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Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine.

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New methods for removing harmful nitrates from drinking water identified

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-methods-nitrates.html

Published: July 24, 2026 15:00

Nitrate contamination of drinking water poses a major health concern, particularly in agricultural communities where fertilizers, livestock manure and septic systems can leach nitrates into groundwater. Many rural households rely on private water wells,ā€¦

Quantum dots reveal hidden light waves on metal surfaces

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-quantum-dots-reveal-hidden-metal.html

Published: July 24, 2026 14:40

Photographs can reveal things that are otherwise impossible for the naked eye to see, be they distant galaxies or microscopic cells. Researchers at Osaka Metropolitan University have developed a practical and versatile imaging technique that makes anotherā€¦

Cutting out the noise: How horseshoe bats adapt their echolocation behavior in colonies

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-noise-horseshoe-echolocation-behavior-colonies.html

Published: July 24, 2026 14:20

Imagine searching for a gemstone in a dark cave: You use a flashlight, looking for a rainbow-colored glint in the darkness. Now, imagine 10 other people in the cave with you, using different-colored flashlights at the same time. Suddenly, you can no longerā€¦

Native fine-flavor cacao can match commercial varieties in yield, study finds

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-native-fine-flavor-cacao-commercial.html

Published: July 24, 2026 14:20

A study carried out on smallholder farms in northern Peru shows that Blanco de Piura, a native fine-flavor cacao variety, can achieve productivity levels comparable to those of commercial varieties widely grown across Latin America. The research, led byā€¦

How did inbred brown tree snakes take over the island of Guam?

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-inbred-brown-tree-snakes-island.html

Published: July 24, 2026 14:00

If you look up invasive species in a textbook, there's a good chance you'll find a picture of a brown tree snake. Native to Australia and the South Pacific, the brown tree snake arrived on Guam sometime after World War II, possibly by stowing away aboardā€¦

Unraveling the climate behind the collapse of Bronze Age civilizations

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-unraveling-climate-collapse-bronze-age.html

Published: July 24, 2026 14:00

The most severe droughts in the ancient Eastern Mediterranean arose when multiple natural climate cycles coincided, according to a new study from Stockholm University published in Science Advances. The findings shed new light on the climate conditionsā€¦

Hydrogel electrode improves stability of insect-based odor sensors for drones

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-hydrogel-electrode-stability-insect-based.html

Published: July 24, 2026 14:00

Drones are increasingly being used for disaster response, infrastructure inspection and environmental monitoring. However, most drone systems rely primarily on cameras and other visual sensors, which can become ineffective in smoke, dust, darkness orā€¦

Algorithms create foundry-ready photonic circuits

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-algorithms-foundry-ready-photonic-circuits.html

Published: July 24, 2026 13:40

Photonic microchips can process data at extremely high speeds and are embedded in a wide variety of today's technologies. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light (MPL) and Harvard University have now succeeded in developing threeā€¦

How fishing may be changing one fish species at the molecular level

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-fishing-fish-species-molecular.html

Published: July 24, 2026 13:40

The pearly razorfish (Xyrichtys novacula) is a small marine animal that lives in sandy coastal waters and feeds on creatures like shrimp. Known locally in Spain's Balearic Islands as raors, it is a popular dish in many homes and restaurants across theā€¦

Malaria parasite selectively consumes linoleic acid fats, revealing drug target potential

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-malaria-parasite-consumes-linoleic-acid.html

Published: July 24, 2026 13:40

Researchers at NYU Abu Dhabi have discovered that the malaria parasite relies on a specific type of fat to survive and multiply within the human host, uncovering a previously unknown vulnerability that could help guide future treatments.

Review finds lack of evidence as to whether planting around our homes reduces the pollution we breathe

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-lack-evidence-homes-pollution.html

Published: July 24, 2026 13:20

A new review led by the University of East London (UEL) has uncovered a major blind spot in air pollution research. Despite domestic gardens covering vast areas of Britain's towns and cities, researchers found no direct evidence showing whether they reduceā€¦

Rocks from unexplored far side of the moon help rewrite lunar history

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-unexplored-side-moon-rewrite-lunar.html

Published: July 24, 2026 13:20

Ancient samples from the moon's far side are helping scientists uncover how asteroid impacts shaped the early solar system. The findings challenge decades of thinking about when those impacts occurred and offer new insights into the conditions thatā€¦

Trust among farmers is key to scaling climate-smart innovations

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-farmers-key-scaling-climate-smart.html

