Phys.org news

Phys.org / Computational bio tool automates and standardizes genome sequencing analysis

In a single experiment, scientists can decipher the entire genomes of many patient samples, animal models, or cultured cells. To fully realize the potential to study biology at this unprecedented scale, researchers must be ...

19 hours ago
Phys.org / Warmer, wetter cyclone weather made Peru's dengue outbreak 10 times larger, study finds

Diseases historically absent from the United States have been showing up in Florida, Texas, California and other U.S. states in recent years. To understand why, look to Peru. That's where researchers from Stanford and other ...

19 hours ago
Phys.org / Students discover new crab egg predator

After a year and a half of remote work and learning, UC Santa Barbara undergraduate students Sophia Lecuona Manos, Gabrielle Plewe, Carson Gadler and doctoral student Zoe Zilz returned to campus in late 2021 eager for some ...

21 hours ago
Phys.org / Inverse design: A new pathway to custom functional polymers

At a potluck, you ate the best chocolate chip cookie—golden-brown, thick and chewy. Unfortunately, you don't know who made the cookie to get the recipe from, so you decide to recreate it. Using forward design principles, ...

21 hours ago
Phys.org / Dinos hatched eggs less efficiently than modern birds, researchers show

What do we really know about how oviraptors—bird-like but flightless dinosaurs—hatched their eggs? Did they use environmental heat, like crocodiles, or body heat from an adult, like birds? In a new Frontiers in Ecology ...

Mar 17, 2026
Phys.org / Charcoal records reveal 'unprecedented' wildfires in tropical peatlands during 20th century

A new study reveals an unprecedented increase in wildfires in tropical peatlands during the 20th century. "Unprecedented burning in tropical peatlands during the 20th century compared to the previous two millennia" is published ...

Mar 17, 2026
Phys.org / Engineered lipid nanoparticles reprogram immune metabolism for better mRNA vaccines

The most common side effects of mRNA vaccines like the COVID-19 shot are well known: soreness, mild fever, and general malaise. Those symptoms, which typically resolve within days, are the natural result of the immune system ...

Mar 17, 2026
Phys.org / Extremely rare second-generation star discovered inside ancient relic dwarf galaxy

Discovered in the Pictor II dwarf galaxy, star PicII-503 has an extreme deficiency in iron—less than 1/40,000th of the sun. This signature makes it the clearest example of a star within a primordial system that preserves ...

Mar 16, 2026
Phys.org / Bull sharks form social relationships with specific 'friends,' research reveals

Sharks are often viewed as solitary, but a new study—carried out on the Shark Reef Marine Reserve in Fiji—has found that rather than mixing at random, bull sharks have "active social preferences" and choose their social ...

Mar 16, 2026
Phys.org / ISS study identifies thresholds for muscle atrophy and fiber changes in reduced gravity

It's well known that spaceflight causes muscle atrophy and other biological changes in reduced gravity, and especially in near-zero gravity (microgravity) environments. However, the gravity threshold needed to maintain sufficient ...

Mar 16, 2026
Phys.org / Do political social media ads influence the outcome of elections?

Social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram and X, are accessed daily by millions of people worldwide. In the weeks or months leading up to elections, many political parties use social media platforms as part of their ...

Mar 16, 2026
Phys.org / Globular cluster NGC 5824 is embedded in a dark matter halo, study suggests

Using data from the Magellan Clay telescope and the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT), astronomers have investigated a galactic globular cluster known as NGC 5824. Results of the new study, available in a paper published ...

Mar 16, 2026