Phys.org news

Phys.org / Time-gating technique sees through deep tissue, dense fog, and other obstacles

From helping doctors detect cancer to guiding self-driving cars through traffic, many modern imaging systems rely on near-infrared light, producing a crisp picture when visible light would scatter and yield a blurry picture. ...

Aug 17, 2026
Phys.org / Labrador Sea a key player in providing oxygen for deep North Atlantic life

Researchers from Cornell University have pinpointed the source of oxygen that sustains deep-sea life in the North Atlantic Ocean: the churning waters in the Labrador Sea.

Aug 17, 2026
Phys.org / Quantum light engine links atom-photon thermodynamics to classical physics

What is heat, and what is useful work if a machine consists only of an atom and light particles? In modern quantum technologies, this kind of question connects thermodynamics with quantum physics. Researchers at the University ...

Aug 17, 2026
Phys.org / How ancient trees are warning us about the next enormous solar storm

Our sun is capable of storms far bigger than we've ever recorded. Studying the world's oldest trees suggests we could soon be due one of these gargantuan events.

Aug 17, 2026
Phys.org / Dice design solves board gaming's most surprisingly complex problem—who goes first?

It took nearly 15 years, researchers around the world and enough computing power to search through a universe of possibilities to answer one question: Who goes first?

Aug 17, 2026
Phys.org / Hubble solves merger mystery from Milky Way's early years

Our home galaxy, the Milky Way, grew to its current size in part by consuming smaller galaxies. Now, new data from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope show definitive evidence of a dwarf galaxy merging with the young Milky Way ...

Aug 17, 2026
Phys.org / Who's watching who? Otters turn their attention to humans

For many people, a trip to the zoo is a chance to watch playful otters dart through the water and chatter with one another. But while we may worry that crowds could stress the otter community, a new Australian study shows ...

Aug 17, 2026
Phys.org / Mega-Earth GJ 523b is 23 times as massive as our planet—but only 2.5 times as wide

It's nearly 170 million years old. It's more than 2.5 times the size of Earth. And it's the first exoplanet discovered and cataloged by researchers with the Wisconsin Center for Origins Research (WiCOR).

Aug 17, 2026
Phys.org / Gluons may play a central role in baryon number conservation—and matter's stability

New results from the STAR detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) suggest that gluons, the glue-like particles that hold quarks together inside protons, play a central role in the conservation of baryon number—an ...

Aug 17, 2026
Phys.org / Pesticides make Argentine ants go crazy, sending them roaming or clustering before workers die

Don't assume an uptick in ant activity after setting out pesticide traps means the treatment failed. New UC Riverside research shows their behavior changes as chemicals make their way through a colony.

Aug 17, 2026
Phys.org / 35-year monitoring study clarifies ecological forces behind Lyme disease risk

Tick-borne diseases are on the rise in the United States. Lyme disease is the most commonly reported, with nearly half a million people diagnosed each year. Caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi, it is most often spread ...

Aug 17, 2026
Phys.org / Molecular electromagnetic sensor may enable remote-controlled gene therapy

The deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) of living organisms contains regulatory elements that control when, where and to what extent specific genes are turned on or off. They can be co-opted to create "gene switches" that hold significant ...

Aug 17, 2026