Phys.org news

Phys.org / Network analysis reveals mammal food web drivers across Africa

Ecology is often understood as a hyperlocal thing. The ecology of a pond, for instance, is vastly complex, even if the pond is tiny. But learning solely from local ecosystems is a slow and laborious approach that may not ...

Apr 7, 2026
Phys.org / Born to roam, built for home: New genomic insights for snapper fisheries

Snapper are central to coastal life across southern Australia, supporting fisheries, local businesses, and regional tourism. New Flinders University research has found that although snapper populations across southern Australia ...

Apr 7, 2026
Phys.org / Would you spread pain to be fair? fMRI study tests moral choices in ice water

When making ethical decisions, university students appear to prioritize fairness and the fate of the worst-off over either reducing total harm or obeying unconditional moral precepts, according to a study published in PNAS ...

Apr 7, 2026
Phys.org / 3D microscopy reveals how a tick-borne virus reshapes human cells to replicate

Researchers at Umeå University show how tick-borne viruses remodel human cells into virus factories, using an advanced microscopy method. The findings provide new insight into how the virus replicates and matures, knowledge ...

Apr 7, 2026
Phys.org / Molecular editing tool relocates alcohol groups to neighboring sites while preserving 3D structure

In a discovery recently published in Nature, MIT chemists led by Professor Alison Wendlandt have developed a precision technique that allows scientists to seamlessly relocate alcohol functional groups from one spot on a molecule ...

Apr 7, 2026
Phys.org / How stem cell descendants preserve flexibility while maintaining distinct identities

Stem cells are the body's ultimate shape-shifters, sustaining tissues by balancing two competing demands: maintaining their own population and generating specialized descendants. In many tissues, some early descendants can ...

Apr 7, 2026
Phys.org / Teachers tend to help the same kids repeatedly when using AI-powered tutoring tools

A new study finds teachers tend to provide assistance to similar subsets of students when using AI-powered educational tools, rather than touching base regularly with everyone in their classes. The findings could be used ...

Apr 7, 2026
Phys.org / What this AI epitope library means for vaccines, immunotherapy and biosensors

A new tool makes it possible to screen millions of tiny protein fragments and select those that can be recognized by the immune system. The CIC biomaGUNE Center for Cooperative Research in Biomaterials has developed epiGPTope, ...

Apr 7, 2026
Phys.org / Rich biodiversity found in Japan's deepest ocean trenches, including an unidentified 'mystery' species

A new study published in the Biodiversity Data Journal provides a profound look at life up to nearly 10 kilometers below the ocean's surface in the Japan, Ryukyu, and Izu-Ogasawara trenches. The research catalogs at least ...

Apr 7, 2026
Phys.org / Quantum computing without interruptions

Mid-circuit measurements are one of the biggest practical hurdles in quantum error correction on encoded qubits. Researchers in Innsbruck and Aachen have now proposed and experimentally demonstrated that a universal fault-tolerant ...

Apr 7, 2026
Phys.org / Bird flu spread could be impacted by where waterfowl like to live

The movement patterns of waterfowl, including ducks, swans and geese, may affect the spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza in bird populations, according to a new study from the University of Georgia. The findings are ...

Apr 7, 2026
Phys.org / Molecular 'leash' measures force-sensing protein activation at about 15 piconewtons

Researchers at the National University of Singapore (NUS) have built a molecular "leash" to pull directly on a force-sensing protein called Piezo1, and discovered it switches on at about 15 piconewtons, proving that it can ...

Apr 7, 2026