Phys.org news

Phys.org / Shipwrecks from WWI and WWII are polluting the North Sea

In April 1917, the German submarine UC-30 sailed beneath the waves off the coast of Rømø. It had originally been on a mission in Ireland, but after suffering engine trouble, it turned around and was almost home in Germany.

Aug 21, 2026
Phys.org / Hydrogel platform uses vitamin B2 and blue light to simplify living tissue models

Researchers at Tampere University have developed a versatile hydrogel platform that makes it easier to create customized biomaterials for tissue engineering, disease modeling, drug discovery and regenerative medicine. Their ...

Aug 21, 2026
Phys.org / Lab-grown brain models gain a sense of place

The human brain is often described as one of the most complex structures in biology, and much of its power comes from how it's organized. Its outer layer, the cerebral cortex, is not one uniform sheet. As the brain develops, ...

Aug 21, 2026
Phys.org / Realistic solid-state model brings fractons in quantum spin liquids closer to detection

Quasiparticles arise from the complex interaction of many particles in solids; for example, we describe lattice vibrations in crystals as phonons. Fractons are exotic quasiparticles that occur at the vertices of magnetic ...

Aug 21, 2026
Phys.org / New Monte Carlo method accelerates simulations of densely entangled polymer melts

Long polymer chains are everywhere: in synthetic materials, soft matter, biological systems such as chromosomes, and mathematical models of filaments and knots. When many such chains are densely packed, they form what physicists ...

Aug 21, 2026
Phys.org / Climate change could triple the price of wheat

Bread, pasta and breakfast cereals may seem far removed from dry fields in North America, Europe or Asia. Yet when water shortages hit several of the world's most important wheat-growing regions simultaneously, the consequences ...

Aug 21, 2026
Phys.org / Scientists map hair follicle formation in spacetime, advancing understanding of how organs develop

In a new research report, scientists at Johns Hopkins Medicine say they have developed a technology that allows them to capture a 3D molecular "snapshot" of hundreds of hair follicles as they develop and then reconstruct ...

Aug 21, 2026
Phys.org / Stellar eruptions in the laboratory: First experimental evidence for their suppression in strong magnetic fields

An international team of astrophysicists and plasma physicists has provided the first experimental evidence that strong magnetic fields surrounding active stars can completely suppress coronal mass ejections. This offers ...

Aug 21, 2026
Phys.org / Hidden chemical pathway could keep phosphorus from fueling lake algal blooms

Why do some lakes remain plagued by harmful algal blooms even after phosphorus pollution has been reduced? Part of the answer lies beneath the surface. A new Concordia study has uncovered a previously overlooked chemical ...

Aug 21, 2026
Phys.org / Iron hydride enters an exotic state of matter under Earth's inner-core conditions

Earth's inner core, composed primarily of iron with a small percentage of light elements, may enter a superionic state at extreme pressure and temperature, according to experimental results from researchers at Science Tokyo. ...

Aug 21, 2026
Phys.org / Stellar spin may explain why repeated black hole flares grow dimmer

At the center of most galaxies lies a supermassive black hole, with a mass millions to billions of times that of our sun and some of the most extreme gravity in the universe.

Aug 21, 2026
Phys.org / Complex odors prove easier to map than expected with machine learning

If you want to describe a particular color, you could look to the Pantone color wheel to find its exact hue, saturation and brightness, and how it compares with other colors. But nothing like that has existed for complex ...

Aug 21, 2026