Phys.org news

Phys.org / Old-growth forests store a lot more carbon than managed forests, study finds

Swedish old-growth forests store 83% more carbon than managed forests, according to a new study from Lund University. The difference is substantially larger than previous estimates and is mainly due to large carbon stocks ...

Mar 19, 2026
Phys.org / Study uncovers mineral 'sink' that reduced phosphorus in early oceans, potentially delaying Earth's oxygen rise

Scientists have long sought to explain a key mismatch in Earth's early history: oxygen-producing photosynthesis evolved hundreds of millions of years before atmospheric oxygen began to rise during the Great Oxidation Event. ...

Mar 19, 2026
Phys.org / How a tryptophan-rich allosteric communication network helps activate a major drug target receptor

A multinational research team led by researchers at Institute of Science Tokyo, RIKEN, and the University of Toronto has revealed how a tryptophan-rich allosteric communication network regulates receptor dynamics and activation ...

Mar 19, 2026
Phys.org / How an RNA-binding protein detects and responds to non-optimal codon usage in human cells

Human genes are written in long strings of three-letter units composed of four different nucleotides. These units—or codons—specify one of many amino acids, the building blocks of proteins. Multiple codons can encode ...

Mar 19, 2026
Phys.org / Ancient brines helped build Idaho's Silver Valley and Cobalt belt

Idaho's Silver Valley has produced about 1.2 billion ounces of silver since the late 1800s, enough to cast a solid cube roughly as tall as a five-story building, along with huge amounts of lead and zinc. Now a new study led ...

Mar 19, 2026
Phys.org / Mosquitoes may hold the key to saving endangered Australian wildlife

Scientists have discovered mosquitoes can act like tiny "flying wildlife surveyors," helping researchers detect elusive and endangered animals in Australia's national parks. A team from Macquarie University and the Department ...

Mar 19, 2026
Phys.org / Carefully controlled atoms make renewables more viable for plastics and fuels production

A catalyst developed by a Washington State University research team efficiently converts abundant, renewable ethanol into valuable molecules needed for production of plastics, fuels, and everyday products. The advance could ...

Mar 19, 2026
Phys.org / Nanodiamonds and beyond: Designing carbon materials with AI at exascale

Carbon forms the graphite in pencils, the diamonds in jewelry and the molecules that make up every living thing. But under extreme conditions—like the heat and pressure of intense explosions—carbon can transform into ...

Mar 19, 2026
Phys.org / Building a better, more precise droplet

A humble droplet can be an immensely useful tool for a number of fields, from medicine to manufacturing. Controlling the size of the droplet, though, is an important—and very tricky—task. With unprecedented precision, ...

Mar 19, 2026
Phys.org / World Happiness Report highlights social media's negative impact, ranks Finland as happiest country

Heavy social media use contributes to a stark decline in well-being among young people, with the effects particularly worrying in teenage girls in English-speaking countries and Western Europe, according to the World Happiness ...

Mar 19, 2026
Phys.org / High-resolution atlas shows how thirsty plants hold out during drought

The United States and Mexico have been in a historic megadrought since the turn of the century. For more than 25 years, the American Southwest has faced the severe social and economic consequences of this megadrought—including ...

Mar 19, 2026
Phys.org / How young galaxies grew magnetic fields faster than expected

How fast can a galaxy build ordered magnetic fields spanning thousands of light-years? Existing theories say several billion years, but observations of galaxies in our universe imply shorter timescales. In a study published ...

Mar 18, 2026