Phys.org news

Phys.org / New fossil lungfish from Yunnan sheds light on critical stage of early vertebrate evolution

A research team led by Prof. Zhu Min—a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and affiliated with the CAS Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP)—has identified a new species of fossil ...

12 hours ago in Biology
Phys.org / GoMars model simulates 50-year Martian dust cycle

Mars is a dusty planet dominated by vast, dry deserts, with no easily accessible sources of liquid water. Much like on Earth, dust is lifted from Mars's surface by wind and rotating air columns, transported through the atmosphere, ...

12 hours ago in Astronomy & Space
Phys.org / Young shark species more vulnerable to extinction, fossil record reveals

Whether a species has just freshly emerged, or it has been around for millions of years does not dictate its vulnerability. This has been the assumption of an old debate on whether species' age plays a role in extinction ...

12 hours ago in Biology
Phys.org / How the ocean's most abundant bacteria diversify into ecologically distinct groups

A study led by the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa's Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB) has revealed critical new details about one of the ocean's most abundant life forms—SAR11 marine bacteria. Understanding ...

12 hours ago in Biology
Phys.org / Drone-mounted lab monitors fertilizer runoff in real time

What if, instead of taking a water or soil sample to the lab, you could take the lab to the sample? That's what a team of researchers reporting in ACS Sensors did with a new nitrate-monitoring "lab-on-a-drone" system. The ...

13 hours ago in Earth
Phys.org / Fruit ripeness predicted by reading leaf chemistry: Light-based technique avoids crop loss

How can you tell if fruit has reached its optimal ripeness without picking it, touching it or carrying out any test that might damage it? A research team from the Department of Analytical Chemistry and Organic Chemistry at ...

15 hours ago in Biology
Phys.org / Spot the males: New gene-editing method could transform mosquito control

Researchers have developed a new "color-coded" genetic method that makes it easy to distinguish male and female mosquitoes. This innovation can help solve a major bottleneck in mosquito control strategies that rely on releasing ...

16 hours ago in Biology
Phys.org / Chemists develop unique tool for studying RNA in live cells

An innovative three-color method for capturing images of mRNA inside live mammalian cells has been developed by UMass Amherst chemists. Because RNA is both incredibly important to human life and health and poorly understood, ...

16 hours ago in Chemistry
Phys.org / 'Extremely exciting': The ice cores that could help save glaciers

Dressed in an orange puffer jacket, Japanese scientist Yoshinori Iizuka stepped into a storage freezer to retrieve an ice core he hopes will help experts protect the world's disappearing glaciers.

16 hours ago in Earth
Phys.org / Acid-treated carbon nanotubes boost efficiency and stability of flexible perovskite solar modules

Flexible perovskite solar modules (f-PSMs) are a key innovation in current renewable energy technology, offering a pathway toward sustainable and efficient energy solutions. However, ensuring long-term operational stability ...

22 hours ago in Nanotechnology
Phys.org / Possible 'superkilonova' exploded not once but twice

When the most massive stars reach the ends of their lives, they blow up in spectacular supernova explosions, which seed the universe with heavy elements such as carbon and iron. Another type of explosion—the kilonova—occurs ...

Dec 16, 2025 in Astronomy & Space
Phys.org / What's powering these mysterious, bright blue cosmic flashes? Astronomers find a clue

Among the more puzzling cosmic phenomena discovered over the past few decades are brief and very bright flashes of blue and ultraviolet light that gradually fade away, leaving behind faint X-ray and radio emissions. With ...

Dec 16, 2025 in Astronomy & Space