Published: July 24, 2026 13:00

As the climate becomes increasingly variable and extreme events become more frequent, accelerating the use of innovations that can strengthen agricultural resilience has become a priority for agrifood systems. Science has made progress in developingā€¦

Fat-storing cell structures may block viral spread by recruiting antiviral proteins

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-fat-cell-block-viral-antiviral.html

Published: July 24, 2026 13:00

La Trobe University scientists have uncovered the critical role fatty cell structures play in our body's early detection and defense against viruses. Published in Nature Communications, the discovery could open the door to a new type of antiviral strategyā€¦

Why and how birdsong differs across the worldā€”and the eight motifs that tie them together

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-birdsong-differs-world-motifs.html

Published: July 24, 2026 12:50

Birdsong carries meaning across open space, helping birds attract mates, defend territory and communicate with rivals. While there has been much research into the use of birdsong across species, researchers have lacked a single global framework thatā€¦

More than 80,000 flee forest infernos in France and Spain

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-forest-infernos-france-spain.html

Published: July 24, 2026 12:40

Europe's wildfire crisis forced more than 80,000 people to flee for safety Friday, as vacationers boarded boats to escape fires on a French peninsula and Spanish officials ordered mass evacuations in towns near Madrid.

Quantum Zeno effect could freeze computations as qubit systems scale up

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-quantum-zeno-effect-qubit-scale.html

Published: July 24, 2026 12:40

The promise of quantum computing is to solve complex problems faster and more energy-efficiently than today's supercomputersā€”from optimizing logistics to simulating molecules. This goal is coming within reach as the number of qubitsā€”the computational unitsā€¦

Baby monkey Punch to celebrate first birthday

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-baby-monkey-celebrate-birthday.html

Published: July 24, 2026 12:35

Punch, a plush-clutching Japanese baby monkey that has become a global online sensation, will celebrate his first birthday on Sunday as his zoo is flooded with fan letters from around the world.

Magnetic clues inside atomic nuclei help explain how elements form in stars

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-magnetic-clues-atomic-nuclei-elements.html

Published: July 24, 2026 12:20

A scientific team led by Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, or FRIB, has identified the origin of a mysterious excess of low-energy gamma rays emitted by the nucleus zinc-70. They found that the excess is caused by magnetic transitions within the nucleus.ā€¦

Community context shapes corporate response to violence in street protests

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-community-context-corporate-response-violence.html

Published: July 24, 2026 12:00

When violence takes place during street protests, how do corporate leaders respond? According to new research by Forrest Briscoe, professor of organizational behavior at the ILR School, the answer depends on other community characteristics that people canā€¦

Why Europa's hidden ocean may be more difficult to reach than scientists thought

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-europa-hidden-ocean-difficult-scientists.html

Published: July 24, 2026 12:00

Europa, one of Jupiter's icy moons, has long fascinated scientists because of what may lie beneath its frozen shell: a global ocean of liquid water. That hidden ocean has made Europa one of the most compelling places in the solar system to study theā€¦

Io's volcanic output offers a 40ā€‘day forecast of plasma density in Jupiter's magnetosphere

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-io-volcanic-output-40day-plasma.html

Published: July 24, 2026 11:40

A careful statistical comparison of observations recorded by NASA's Juno mission and the Planetary Science Institute's Io Input Output observatory (IoIO) shows that IoIO observations reliably predict the density of Jupiter's plasma disk, an important partā€¦

Researchers develop AI-driven method to improve forecasts weeks in advance

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-ai-driven-method-weeks-advance.html

Published: July 24, 2026 11:40

Haonan Chen, a CSU associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, and his team have published research that could improve the accuracy of precipitation forecasts up to two weeks in advance.

Colorado prepares for screwworms, as the pest that was eradicated in 1966 returns to the US

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-colorado-screwworms-pest-eradicated.html

Published: July 24, 2026 11:20

New World screwworm, a concerning pest that mainly affects livestock and wildlife, was detected in South Texas in June 2026. It has since expanded northward in Texas, and there was one case in New Mexico as of July 23, 2026.

Why evolution never produced mammal teeth that slice and crush equally well

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-evolution-mammal-teeth-slice-equally.html

Published: July 24, 2026 11:20

Evolution is all about trade-offs. Traits that may be beneficial in one situation may backfire in another. Over millions of years, species can become specialized for one way of living rather than being equally good at everything. This explains why mammalā€¦

UK in pole position to lead key instrument in NASA's hunt for Earth-like worlds

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-uk-pole-position-key-instrument.html

Published: July 24, 2026 11:00

UK astronomers are a step closer to playing a leading role in NASA's search for alien life in the coming decades as they continue developing one of the core instruments of the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO). The exciting missionā€”the U.S. space agency'sā€¦

Wildfires: What can the UK and other nations learn from Australia's worldā€‘leading fire response systems?

