Phys.org news

Phys.org / US residents near small rivers face disproportionately high future flood risks

An international team, including Kumamoto University and its partner institutions, has found severe flood risks and high climate-adaptation costs for U.S. small rivers.

23 hours ago
Dialog / AI-designed SARS-CoV-2 variants escape prevalent antibodies

While headlines warn that AI could unleash future biological threats, the technology also offers our best defense: a way to anticipate viral evolution and stress-test treatments. Rather than waiting for SARS-CoV-2 to mutate ...

23 hours ago
Phys.org / Astronomers find strongest evidence yet that Betelgeuse has a companion

At long last, astronomers have firm evidence that Betelgeuse, one of the most famous stars in the night sky, is not alone. Using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (ESO's VLT), a team led by French researcher ...

Jul 28, 2026
Phys.org / Tabby's star may be orbited by a planetary-mass companion

By analyzing data from NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and conducting new radial velocity measurements, U.K. and French astronomers have found evidence that the mysterious Tabby's star may be orbited by ...

Jul 28, 2026
Phys.org / Moon's thick crust could amplify elusive gravitational-wave signals

Gravitational waves are tiny ripples in the fabric of spacetime that are produced when massive objects in the cosmos accelerate or collide. By detecting these waves, astrophysicists can study various cosmic events, including ...

Jul 28, 2026
Phys.org / New Ribo-Tweezer tool can pluck individual protein pieces out of a working ribosome

Every human cell has millions of ribosomes that make proteins. For decades, biologists thought of ribosomes as tiny, uniform machines. But now a Stanford Medicine team is showing that ribosomes are much more interesting and ...

Jul 28, 2026
Phys.org / New research shows how 'hot electrons' can reshape metals in billionths of a second

Researchers at The University of Manchester have revealed how intense electronic excitation can trigger rapid structural changes in metals—without heating the atomic lattice—offering new insight into ultrafast materials behavior.

Jul 28, 2026
Phys.org / A way to read quantum bits faster and with less hardware

Quantum computers process information in a fundamentally different way from conventional computers, using quantum bits, or qubits, that can exist in multiple states at once. This could allow them to tackle problems beyond ...

Jul 28, 2026
Phys.org / Chicxulub's lingering dust may have turned falling debris into a global firestorm

Sixty-six million years ago, the six-mile-wide (10-kilometer-wide) Chicxulub asteroid crash-landed in Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula and changed life on Earth forever. The reign of the dinosaurs ended, and only creatures that ...

Jul 28, 2026
Phys.org / More evidence Mars once had water emerges from old Spirit rover data

More than 20 years after NASA's Spirit rover landed on Mars, a researcher from Edith Cowan University (ECU) has uncovered new evidence that suggests water may once have covered large parts of the red planet.

Jul 28, 2026
Phys.org / Neuroscientists reveal limits of human compassion for global crises

New research from the University of Sussex has revealed the biological limits to human compassion and empathy. The study found a stark contrast between how the brain processes information about risk to human lives and information ...

Jul 28, 2026
Phys.org / Record snow drought drives water-hauling crisis for Rocky Mountain ranchers

As water shot into an open stock tank atop a high-country mesa, a trickle soaked the dusty earth below. Scott Snyder rose from the shade to fasten a hose and stop the spillage.

Jul 28, 2026