Phys.org news

Phys.org / Microbial 'dark matter' yields 173 potential carbon dioxide-fixing strains

There are millions of species of bacteria and archaea on Earth, remarkably little is known about most of them. Now, researchers have mined the genomes of thousands of microorganisms preserved at the RIKEN BioResource Research ...

Sep 3, 2026
Phys.org / Dual-purpose qubit design could speed operations while cutting quantum errors

Researchers from MIT have designed a new qubit architecture that enables qubits to interact with each other much more quickly while remaining very stable. This advance could someday help scientists build practical quantum ...

Sep 3, 2026
Phys.org / Pigment found in beets linked to plants' adaptation to harsh environments

The pigments that give beets their red color may have helped a major group of flowering plants repeatedly adapt to dry environments, setting the stage for the evolution of traits that allowed plants to adapt to some of the ...

Sep 3, 2026
Phys.org / Rising species numbers on Europe's mountaintops may mask increasing losses of high-elevation plant specialists

Decades of warming have relaxed cold-temperature constraints on mountain plant distribution and increased species numbers on mountaintops. An international research team led by scientists from the University of Vienna, together ...

Sep 3, 2026
Phys.org / How stressed cells put the brakes on protein 'shipping'

Cells synthesize proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), and these proteins are transported to the Golgi apparatus for distribution to their ultimate destinations inside and outside the cell. The structures that transport ...

Sep 3, 2026
Phys.org / Surf's up: How the seafloor shapes breaking waves

A new study led by surfing scientists at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego revealed the physical relationships underlying a pattern familiar to generations of surfers.

Sep 3, 2026
Phys.org / Quantum control algorithm looks to explain how birds migrate

The hidden world of quantum mechanics exists at scales many orders of magnitude smaller than living organisms, yet scientists have long theorized that quantum effects play an important role in biology. Birds' ability to sense ...

Sep 3, 2026
Phys.org / Bacterial nanoplatform reprograms spleen immune cells to help prevent cancer recurrence

A research team led by Professor Yong Taik Lim at the SKKU Advanced Institute of Nanotechnology (SAINT), Sungkyunkwan University, have developed an engineered nanoplatform named t-SMC (trained immunity-mediated splenic myelopoiesis ...

Sep 3, 2026
Phys.org / Metabolic networks provide clues about the earliest stages of enzyme evolution

The enzymes found in modern organisms are complex proteins, often with multiple folded substructures and specialized catalytic sites. Proteins are encoded by genes. Tracing the history of enzymes across all living organisms ...

Sep 3, 2026
Phys.org / First DDT, now the flu: Peregrine falcons in San Francisco Bay Area hit hard by H5N1 variant

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) featured prominently in the news during 2020 as it took the lives of millions of birds across the globe. While the worst seems to be behind us, population-level effects are just now ...

Sep 3, 2026
Phys.org / Probiotic and postbiotic treatments revive heat-stressed corals in field experiment

Climate change continues to threaten the world's coral reefs, which support at least a quarter of all marine life. Though probiotics have been shown to rehabilitate corals in aquarium experiments, demonstrating the efficacy ...

Sep 3, 2026
Phys.org / Heavy water's atmospheric fingerprints boost weather forecasts for up to five days

Weather forecasts rely on many different kinds of data, including temperature, humidity and wind. For the first time, researchers, including those at the University of Tokyo, have demonstrated that a long-theorized improvement ...

Sep 3, 2026