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-wildfires-uk-nations-australia-worldleading.html

Published: July 24, 2026 11:00

Wildfires are becoming a feature of the UK's hotter, drier climate. In July 2026, major fires swept through parts of the UK in a matter of daysā€”notably setting Arthur's Seat, the extinct volcano in the center of Edinburgh, alight. The Scottish Greensā€¦

Metal-ion coating improves extracellular vesicles for cancer detection and targeted delivery

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-metal-ion-coating-extracellular-vesicles.html

Published: July 24, 2026 11:00

Researchers, including those from the University of Tokyo, found a way to optimize how cells bind to small packages they release called extracellular vesicles. By coating the vesicles with metal ions, they made cells and their corresponding vesicles stickā€¦

Why you should think twice before rescuing a wild animal

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-wild-animal.html

Published: July 24, 2026 10:40

Imagine you're driving down a winding road when you spot an injured possum. Your instincts might tell you to hit the brakes, check what's wrong and bundle it into your car. Research shows many of us want to help wild animals in distress. This may be out ofā€¦

Combining AI protein design with laboratory evolution improves engineered enzymes

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-combining-ai-protein-laboratory-evolution.html

Published: July 24, 2026 10:40

When scientists want to create a protein that can potentially treat disease, one approach is to begin with a different protein and evolve it in the lab, selecting over many generations for versions with a new, desired function.

'Jimothy' the raccoon has short spine syndromeā€”but this condition can affect dogs, too

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-jimothy-raccoon-short-spine-syndrome.html

Published: July 24, 2026 10:20

If you've been anywhere near the internet in recent days, you will likely have seen the viral footage of "Jimothy": an unusually round raccoon in Seattle that hops and skips along in a video filmed by local resident Kiana Hall.

Fossilized wood reveals 300 million years of Earth's history

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-fossilized-wood-reveals-million-years.html

Published: July 24, 2026 10:00

Many people are familiar with fossilized wood as a decorative item from a museum shop. However, the fact that it can preserve the geological history of entire regions spanning millions of years is a new discovery. A research team led by geologist Dr.ā€¦

Plumage reflectance framework offers new insight into how birds evolved heat-controlling feathers

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-plumage-framework-insight-birds-evolved.html

Published: July 24, 2026 09:40

Birds can inhabit various environments with different climates and temperatures, ranging from cold polar regions to scorching hot deserts. To survive and thrive in these very different environments, they need to effectively regulate their body temperature.

Rejection hurts: How to help kids and teens bounce back when they've missed out

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-kids-teens-theyve.html

Published: July 24, 2026 09:40

Rejection can sometimes be so intense it feels like physical painā€”a punch in the gut or a heart that aches. It often involves feeling left out and unwanted. And it can make us question our self-worth.

World's first 'zinc oxide spin qubit' could advance scalable quantum devices

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-world-zinc-oxide-qubit-advance.html

Published: July 24, 2026 09:20

A research team led by SKKU professor Hosung Seo of the Department of Quantum Information Engineering and the SKKU Advanced Institute of Nanotechnology, working with the University of Wisconsinā€“Madison and the University of Washington, has identifiedā€”forā€¦

Differences in human and great ape laughter reveal clues to the origin of speech

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-differences-human-great-ape-laughter.html

Published: July 24, 2026 09:20

Humans are not the only animals that communicate. Birds sing to attract mates, dolphins use signature whistles that identify individuals, and many primates produce complex vocalizations that help them coordinate their social lives.

Physicists turn to the universe's 'piano notes' to detect hidden particles

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-physicists-universe-piano-hidden-particles.html

Published: July 24, 2026 09:00

It's been said that a finely tuned ear knows the size and shape of a piano by merely listening to the instrument's notes. An international team of physicists has now devised an analogous approach to detect the universe's hidden particles at highā€¦

How does parentā€‘child interaction therapy work? And who can use it?

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-parentchild-interaction-therapy.html

Published: July 24, 2026 09:00

Children thrive when parents are warm and responsive to their needs while also providing clear guidance and setting limits. This is known as authoritative parenting. But most parents will tell you authoritative parenting is easier said than done,ā€¦

A simple idea to bring clean drinking water to U.S. homes at a lower cost

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-simple-idea-homes.html

Published: July 24, 2026 08:40

Stanford engineer Khalid Osman and collaborators are building modeling tools to help water system managers find the most cost-effective option for improving their community's drinking water.

