Phys.org news

Phys.org / DNA provides a solution to our enormous data storage problem

Since the dawn of the computer age, researchers have wrestled with two persistent challenges: how to store ever-increasing reams of data and how to protect that information from unintended access. Now, researchers with Arizona ...

Feb 5, 2026 in Nanotechnology
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 ...

Feb 5, 2026 in Earth
Phys.org / MXenes for energy storage: More versatile than expected

MXene materials are promising candidates for a new energy storage technology. However, the processes by which the charge storage takes place were not yet fully understood. A team at HZB has examined, for the first time, individual ...

Feb 5, 2026 in Nanotechnology
Phys.org / Surgery for quantum bits: Bit-flip errors corrected during superconducting qubit operations

Quantum computers hold great promise for exciting applications in the future, but for now they keep presenting physicists and engineers with a series of challenges and conundrums. One of them relates to decoherence and the ...

Feb 5, 2026 in Physics
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 ...

Feb 5, 2026 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 ...

Feb 5, 2026 in Chemistry
Phys.org / Skua deaths mark first wildlife die-off due to avian flu on Antarctica

More than 50 skuas in Antarctica died from the high pathogenicity avian influenza virus H5N1 in the summers of 2023 and 2024, marking the first documented die-off of wildlife from the virus on the continent. That is confirmed ...

Feb 5, 2026 in Biology
Phys.org / Philadelphia communities help AI machine learning get better at spotting gentrification

Over the last several decades, urban planners and municipalities have sought to identify and better manage the socioeconomic dynamics associated with rapid development in established neighborhoods. The term "gentrification" ...

Feb 5, 2026 in Other Sciences
Phys.org / Listening to polymers collapse: 'Water bridges' pull the strings

It is not easy to follow the interactions of large molecules with water in real time. But this can be easier to hear than to see. This is how an international team deciphered the role of water in the collapse of PNIPAM.

Feb 5, 2026 in Chemistry
Phys.org / A smarter way to watch biology at work: Microfluidic droplet injector drastically cuts sample consumption

Watching proteins move as they drive the chemical reactions that sustain life is one of the grand challenges of modern biology. In recent years, X-ray free-electron lasers, or XFELs, have begun to meet that challenge, capturing ...

Feb 5, 2026 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 ...

Feb 5, 2026 in Biology
Phys.org / 2018 Kīlauea earthquake may have stalled fault's slow slip for decades

The magnitude 6.9 earthquake that took place in 2018 on the south flank of Kīlauea on the Island of Hawaiʻi may have stalled episodes of periodic slow slip along a major fault underlying the volcano, according to a new ...

Feb 5, 2026 in Earth