Phys.org news

Phys.org / New immune-blocking strategy improves interspecies organ generation

Xenophagocytosis is a natural immune process that limits interspecies organ generation by eliminating living donor cells, researchers at the Institute of Science Tokyo, Japan, report. By uncovering how embryonic macrophages ...

Aug 1, 2026
Phys.org / Electron cooling tames highly charged ions in Penning trap for first time

Researchers at Technical University of Darmstadt and the GSI Helmholtz Center for Heavy Ion Research have succeeded for the first time in decelerating highly charged ions from the GSI accelerator to low energies and subsequently ...

Aug 1, 2026
Phys.org / Deadly blooms offer a genetic blueprint for making hard-to-synthesize medicinal compounds

Two plants that cause neurotoxicity and paralysis in the tiniest doses are also known to counter pain, malaria, cancer and pests. For the first time, researchers discovered a way to recreate these powerful compounds in the ...

Aug 1, 2026
Phys.org / How molecular tethers and asynchronous replication drive parasite proliferation

Malaria parasites proliferate in an unusual way. Rather than dividing into two daughter cells like human cells, they first amplify their genetic material tenfold, hundredfold or even thousandfold before simultaneously producing ...

Aug 1, 2026
Phys.org / Oil droplets remodel themselves, swallow their surroundings like living cells

NYU researchers have made microscopic oil droplets in water do something usually reserved for living cells: change shape in complex, controllable ways and even engulf their surroundings.

Aug 1, 2026
Phys.org / Solar wind stirs Mars' upper atmosphere, boosting ion loss to space

Our sun constantly releases a stream of high-speed charged particles, known as the solar wind. Unlike Earth, Mars does not have a strong global magnetic field to shield its atmosphere from this flow. As a result, the solar ...

Aug 1, 2026
Phys.org / Ancient diamond preserves evidence of water-bearing mineral deep in Earth's mantle

A team of Brazilian researchers discovered the first direct evidence that goethite—the mineral responsible for the brown color of soils—can withstand extreme pressures and temperatures all the way to the planet's interior ...

Aug 1, 2026
Phys.org / Diego Rivera claimed his mural Creation was half wax, but chemical forensics says otherwise

Adorning the walls of San Ildefonso College in Mexico City is artist Diego Rivera's masterpiece, rendered in fresco and gold leaf, The Creation, or La Creacioń. It depicts a man standing with his arms outstretched beneath ...

Jul 31, 2026
Phys.org / Lichen-like life 600 million years ago may push back origins of fungal-algal partnerships

Two organisms inhabiting a common environment can sometimes mutually influence each other, either benefiting or, in some cases, damaging one another. This mutually beneficial or ambivalent biological relationship is known ...

Jul 31, 2026
Phys.org / Ancient Rome's food shortages were shaped more by logistics than climate

Ancient Rome's greatest threat to food security wasn't the weather but the challenge of getting grain to the capital, according to a new study. By comparing hundreds of years of historical records with reconstructions of ...

Jul 31, 2026
Phys.org / New photonic platform offers a four-lane highway for light

Topological photonics can force propagating light to travel in a single direction—allowing researchers to route optical signals around corners and past defects without any of it scattering backward. So far, however, this ...

Jul 31, 2026
Phys.org / Less-explored form of quantum code could be more powerful—and more stable—than its alternative in error correction

In mathematics and getting dressed, some processes are commutative, while others are noncommutative. Commutative means the order doesn't matter (3 + 2 is the same as 2 + 3, and it doesn't matter which sock goes on first). ...

Jul 31, 2026