Phys.org news

Phys.org / JWST captures rare glimpse of early black hole growing inside network of young galaxies

Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have captured one of the clearest views yet of how an early supermassive black hole may grow within a network of young galaxies. The compact active galaxy, seen just a billion ...

Jul 23, 2026
Phys.org / Striped or checkered? Magnetic field influences competing electronic patterns in a graphene-like quantum material

In most everyday materials, such as copper, silver and silicon, the behavior of electrons is relatively predictable. In quantum materials, however, electrons can interact in complex ways, giving rise to collective electronic ...

Jul 23, 2026
Phys.org / National food waste recycling promises major climate gains but comes with microplastic risks

Keeping food waste out of landfills provides climate and other environmental benefits, and Vermont requires residents to divert these materials to better management pathways. With other states considering similar policies, ...

Jul 23, 2026
Phys.org / Quantum internet leaves the lab with first real-world entanglement over busy telecom fiber

Quantum information is notoriously fragile. Internet traffic is anything but. Yet Northwestern University scientists have demonstrated they can peacefully coexist inside the same fiber-optic cable.

Jul 22, 2026
Phys.org / Removing 'forever chemicals' from farmlands—at a fraction of the cost

A Yale-led research team has proposed a less expensive—and more environmentally friendly—method for removing certain "forever chemicals" from millions of acres of farmland in the United States and around the world.

Jul 22, 2026
Phys.org / Engineered enzyme erases a stubborn mark of aging by up to 70% in human tissue samples

A biotech company called Revel Pharmaceuticals is looking into ways to reverse aging, and the company's science team, along with researchers from the company Calico and the University of Colorado, may be a step closer to ...

Jul 22, 2026
Phys.org / Kindness emerges intuitively in young children before reflection catches up, study finds

While humans are inherently social beings, psychology studies suggest that their social skills are gradually fine-tuned over time and with experience. Understanding when different social skills emerge and how they typically ...

Jul 22, 2026
Phys.org / New multiplexing scheme accelerates long-distance quantum communication

Quantum networks, systems consisting of multiple connected nodes or devices that can transmit quantum information to one another, have the potential to advance future communications. These networks typically leverage entanglement, ...

Jul 22, 2026
Phys.org / Ordinary moss generates surprisingly complex electrical activity

Moss may well be something that most of us barely give a second thought, but there is far more to this small nonvascular plant than meets the eye. A new study published in the journal Royal Society Open Science reports that ...

Jul 22, 2026
Phys.org / In Kyushu's decorated tombs, humans were never meant to be individuals

When you first step into Japan's Kyushu tombs, the first thing you notice is nothing at all. "When you enter, you're engulfed by darkness; you can smell earth and stone, and you have the sensation of being enclosed …," said ...

Jul 22, 2026
Phys.org / Australian cave discovery shows grass was burned for magic, cures and curses for 25,000 years

The GunaiKurnai, an Australian Aboriginal nation, are the acknowledged traditional custodians of Gippsland and the southern Victorian Alps. Within their territory are caves known from 19th-century ethnographic reports and ...

Jul 22, 2026
Phys.org / Transmissible cancer cells discovered in fish act more like parasites than traditional tumors

A team of Vermont researchers has discovered that mysterious black skin lesions afflicting catfish in Lake Memphremagog and other New England and Canadian lakes are caused by a transmissible cancer—the first identified in ...

Jul 22, 2026