Phys.org news

Phys.org / Metamorphosis in newts proves costly, with one sex paying a heavier price

Metamorphosis, that profound transformation enabling certain animals to shift between habitats such as from an aquatic to a terrestrial environment, is generally viewed in terms of its benefits. A team of researchers from ...

May 8, 2026
Phys.org / Oceans near record heat again as El Niño conditions begin to build

The European Union's climate monitor said Friday that ocean temperatures are edging toward record highs as conditions shift toward a potentially powerful El Niño weather pattern.

May 8, 2026
Phys.org / Why infected stink bugs lift their wings: Hidden parasite escape caught on camera

Male strepsipterans develop inside a host insect during their larval stage and, upon reaching the adult stage, emerge from the host body to begin a free-living phase. In a new study, researchers at University of Tsukuba directly ...

May 8, 2026
Phys.org / Nearly 3,000 peer-reviewed medical papers have fake citations, AI-assisted audit finds

A new Columbia University School of Nursing AI-assisted audit reveals nearly 3,000 peer-reviewed medical papers have fake citations that do not exist in scientific databases. The results highlight an alarming trend in academic ...

May 8, 2026
Phys.org / How Dante's Inferno modeled a planetary impact 500 years before modern science

New research reveals that Dante Alighieri's Inferno wasn't just a masterpiece of literature: it was a gedankenexperiment in impact physics. From multi-ring craters to shockwaves that reshaped the globe, discover how a 14th-century ...

May 8, 2026
Phys.org / How a strange fruit fly became a bloodthirsty underwater hunter

A carnivorous fruit fly living in bubbling African streams may sound like a fever dream. However, with the help of DNA analysis of a pinned insect from a museum in Zurich, researchers have managed to draw an evolutionary ...

May 8, 2026
Phys.org / Nanoparticles overcome drug-resistant cancer via sequential drug release and photothermal therapy

Cancer cells frequently develop the ability to expel anticancer drugs before they can work—a phenomenon called multidrug resistance (MDR)—which is one of the leading reasons why chemotherapy fails in patients. Research published ...

May 8, 2026
Phys.org / Lab-evolved cyanobacteria survive minute-by-minute light swings, offering clues to hardier crops

Plant scientist Dario Leister and his team are investigating how cyanobacteria adapt to rapidly changing light intensities. This could help optimize photosynthesis in crops. Photosynthesis is one of the most complex processes ...

May 8, 2026
Phys.org / This anti-CRISPR stops the protein assembly line in bacteria

Bacteria fend off invading viruses with molecular scissors that slice up viral DNA—a system called CRISPR that's become indispensable to gene editing. But viruses can fight back with a molecular trick that stops the scissors ...

May 8, 2026
Phys.org / One fifth of flowering plant evolutionary history is at risk of extinction, experts warn

In a new study published in the journal Science, researchers from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, ZSL (Zoological Society of London) and their international collaborators including Boise State University present the first ...

May 8, 2026
Phys.org / Testing quantum collapse theory with the XENONnT dark matter detector

Theories of quantum mechanics predict that some particles can exist in superpositions, which essentially means that they can be in more than one state at once. When a particle's state is measured, however, this superposition ...

May 7, 2026
Phys.org / Ultrahigh-energy cosmic messengers may carry ultraheavy secrets

There may be an ultraheavy explanation for the mystery surrounding the origins of the highest-energy particles ever observed. Ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays are particles from space that strike Earth with energies far beyond ...

May 7, 2026