Phys.org news

Phys.org / Microbes—dead or alive—can be early indicators of soil health under regenerative farming

Researchers have demonstrated a series of biological tests that could serve as "proxies" for measuring how different regenerative agriculture practices could improve soil carbon—years before it would be possible to measure ...

Sep 3, 2026
Phys.org / Bacterial nanoplatform reprograms spleen immune cells to help prevent cancer recurrence

A research team led by Professor Yong Taik Lim at the SKKU Advanced Institute of Nanotechnology (SAINT), Sungkyunkwan University, have developed an engineered nanoplatform named t-SMC (trained immunity-mediated splenic myelopoiesis ...

Sep 3, 2026
Phys.org / 'Power of disorder' tames CF₄, a semiconductor greenhouse gas that can persist for 50,000 years

Among the gases used in semiconductor manufacturing, tetrafluoromethane (CF₄) is a greenhouse gas more than 6,000 times as potent as carbon dioxide.

Sep 3, 2026
Phys.org / Nanoscale multiferroic materials open the path to efficient magnetic memory technology

With the rapid spread of cloud computing, artificial intelligence and data centers, global energy consumption is rising to new heights. A promising way to reduce this burden is to develop memory devices that store information ...

Sep 3, 2026
Phys.org / Underwater meadows sustain millions in extreme poverty

A study provides the first large-scale empirical evidence that seagrass meadows act as a critical safety net for millions of coastal people living in extreme poverty across the Indo-Pacific.

Sep 3, 2026
Phys.org / Heavy water's atmospheric fingerprints boost weather forecasts for up to five days

Weather forecasts rely on many different kinds of data, including temperature, humidity and wind. For the first time, researchers, including those at the University of Tokyo, have demonstrated that a long-theorized improvement ...

Sep 3, 2026
Phys.org / 'Green thumb' molecule helps leaf stalks grow in crowded conditions

Potassium (K) is one of the three essential nutrients for plants. It plays a critical role in a wide range of processes, including cell growth, photosynthesis and regulation of water balance. Plants take up K from the soil ...

Sep 3, 2026
Phys.org / Microbial 'dark matter' yields 173 potential carbon dioxide-fixing strains

There are millions of species of bacteria and archaea on Earth, remarkably little is known about most of them. Now, researchers have mined the genomes of thousands of microorganisms preserved at the RIKEN BioResource Research ...

Sep 3, 2026
Phys.org / Built to last or break down: Ring size tunes biodegradable plastic lifetimes

Biodegradable plastics should be tough enough for use yet able to break down at an appropriate rate afterward. Researchers at the University of Osaka show that changing the size of rings threaded onto a biodegradable polymer ...

Sep 3, 2026
Phys.org / How stressed cells put the brakes on protein 'shipping'

Cells synthesize proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), and these proteins are transported to the Golgi apparatus for distribution to their ultimate destinations inside and outside the cell. The structures that transport ...

Sep 3, 2026
Phys.org / Chimpanzees have accents too, study finds

A study has found that young chimpanzees develop distinct population-specific vocal patterns as they mature (ontogeny), challenging the long-held assumption that their calls are inflexible and determined solely by genetics. ...

Sep 3, 2026
Phys.org / Predictive tools can confuse rare mutations with dangerous ones

When a patient's DNA is read, it is compared with a reference version of the human genome. This allows geneticists and rare disease experts to look at a list of places where the patient's DNA differs. Most variations will ...

Sep 3, 2026