKaiserslautern-Landau, ...

8 hours ago in Biology
Phys.org / Global map catalogs 459 rare continental mantle earthquakes since 1990

Stanford researchers have created the first-ever global map of a rare earthquake type that occurs not in Earth's crust but in our planet's mantle, the layer sandwiched between the thin crust and Earth's molten core. The new ...

8 hours ago in Earth
Phys.org / Scientists explain why methane spiked in the early 2020s

A combination of weakened atmospheric removal and increased emissions from warming wetlands, rivers, lakes, and agricultural land increased atmospheric methane at an unprecedented rate in the early 2020s, an international ...

8 hours ago in Earth