Astronomers catch massive galaxy assembling piece by piece 1.2 billion years after Big Bang

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-astronomers-massive-galaxy-piece-billion.html

Published: July 24, 2026 08:40

Astronomers have discovered a remarkably tiny group of six young galaxies just 1.2 billion years after the Big Bang. This may be a rare glimpse of how some of the universe's largest galaxies formed. The paper outlining the findings was submitted to theā€¦

Vegan dog and cat food generally well digested

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-vegan-dog-cat-food-generally.html

Published: July 24, 2026 08:20

A new scientific review has found that nutritionally sound vegan dog food, vegan cat food and vegetarian pet diets are generally well digested and broadly comparable to conventional meat-based diets.

Should scientists have research 'reserves' on the moon?

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-scientists-reserves-moon.html

Published: July 24, 2026 07:40

The worlds of the solar system are exciting and, so far, mostly pristine places for planetary scientists to study. As space missions continue to travel to Mars, Europa, asteroids and other worlds, questions arise about keeping them safe for continuedā€¦

Protecting your pets from heat stress: Expert advice

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-pets-stress-expert-advice.html

Published: July 24, 2026 07:20

Warm weather often means more time outside with your pets, but higher temperatures also increase the risk of heat stress, which occurs when an animal's body cannot properly cool itself, causing its core temperature to rise.

Small tropical islands face dangerous humid heat by end of the century

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-small-tropical-islands-dangerous-humid.html

Published: July 24, 2026 07:20

Millions of people living on tropical islands could face a future of increasingly dangerous heat as climate change drives longer and more intense periods of humid conditions. While rising temperatures are often discussed as the main consequence of climateā€¦

National study finds reports of past-year sexual harassment more than doubled since 2018

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-national-year-sexual.html

Published: July 24, 2026 07:00

Nearly a decade after the #MeToo movement reshaped public conversations about sexual harassment, a new study from the Newcomb Institute at Tulane University finds that Americans are reporting experiences of sexual harassment at far higher rates than theyā€¦

Young rift flanks suggest Venus remains tectonically active

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-young-rift-flanks-venus-tectonically.html

Published: July 24, 2026 05:00

Venus is an inhospitable place, with temperatures soaring to several hundred degrees Celsius (hundreds of degrees Fahrenheit) and no oceans like those on Earth. Planetary scientists long believed Venus was geologically dormant. However, recent researchā€¦

Mapping project helps protect coastal world heritage sites from climate threats

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-coastal-world-heritage-sites-climate.html

Published: July 24, 2026 05:00

A major new digital mapping project could help safeguard some of the world's most important and well-known heritage sites from rising seas, flooding and coastal erosion. Researchers led by scientists from the University of East Anglia (UEA), Durhamā€¦

Thousands flee wildfires in southern Europe

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-thousands-wildfires-southern-europe.html

Published: July 24, 2026 04:37

Luggage-clad residents and tourists fled a French peninsula by boat, and the smell of smoke drifted into parts of Madrid on Friday as wildfires swept through parts of Western Europe, triggering states of emergency and calls for EU help.

3D-printed bioplastic pods offer new hope for seagrass restoration in Thailand

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-3d-bioplastic-pods-seagrass-thailand.html

Published: July 23, 2026 23:20

A new collaborative research project between Murdoch University and Walailak University (WU) aims to restore seagrass meadows in Thailand using 3D-printed pods made from bioplastics.

Researchers explore classroom applications of AI new learning platforms

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-explore-classroom-applications-ai-platforms.html

Published: July 23, 2026 22:20

Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly embedded in classroom practice in Hong Kong, following the Education Bureau's release of the Blueprint for Digital Education Development in Primary and Secondary Schools and its commitment to supportingā€¦

How an iceberg may have stopped emperor penguins from breeding on Coulman Island in 2025

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-iceberg-emperor-penguins-coulman-island.html

Published: July 23, 2026 21:20

The number of chicks in the Coulman Island emperor penguin colony decreased by about 69% in 2025 compared with 2024, according to research published in Communications Earth & Environment. The authors suggest that a large iceberg, which grounded off theā€¦

Plant scientist explains the impact of the EU's new gene-editing rules

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-scientist-impact-eu-gene.html

Published: July 23, 2026 21:20

The European Union adopted new legislation on plants obtained through certain new genomic techniques in June 2026. The new framework will apply after a two-year transition period. It distinguishes between two categories. Plants in Category 1 (NGT-1) have aā€¦

Who holds power? Puerto Ricans' distrust runs deep

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-power-puerto-ricans-distrust-deep.html

Published: July 23, 2026 21:00

Puerto Ricans share deep skepticism toward elected officials and a widespread sense of limited self-governance, according to a new study from the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research and the University of Puerto Rico-RĆ­o Piedras.

