Phys.org news

Phys.org / Billions face growing water risk as sediment fills reservoirs faster than expected worldwide

Reservoirs around the world are losing storage capacity at an average rate of 7.3% per decade—disproportionately affecting small reservoirs, which together provide water to billions of people. The data come from a study published ...

Jun 5, 2026
Phys.org / RNA-guided transposon mechanics show use of figure-eight intermediate and direct-transfer route

IS110 transposons are a large, diverse family of bacterial insertion sequences (IS elements)—small, mobile DNA elements that can move from one genomic location to another. They have recently attracted broad interest due to ...

Jun 5, 2026
Phys.org / Hawai'i's last false killer whales threatened by nutritional stress and warming seas

A seven-year collaborative study has revealed alarming fluctuations in the health of Hawaii's endangered insular false killer whales, with some individuals losing nearly a quarter of their body weight in just a few months. ...

Jun 5, 2026
Phys.org / Visual AI tracks nearly 100 wildlife species to improve conservation

Wildlife research projects worldwide could benefit from a new AI system which can automatically find, name, and follow individual animals in footage.

Jun 5, 2026
Phys.org / Warming boosts natural methane emissions as microbes fail to keep pace

A new study led by Professor Mark Trimmer of Queen Mary University of London, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, explains how increases in natural methane emissions will be maximized under future climate warming.

Jun 5, 2026
Phys.org / North Atlantic spring storms have grown more common since 1940, analysis reveals

Storm Dave, which swept across northern Europe over the Easter weekend, is an example of what new research from the University of Gothenburg has revealed. Spring storms forming over the North Atlantic have become more common ...

Jun 5, 2026
Phys.org / How 'asymmetric alloying' is creating the next generation of luminescent materials

Metal cluster molecules are discrete compounds containing multiple metal atoms held together by metal–metal and metal–ligand bonding. They serve as excellent candidates for catalysts, biosensors, and even for drug development. ...

Jun 5, 2026
Phys.org / Quantum shell structure reveals new rule for proton-neutron pairing inside nuclei

Nuclear physicists used a little magic in their latest experiment conducted at the U.S. Department of Energy's Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, and the result has revealed surprising new information about the ...

Jun 4, 2026
Phys.org / Costa Rica paid landowners to restore forests and biodiversity—bioacoustics indicate that it worked

Forest restoration can help fight climate change and restore lost biodiversity, but the satellite-based techniques used to measure successful forest restoration have been less-than-helpful for measuring changes in biodiversity. ...

Jun 4, 2026
Phys.org / JWST 'weighs' dormant black hole 10 billion light-years away

The most distant, nearly invisible dormant black hole has been detected and "weighed" by an international team of astronomers that includes researchers from UCL. The study, published in Science, identified a dormant black ...

Jun 4, 2026
Phys.org / Short videos may hinder learning by fragmenting attention and memory, study finds

Recent technological advances and the introduction of new digital media platforms have dramatically changed how people learn and source information about topics that interest them. Some recent studies have found that while ...

Jun 4, 2026
Phys.org / Photoexcitation flips 2D moiré devices from metals to insulators in ultrafast test

Quantum materials, materials with properties that are governed by the laws of quantum mechanics describing many-body interactions, have proved promising for the development of various advanced technologies. Many of these ...

Jun 4, 2026