Phys.org news

Phys.org / Fast but error-prone AI assists in solving a decades-old fluid mechanics problem in five weeks

An AI assistant helped University of Colorado Boulder researchers solve a mathematical problem that had challenged their lab for a year and a half, though it made subtle errors along the way. The breakthrough could improve ...

Aug 27, 2026
Phys.org / Texas fossil reveals early insects kept aquatic limbs during move onto land

The formation of complex terrestrial ecosystems was a significant innovation in the evolutionary history of life on Earth. This event signified the expansion of life beyond marine environments and marked the beginning of ...

Aug 27, 2026
Phys.org / Hitting bacteria hard and early with diverse phage cocktails may curb resistance

As multidrug antibiotic resistance emerges as a potent public health challenge, medical science has renewed attention on the potential for bacteriophage therapy. Bacteriophages, or phages, are viruses that target, infect ...

Aug 27, 2026
Phys.org / AI model designs potentially stable protein sequences beyond those found in nature

A protein's function is determined by its structure, and structure—the way a protein folds—is determined by its sequence of amino acids, the building blocks of proteins.

Aug 27, 2026
Phys.org / First observation of optical Magnus effect could sharpen quantum computer control

Table tennis professionals are true masters at redirecting fast-moving projectiles. Putting a targeted spin on a serve can make the little white ball fly straight toward the edge of the table but then, at the last moment, ...

Aug 27, 2026
Phys.org / Tsunami of dirt: What caused Nepal's deadly glacial flood?

More than 150 people are dead and hundreds more are missing after an enormous wave of water, ice, mud and rock cascaded more than 170 kilometers (106 miles) down the Bhote Koshi River valley in Nepal. The valley is the main ...

Aug 27, 2026
Phys.org / Discovery reveals rapid pathways to complex aromatic molecules in space

A team of researchers led by the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Department of Chemistry has uncovered a faster way large carbon-based molecules may form in space, helping solve a long-standing mystery about how some of the ...

Aug 27, 2026
Phys.org / Candida fungi can burst immune cells and shape-shift to evade immunity

Candida auris and Candida albicans are microscopic fungi that cause life-threatening human infections, killing almost a million people globally every year. The World Health Organization lists both species among the top four ...

Aug 27, 2026
Phys.org / ASTRID traces 13.5 billion years of black hole and galaxy evolution

In dark skies at night, distant starlight twinkles and speaks to vast cosmic histories almost as old as time itself. New data from instruments such as NASA's James Webb Space Telescope are helping astrophysicists probe deep ...

Aug 27, 2026
Phys.org / Tiny oxygen gaps may determine whether next-generation memory films store data well

Researchers have captured in real time the "birth moment" when the performance of a next-generation memory material is determined. The key lies in controlling oxygen vacancies, microscopic defects created when oxygen atoms ...

Aug 27, 2026
Phys.org / Mirror-image molecules steer electron spins and lift perovskite solar cell efficiency

Some molecules come in two "handed" forms. This property, called chirality, can influence not only how molecules interact with light but also which electron spins they allow to pass. Researchers at the University of Osaka ...

Aug 27, 2026
Phys.org / Vehicle-mounted spectroscopy system detects methane in real time

Researchers have developed a vehicle-mounted spectroscopy system that can reliably detect methane in real time while driving. Using a moving vehicle to detect methane could make it easier to locate hidden methane emissions ...

Aug 27, 2026