Phys.org news

Dialog / Typhoons vacuum microplastics from ocean and deposit them on land, study finds

Tropical storms such as typhoons, hurricanes, and cyclones are Earth's most powerful weather systems. Born over warm oceans, they travel thousands of kilometers to land, traversing waters now polluted with plastics, from ...

Dec 14, 2025 in Earth
Phys.org / Hundreds of iceberg earthquakes detected at the crumbling end of Antarctica's 'doomsday glacier'

Glacial earthquakes are a special type of earthquake generated in cold, icy regions. First discovered in the Northern Hemisphere more than 20 years ago, these quakes occur when huge chunks of ice fall from glaciers into the ...

Dec 14, 2025 in Earth
Phys.org / Biologists reveal ancient form of cell adhesion

The cells of all animals—including humans—are characterized by their ability to adhere particularly well to surfaces in their environment. This mechanically stable adhesion enables the development of complex tissues and ...

Dec 14, 2025 in Biology
Phys.org / How a new algorithm predicts cell fate from just one genetic snapshot

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet and KTH have developed a computational method that can reveal how cells change and specialize in the body. The study, which has been published in the journal PNAS, can provide important ...

Dec 14, 2025 in Biology
Phys.org / Ultrashort laser pulses catch a snapshot of a 'molecular handshake'

Liquids and solutions are complex environments—think, for example, of sugar dissolving in water, where each sugar molecule becomes surrounded by a restless crowd of water molecules. Inside living cells, the picture is even ...

Dec 14, 2025 in Physics
Phys.org / Neutron star P13 shows dramatic X-ray variability linked to rotation velocity

A research team has investigated long-term X-ray variability in the neutron star NGC 7793 P13, an object thought to be driven by supercritical accretion, where an extraordinary amount of gas falls onto the object and emits ...

Dec 14, 2025 in Astronomy & Space
Phys.org / Scientists discover nine new species of butterfly from South America stored at London's Natural History Museum

An international team of scientists have identified nine new species of butterflies using a combination of geographical, morphological and molecular analysis.

Dec 14, 2025 in Biology
Dialog / Cracking the mystery of heat flow in few-atoms thin materials

For much of my career, I have been fascinated by the ways in which materials behave when we reduce their dimensions to the nanoscale. Over and over, I've learned that when we shrink a material down to just a few nanometers ...

Dec 14, 2025 in Nanotechnology
Phys.org / Predictive framework for 2D materials puts low-cost, printable electronics on the horizon

Imagine wearable health sensors, smart packaging, flexible displays, or disposable IoT controllers all manufactured like printed newspapers. The same technology could underpin communication circuits, sensors, and signal-processing ...

Dec 14, 2025 in Nanotechnology
Phys.org / Saturday Citations: Nice people are happier; Uranus may not be icy; SIM farm reporting

This week, researchers identified signaling pathways underpinning drug resistance in pancreatic cancer, a normally lethal diagnosis. A physicist proposed that conscious states in the brain may arise from the brain's ability ...

Dec 13, 2025 in Other Sciences
Phys.org / Misinformation is an inevitable biological reality across nature, researchers argue

From claims that vaccines don't work to manipulated images and deliberately misrepresenting what politicians say, social media is often rife with misinformation. But far from being a recent phenomenon, there is nothing new ...

Dec 13, 2025 in Biology
Phys.org / Yuletide kissers, smooch without guilt: Research suggests your mistletoe didn't harm its tree host

If mistletoe's status as a nutrient-stealing freeloader has been cooling your holiday ardor, new research led by an Oregon State University scientist may help relight the fire.

Dec 13, 2025 in Biology