Phys.org news

Phys.org / Nanobodies: A cure for treatment-resistant depression depression?

A new study led by the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine's Kirill Martemyanov, Ph.D., and international collaborators highlights a new approach to treating depression that bypasses many limitations of traditional ...

Feb 4, 2026 in Nanotechnology
Phys.org / A minimalist bacterial defense strategy: Scientists discover single protein that disrupts viral assembly

University of Toronto researchers have expanded our understanding of bacterial immunity with the discovery of a new protein that can both sense and counteract viral infections. In the study, published in Nature, researchers ...

Feb 4, 2026 in Biology
Phys.org / Experiments with 1,600 volunteers link social exclusion to higher interest in gossip

Ages ago, when societies were organized around small villages, a person's security and sense of belonging depended partly on how close they were to the village chiefs and elders. If the village was attacked, those closest ...

Feb 4, 2026 in Other Sciences
Phys.org / Researchers uncover a one-hour 'crown' checkpoint that enables malaria reproduction

A new study has uncovered a hidden step that helps the deadliest malaria parasite survive and multiply inside the human body. Researchers studying Plasmodium falciparum found that the parasite relies on a brief but essential ...

Feb 4, 2026 in Biology
Phys.org / Stacking the genetic deck: How some plant hybrids beat the odds by erasing lethal genes

In the plant world, when two different species mate, their offspring often don't survive. The reason lies in their DNA: incompatible genes often mix in their offspring, triggering a fatal breakdown known as hybrid lethality ...

Feb 4, 2026 in Biology
Phys.org / TESS observations reveal sustained quasi-periodic oscillations in multiple blazars

Quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) are a rare phenomenon in active galactic nuclei. They have been observed to occur at periods ranging from minutes to hours, days, weeks, and even years across the electromagnetic spectrum. ...

Feb 4, 2026 in Astronomy & Space
Phys.org / Reuniting forcibly separated families: How a machine-learning model can help

Around the world, millions of families have suffered forcible separation, through war, trafficking, natural disasters, or socioeconomic crises. In China, family separation is a particularly large-scale and far-reaching problem. ...

Feb 4, 2026 in Other Sciences
Phys.org / How cities primed spotted lanternflies to thrive in the US

Spotted lanternflies are adapting to the pressures of city life such as heat, pollution, and pesticides, according to genomic analyses of the invasive insects in the US and their native China. The findings, published in the ...

Feb 4, 2026 in Biology
Phys.org / Did we just see a black hole explode? Physicists think so—and it could explain (almost) everything

In 2023, a subatomic particle called a neutrino crashed into Earth with such a high amount of energy that it should have been impossible. In fact, there are no known sources anywhere in the universe capable of producing such ...

Feb 3, 2026 in Astronomy & Space
Phys.org / Ultra-thin metasurface can generate and direct quantum entanglement

Quantum technologies, devices and systems that process, store, detect, or transfer information leveraging quantum mechanical effects, have the potential to outperform classical technologies in a variety of tasks. An ongoing ...

Feb 3, 2026 in Physics
Phys.org / Physicists achieve near-zero friction on macroscopic scales

For the first time, physicists in China have virtually eliminated the friction felt between two surfaces at scales visible to the naked eye. In demonstrating "structural superlubricity," the team, led by Quanshui Zheng at ...

Feb 3, 2026 in Physics
Phys.org / Open-access software tool helps researchers spot fake journals

Research papers in peer-reviewed academic journals are at the heart of academic integrity. New ideas and discoveries are vetted and checked by experts in the field as the boundaries of scientific knowledge are pushed forward. ...

Feb 3, 2026 in Other Sciences