Phys.org news

Phys.org / Australian sea lion pups learn diving and foraging skills from their mothers

Research from Adelaide University and the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI) has shown for the first time that Australian sea lion pups can learn foraging behavior from their mothers. Social information ...

Feb 21, 2026 in Biology
Phys.org / Cosmic curveball: Distant system challenges planet-formation theory

An international team of astronomers has discovered a distant planetary system that challenges long-standing theories of how planets form. Across our galaxy, astronomers routinely observe a characteristic pattern in planetary ...

Feb 21, 2026 in Astronomy & Space
Phys.org / Engineered nanoparticles could deliver better targeted cancer treatment to lymph nodes

Scientists at McGill University and the Rosalind and Morris Goodman Cancer Institute have developed a new way to deliver cancer immunotherapy that caused fewer side effects compared to standard treatment in a preclinical ...

Feb 21, 2026 in Nanotechnology
Phys.org / Saturday Citations: A virus that makes its own proteins; a new Spinosaurus; exercise beats anxiety

This week in the scientific process: researchers reported the first-ever shark sighted in Antarctic waters. Penguins beware! Biologists report that honey bees navigate more precisely than previously thought. And not all humans ...

Feb 21, 2026 in Other Sciences
Phys.org / Are one in 200 men really related to Genghis Khan? Maybe not, according to a new study

In present day Kazakhstan, both local folklore and genetic evidence found buried in royal tombs have shone a light on the region's ties to Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire. New DNA analysis of ruling elites from the Golden ...

Feb 21, 2026 in Other Sciences
Phys.org / How tuberculosis bacteria use a 'stealth' mechanism to evade the immune system

Scientists have uncovered an elegant biophysical trick that tuberculosis-causing bacteria use to survive inside human cells, a discovery that could lead to new strategies for fighting one of the world's deadliest infectious ...

Feb 21, 2026 in Biology
Phys.org / Sometimes less is more: Messier nanoparticles may actually deliver drugs more effectively than tightly packed ones

The tiny fatty capsules that deliver COVID-19 mRNA vaccines into billions of arms may work better when they're a little disorganized. That's the surprising finding from researchers who developed a new way to examine these ...

Feb 21, 2026 in Nanotechnology
Phys.org / A low-cost microscope to study living cells in zero gravity

As space agencies prepare for human missions to the moon and Mars, scientists need to understand how the absence of gravity affects living cells. Now, a team of researchers has built a rugged, affordable microscope that can ...

Feb 21, 2026 in Astronomy & Space
Phys.org / Mirror image pheromones help beetles 'swipe right' to find mates

There are many ways to communicate with prospective romantic partners. If you are a Japanese scarab beetle, it's a matter of distinguishing left from right. New work from U.S. and Chinese scientists, published this week in ...

Feb 21, 2026 in Biology
Phys.org / New generation of climate models sheds first light on long-standing Pacific puzzle

Researchers have long been puzzled by the observed cooling of the eastern tropical Pacific and the Southern Ocean accompanying global warming. Existing climate models have failed to capture this pattern. At the Max Planck ...

Feb 20, 2026 in Earth
Phys.org / Supercomputer simulations reveal rotation drives chemical mixing in red giant stars

Advances in supercomputing have made solving a long‐standing astronomical conundrum possible: How can we explain the changes in the chemical composition at the surface of red giant stars as they evolve?

Feb 20, 2026 in Astronomy & Space
Phys.org / Chemists synthesize first stable copper metallocene complex, closing a 70-year gap

Almost half a century ago, a remarkable molecule called metallocene took center stage in chemistry, earning Geoffrey Wilkinson and Ernst Otto Fischer the Nobel Prize. These organic compounds, made of a transition metal "sandwiched" ...

Feb 20, 2026 in Chemistry