Mitochondrial mechanism links protein folding to heme production and cell energy

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-mitochondrial-mechanism-links-protein-heme.html

Published: July 23, 2026 20:40

Researchers at the University of Cologne have discovered a previously unknown mechanism that links two fundamental processes in mitochondria. The team, led by Julia Racho and Dylan Stobbe under the supervision of Professor Dr. Jan Riemer from the Instituteā€¦

Recoverable molecular helper guides synthesis of highly pure chiral rotaxanes

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-recoverable-molecular-helper-synthesis-highly.html

Published: July 23, 2026 20:20

Chiral molecules can exist in left- and right-handed forms. Although these mirror-image forms may look almost identical, they can behave very differently in chemical reactions, biological systems and advanced materials. Preparing one mirror-image form inā€¦

How researchers are using AI to speed up drug discovery and development: Q&A

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-ai-drug-discovery-qa.html

Published: July 23, 2026 20:00

Drug development is among the slowest, most failure-prone processes in modern science, with about 90% of drug candidates never reaching the market. Today, artificial intelligence methods have accelerated the first stepā€”plucking promising molecules out ofā€¦

Earlier toilet training could curb growing diaper waste crisis

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-earlier-toilet-curb-diaper-crisis.html

Published: July 23, 2026 19:40

Earlier toilet training and new recycling technologies are among expert-backed solutions to reduce the environmental impact of disposable diapers and other hygiene products, according to a new study led by UCL researchers.

AI unlocks Atlantic circulation insights from 20 years of ocean float data

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-ai-atlantic-circulation-insights-years.html

Published: July 23, 2026 19:20

For more than 20 years, about 4,000 autonomous profiling floats have been drifting through the ocean. They form part of the international Argo program (Argoā€”global array of profiling floats). At regular intervals, they descend to a depth of 2,000 metersā€¦

A new 'golden age' of mathematics may be dawning, thanks to AI and human ingenuity

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-golden-age-mathematics-dawning-ai.html

Published: July 23, 2026 19:20

In May 2026, OpenAI released a new math result that sent shock waves throughout the world of mathematical research. A major unsolved problem called the "unit distance conjecture" had just been resolved by generative AI.

Alan Turing's gay short story reveals 'fun, cheeky' man who loved sex and literature

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-alan-turing-gay-short-story.html

Published: July 23, 2026 19:10

A startling new study of a little-known, unpublished short story by Alan Turing challenges our understanding of the man who played a key role in cracking the Nazis' Enigma code, developed the theoretical underpinnings of the first computers and laid theā€¦

Could alien signals be hiding on a different radio channel?

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-alien-radio-channel.html

Published: July 23, 2026 19:00

Astronomers searching for signs of extraterrestrial intelligence may have been missing alien signals in part of the radio spectrum that has not recently been explored.

When mothers make the winners: How alpha female lineages dominate hyena clans

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-mothers-winners-alpha-female-lineages.html

Published: July 23, 2026 18:50

In mammals, males are usually stronger and more competitive than females. Males also show greater inequality in reproductive successā€”the number of offspring they produceā€”than females. In spotted hyenas, the opposite is true: Reproductive inequality isā€¦

Materials surrounding a fusion reaction can dramatically increase how often it occurs

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-materials-fusion-reaction.html

Published: July 23, 2026 18:40

Fusion at high temperatures powers the sun and, if harnessed, could provide a potential source of energy here on Earth. But controlling fusion reactions has other benefits. The process also generates subatomic particles called neutrons that are used in aā€¦

80ā€‘millionā€‘yearā€‘old snake fossil sheds light on why lizards lost their limbs and started slithering

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-80millionyearold-snake-fossil-lizards-lost.html

Published: July 23, 2026 18:40

Snakes are everywhere in our legends and mythology. Yet for most of us, our blood runs cold whenever we encounter these strangely undulating, scaly tubes of muscle slithering through the leaf litter.

