Phys.org news

Phys.org / Climate scientists solve monsoon puzzle and warn of risks to fisheries

A new study has reconciled a long-standing paradox in the South Asian summer monsoon cycle. Climate scientists have discovered why geological records from land and sea have told opposite stories about monsoons throughout ...

21 hours ago
Phys.org / Tiny ocean plankton hold clues to the future of Maine lobster

The future of Maine's lobster industry may depend on a creature the size of a sesame seed. Researchers at the University of Maine have discovered that planktonic baby lobsters, or larvae, preferentially feed on Calanus finmarchicus, ...

21 hours ago
Phys.org / Can satellites detect when forests lose resilience?

For years, scientists have been using a method called "temporal autocorrelation (TAC)" to measure forest resilience using satellite data. However, scientists have not used TAC uniformly, and its use as a resilience indicator ...

19 hours ago
Phys.org / Scientists identify design rules for the best thermoelectric materials

Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have used a theoretical framework to derive design rules for creating new thermoelectric materials. The efficiency of converting thermal energy to electricity is often determined ...

22 hours ago
Phys.org / Dry landscapes and newly fallowed fields may raise California Valley fever risk

Researchers at UC San Diego and UC Berkeley have found that certain landscapes surrounding California communities are associated with differing rates of Valley fever, a fungal respiratory infection caused by inhaling spores ...

22 hours ago
Phys.org / Engineered yeasts help turn PET plastic and crop waste into protein-rich cookies

Plastic might be the last ingredient you would ever add to a cookie recipe. But a team of researchers is looking to change that. They've programmed yeasts to turn plastic and agricultural waste into edible proteins and flavoring ...

Aug 24, 2026
Phys.org / Nanoparticle flu vaccine protects against three influenza strains in mice

A new nanoparticle vaccine could one day give patients immunity to the flu with fewer trips to the doctor and without requiring health officials to correctly guess which flu strains will become dominant each year.

Aug 24, 2026
Phys.org / The superconducting gap of an ultrathin nickelate defies expectations

Superconductors are materials that carry electrical current with zero resistance below a specific critical temperature. In conventional superconductors, the transition to superconductivity generally occurs at very low temperatures.

Aug 23, 2026
Phys.org / Oldest human brain cells grown in lab 'recorded passage of time'

Peppercorn-sized clumps of human brain cells grown in a lab for a record seven years aged similarly to those inside our heads, suggesting they "recorded the passage of time," scientists said Wednesday.

Aug 23, 2026
Phys.org / Protein degradation rate helps explain why humans develop more slowly than mice

Humans develop at a slower rate than other mammalian species, like mice, but scientists are still trying to understand the molecular basis of these differences. Now, researchers from the Ebisuya Group at EMBL Barcelona and ...

Aug 23, 2026
Phys.org / Quantum computer microscope is set to significantly improve electron microscopy

Electron microscopes are used wherever particularly small details need to be imaged. But from a strictly physical point of view, every electron in a conventional electron microscope represents a missed opportunity: If all ...

Aug 23, 2026
Phys.org / Collaborative drawing offers new insights into how strangers become friends

The closer two people grow, the more alike their brains work—or so the assumption goes. Two ETH Zurich studies challenge this idea by examining the brain activity of younger and older adults who drew together over several ...

Aug 23, 2026