Phys.org news

Phys.org / Physicists develop new protocol for building photonic graph states

Physicists have long recognized the value of photonic graph states in quantum information processing. However, the difficulty of making these graph states has left this value largely untapped. In a step forward for the field, ...

Feb 12, 2026 in Physics
Phys.org / Yangtze River fishing ban halts seven decades of biodiversity decline

The Yangtze River Basin, a global biodiversity hotspot, has endured severe ecological degradation over several decades due to intense human activity, leading to a marked decline in aquatic biodiversity. In order to halt this ...

Feb 12, 2026 in Biology
Phys.org / Where'd you get that frog? Study traces illicit online amphibian trade

Keeping amphibians as pets offers hobbyists an opportunity to connect with the non-human world, often increasing interest in conserving animals in the wild. But there's a dark side to the amphibian trade, according to a study ...

Feb 12, 2026 in Biology
Phys.org / Climate change is driving rising agricultural water use in Central Asia

Even as farmers shift toward less water-intensive crops, climate change is pushing agricultural water consumption upward in Central Asia. A new study by IAMO researchers shows that rising temperatures and atmospheric water ...

Feb 12, 2026 in Earth
Phys.org / Rich medieval Christians bought graves 'closer to God' despite leprosy stigma, archaeologists find

Medieval Christians in Denmark showed off their wealth in death by buying prestigious graves: the closer to the church, the higher the price. Researchers used these gravesites to investigate social exclusion based on illness, ...

Feb 12, 2026 in Other Sciences
Phys.org / A little protein with a big role in building Earth's carbon fixing machinery

An international team of scientists has discovered that a small, low-abundance protein plays a surprisingly big role in assembling carboxysomes—specialized bacterial microcompartments that enable efficient carbon fixation ...

Feb 12, 2026 in Biology
Phys.org / Noisy classroom? Study suggests engagement matters more than eliminating background noise

How well we pay attention while learning is influenced not only by external distractions like background noise but also by internal factors such as how interesting we find the material, according to a study recently published ...

Feb 12, 2026 in Other Sciences
Phys.org / Temporal evolution of GRB 240825A afterglow provides insight into origins of optically dark gamma-ray bursts

Researchers from the Yunnan Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have conducted a new study on the temporal evolution of the afterglow from gamma-ray burst GRB 240825A. The study offers new evidence to better ...

Feb 12, 2026 in Astronomy & Space
Phys.org / Sea turtles are nesting earlier but producing fewer eggs, 17-year study finds

Climate change is reshaping life on Earth at an unprecedented pace. Across the globe, species are shifting their ranges, altering migration routes and breeding earlier in the year in response to rising temperatures. But while ...

Feb 12, 2026 in Biology
Phys.org / Plants retain a 'genetic memory' of past population crashes, study shows

Researchers at McGill University and the United States Forest Service have found that plants living in areas where human activity has caused population crashes carry long-lasting genetic traces of that history, such as reduced ...

Feb 12, 2026 in Biology
Phys.org / A new turbulence equation for eddy interactions: AI and physics team up to tackle notoriously difficult question

The currents of the oceans, the roiling surface of the sun, and the clouds of smoke billowing off a forest fire—all are governed by the same laws of physics and give rise to a complex phenomenon known as turbulence. But ...

Feb 12, 2026 in Physics
Phys.org / Driven electrolytes are agile and active at the nanoscale

Technologies for energy storage as well as biological systems such as the network of neurons in the brain depend on driven electrolytes that are traveling in an electric field due to their electrical charges. This concept ...

Feb 12, 2026 in Nanotechnology