Phys.org news

Phys.org / Engineered enzymes forge carbon-carbon and carbon-nitrogen bonds with high selectivity

Researchers from the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology, including Dr. Zachary Birch-Price and professor Anthony Green, have developed a new family of engineered enzymes that can create several different types of chemical ...

6 hours ago
Phys.org / New species of mountain horned dragon identified in Thailand's high-altitude forests

Scientists have described a new species of lizard from the high mountain forests of western Thailand and have given it a name straight out of an American fantasy drama television series: Acanthosaura syrax, named after Syrax, ...

13 hours ago
Phys.org / Corn-stalk sugars feed new bacterial strain designed to make useful chemicals

Engineers have developed a strain of a common bacterial species that can feed exclusively on the three major sugars present in corn stalks. While the new multiple-sugar-consuming strain of the bacterium Pseudomonas putida ...

14 hours ago
Phys.org / Using salt to drive drug-carrying particles deeper into difficult-to-treat biofilms

Biofilms—bacterial communities encased in a sticky, polymer-rich matrix—can be difficult to treat because that matrix slows antibiotics and drug-carrying particles. With help from salt, though, Yale researchers have found ...

12 hours ago
Phys.org / When it comes to predicting people's preferences, it pays to consider 'the power of three'

In his 1927 paper, "A law of comparative judgment," the American psychologist L. L. Thurstone proposed that when people select one option among multiple alternatives, they are picking the one that has the highest value to ...

6 hours ago
Phys.org / Water quality, not just scarcity, may shape future competition for a limited resource

Climate change is largely to blame for water scarcity. The low water levels in European rivers this summer speak volumes in that respect.

6 hours ago
Phys.org / Photosynthetic microorganisms achieve long-lasting and renewable chemical production

Photosynthetic microorganisms can use light energy to convert carbon dioxide into useful compounds under mild, environmentally compatible conditions. However, many current photosynthetic production systems rely on cells growing ...

6 hours ago
Phys.org / Uncovering how Cryptococcus shifts from silent infection to killer fungus

For most healthy people, Cryptococcus is an unnoticed infection. The immune system walls it off in the lungs and keeps it dormant for life. But in patients undergoing cancer chemotherapy, recovering from an organ transplant, ...

7 hours ago
Phys.org / Fermentation emerges as key pathway for ammonium production beneath the Pearl River Delta

A study led by Professor Jimmy Jiujiu Jiao from the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at The University of Hong Kong (HKU) and Professor Meng Li from Shenzhen University has identified microbial fermentation as the ...

7 hours ago
Phys.org / Cosmic filaments help set first limits on dark matter's decay into gravitons

Composing some 85% of the universe's total mass, dark matter betrays its presence only through gravity, unlike ordinary matter. Yet through new research published in Physical Review D, a team led by David Dunsky of New York ...

Aug 9, 2026
Phys.org / Controlled cracking technique prints quantum dots into tiny pixels for sharper displays

Recent technological advances have enabled the development of increasingly sophisticated, sharper displays for electronic devices. Many modern displays use light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, tiny semiconductor-based components ...

Aug 9, 2026
Phys.org / Oldest known giant rock scallop bead suggests California coastal trade began millennia earlier

Archaeologists have discovered two giant rock scallop beads that push back the clock on the first appearance of these high-status ornaments. The discovery shows that these prized marine beads were traded hundreds of miles ...

Aug 9, 2026