Phys.org news

Phys.org / Wearables to track plant health: Farmers could use real-time information to manage crop conditions

A smartwatch can tell us the level of oxygen in our blood, when our sleep is restless or the number of steps we take in a day. Now imagine that kind of tracking ability for plants. By the time farmers see curling leaves or ...

Jul 9, 2026
Phys.org / Unraveling the glass-like nature of epithelial tissues

In a new study, researchers at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have resolved a longstanding mystery by showing how epithelial tissues exhibit slow-moving, glass-like behavior despite their fast-paced biological activity. ...

Jul 9, 2026
Phys.org / High-throughput search tests 200 catalysts, revealing hidden routes for methane chemistry

Catalysts are the hidden engines of modern manufacturing, directly involved in more than 80% of chemical processes. However, catalyst development is highly complex because performance is governed by the interplay of the catalyst, ...

Jul 9, 2026
Phys.org / A new route to electrically controlled helimagnetic structures

Advanced magnetic memory and spintronic devices rely on the ability to control magnetic states using electricity. Today, such technologies work by manipulating relatively simple magnetic structures found in ferromagnets, ...

Jul 9, 2026
Phys.org / The color of penguin poo: Satellites reveal global warming's impact on an iconic polar species

Scientists from a handful of universities across the country have made innovative use of satellite images from NASA to determine the diet of Antarctic Adélie penguins across the continent by studying their icy feces with ...

Jul 9, 2026
Phys.org / New genomic method to track disease outbreaks globally

Phylo-Plex, a new computational method, has been developed by Wellcome Sanger Institute scientists and their collaborators to allow cost-effective and scalable DNA sequencing of pathogens in laboratories with limited resources. ...

Jul 9, 2026
Phys.org / Young giant gas planet Beta Pic B refuses to reveal its origin

The young planetary system of the 23-million-year-old star Beta Pictoris (short: Beta Pic) is regarded as an iconic circumstellar dust disk, which hosts at least three giant gas planets. Discovered in 2008 by direct imaging, ...

Jul 9, 2026
Phys.org / Falling water levels trigger a surge in methane emissions from Mediterranean reservoirs

Continental aquatic ecosystems, such as lakes and reservoirs, occupy a small proportion of Earth's surface but play a significant role in the global carbon cycle. It is estimated that more than 40% of global methane emissions ...

Jul 9, 2026
Phys.org / Genetic crossovers defy chromosome-length model in male and female mice

A Cornell-led study is challenging a decades-old explanation for how chromosomes exchange genetic material within the biological process that forms eggs and sperm in mammals.

Jul 9, 2026
Phys.org / Hidden deep-sea turbulence could alter climate and fisheries within one lifetime

Tiny, invisible swirls and twirls—not much bigger than a coin—deep below the ocean's surface are silently shaping some of the biggest forces shaping our climate: sea level rise, fisheries collapse, extreme flooding and how ...

Jul 9, 2026
Phys.org / AI can predict how you'll respond to a survey—but that's not the same as understanding you

What makes people change their minds or their behavior? Social scientists spend a lot of time thinking about this question, and experiments are one of the most powerful ways to answer it.

Jul 9, 2026
Phys.org / JWST's 'overmassive' early black holes may not be so massive after all

Astronomers studying a population of unusually X-ray-silent and overmassive black holes discovered by the James Webb Space Telescope have found that they may not be as massive as they appear. The new paper, outlining a plausible ...

Jul 8, 2026