Phys.org news
Phys.org / Record wildfire losses rocked 2025 even as global burned area neared all-time lows
A new analysis of global wildfire activity in 2025 reveals the world experienced some of the most destructive and deadly fire events in recent history, despite the second lowest area burned since 2002. It highlights a continued ...
Phys.org / Researchers teach brain cells to play 'Doom'
Australian researchers have trained lab-grown brain cells on a silicon computer chip to play the nineties shooter game "Doom" and say they are just scratching the surface of what the neurons could be capable of doing.
Phys.org / Leaf forces help steer stomata as young plants grow, experiments reveal
Scientists have uncovered how the interplay between cell shape and mechanical stress influences the orientation of stomata (microscopic pores on the leaf surface) during early plant development.
Phys.org / AI crosses catalyst boundaries to uncover new route for green hydrogen
Discovering new catalysts is one of the central challenges in developing clean-energy technologies such as green hydrogen production. Yet catalyst discovery has traditionally remained confined within individual material families, ...
Phys.org / Bacteria uncover distinct strategy to import rare sugar polymers, crystal structures show
Even though sugars are often framed as simple sources of energy, they also serve as structurally complex and functionally diverse molecules that mediate interactions between organisms. Among these, β-1,2-glucans, which are ...
Phys.org / Hidden tick saliva protein may help stop disease spread at source
Few creatures inspire as much universal dislike as ticks. Though small, these parasites have an enormous impact on human and animal health. Each year, ticks spread viruses and bacteria that infect people, livestock, wildlife, ...
Phys.org / Why many fungicide-treated soybean seeds may boost harvests but not farm profits
Many soybean farmers use seeds treated with fungicides to ward off disease, but the profits from these increased yields might not offset the cost of the treatment in most cases, according to a study published in Scientific ...
Phys.org / Inside Europe's largest Copper Age tomb, children's bones expose an ancient health crisis hidden for 5,000 years
Nearly 5,000 years ago, respiratory infections, possibly including tuberculosis, were ravaging the children buried at Camino del Molino (CMOL), Spain. The massive circular burial cave carved into rock is Europe's largest ...
Phys.org / Quantum light gives a 20-fold boost to ultrafast laser processes
Nonlinear interactions between light and matter are at the heart of some of the most powerful tools in modern optics, but pushing these processes to their limits has long been hampered by a fundamental constraint: the stronger ...
Phys.org / Pulsar wind nebula inside supernova remnant explored with Chandra
Astronomers from the George Washington University (GWU) in Washington, DC, and elsewhere have employed NASA's Chandra X-ray spacecraft to observe a pulsar wind nebula inside a supernova remnant known as CTA 1. Results of ...
Phys.org / Evidence of cosmic-ray acceleration from a nearby supernova remnant
Cosmic rays seen at Earth show a wide range of particle energies, from 107 electron-volts (eV) to more than 1020 eV, the latter being about the same as the kinetic energy of a 450 gram football (soccer ball) being kicked ...
Phys.org / Rainfall near 700 mm marks turning point in ecosystem nitrogen retention
In a study published in Nature Geoscience, a research team led by Prof. Liu Lingli from the Institute of Botany of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IBCAS) has identified a mean annual precipitation (MAP) threshold of approximately ...