Programmable platform enables on-demand design of plant immune receptors against crop pathogens

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-programmable-platform-enables-demand-immune.html

Published: July 23, 2026 18:30

Crop production faces threats from plant pathogens. Traditional disease-resistance breeding relies heavily on natural plant resistance genes that encode immune receptors adapted to particular pathogens. However, rapidly evolving pathogens frequentlyā€¦

Not every meal has the same impact: Researchers reveal the hidden footprint of our food

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-meal-impact-reveal-hidden-footprint.html

Published: July 23, 2026 18:20

Leiden environmental researchers have mapped the environmental footprint of different diets and revealed which population groups have the greatest impact through their food choices. Their findings show where efforts to make the food system more sustainableā€¦

Public opinion on abortion has shifted four years after Dobbs decision overturned Roe v. Wade

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-opinion-abortion-shifted-years-dobbs.html

Published: July 23, 2026 18:20

It's been four years since the Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization overturned Roe v. Wade, ending the federal constitutional right to abortion.

Plant diversity boosts natural pest control in farms, while forests and grasslands follow different rules

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-diversity-boosts-natural-pest-farms.html

Published: July 23, 2026 18:10

Plant diversity has long been regarded as key to stable and resilient ecosystems. However, until now, little has been understood about why it has different effects in agricultural areas than in grasslands or forests. An international research group, inā€¦

Sperm whales blow bubbles to achieve restful, vertical sleep

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-sperm-whales-restful-vertical.html

Published: July 23, 2026 18:00

New research from the University of St Andrews and UniversitĆ© de NeuchĆ¢tel has uncovered the mechanism that allows sperm whales to sleep in a unique vertical position just under the ocean surface.

College professors face an emerging challenge: We know students are no longer reading entire books

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-college-professors-emerging-students-longer.html

Published: July 23, 2026 18:00

Anyone who has spent time on a college campus lately has probably heard laments from faculty about their students' reading habits, or rather, nonreading habits. Such complaints are more than unfounded nostalgia for a bygone age.

Chocolate syrup-like fluid stores multiple interacting memories

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-chocolate-syrup-fluid-multiple-interacting.html

Published: July 23, 2026 17:50

Animals and electronic devices aren't the only things with memory. Materials can retain memories of past deformations in their microscopic structure. A common example is a crease in a sheet of paper that has been folded then unfolded. Understanding thisā€¦

There's a business case for companies to embrace sustainability, if it's pitched the right way

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-business-case-companies-embrace-sustainability.html

Published: July 23, 2026 17:40

Sustainable business practices are often seen as a luxury that only rich countries can afford. And these days, some of the biggest economies, including the U.S., are backtracking on those commitments.

Global map reveals mining's uneven toll on forests and biodiversity

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-global-reveals-uneven-toll-forests.html

Published: July 23, 2026 17:40

A new study led by Japanese researchers from Tohoku University and the National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES) reveals that some of the minerals most essential for green technologies may have a significant negative impact on biodiversity. Usingā€¦

Engineers observe quantum heat waves at room temperature

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-quantum-room-temperature.html

Published: July 23, 2026 17:30

Efficient heat management in solids is key to advancing the next generation of electronics. However, wave-like heat movementā€”known as phonon focusingā€”had been observed only at extremely low, or cryogenic, temperatures, limiting its study and practical use.

Exploring the lost golden age of language diversity before expanding empires drove a global decline

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-exploring-lost-golden-age-language.html

Published: July 23, 2026 17:20

Today, people speak or sign around 7,500 languages. Yet this figure provides only a snapshot of a constantly changing history. How many languages existed before written records? Did agriculture reduce linguistic diversity by allowing expanding farmingā€¦

Simple circuit brings topological insulators closer to practical electrical measurement standards

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-simple-circuit-topological-insulators-closer.html

Published: July 23, 2026 17:10

Researchers at the University of WĆ¼rzburg have succeeded in detecting exceptionally robust electrical transport in a topological insulator. This could lead to new metrological applications. The work is published in the journal Nature Communications.

Colorado basins supplying 70% of Lake Powell's water face major midcentury shortages

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-colorado-basins-lake-powell-major.html

Published: July 23, 2026 17:00

If the Colorado River Basin is the lifeblood of the American Southwest, keeping the region's agricultural, ecological and economic systems thriving, Colorado's West Slope River basins could be considered the heart. Together, they contribute about 70% ofā€¦

The sex life of treefrogs: How females build better nests by mating with multiple partners

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-sex-life-treefrogs-females-multiple.html

Published: July 23, 2026 17:00

African gray foam-nest treefrogs (Chiromantis xerampelina) are common across the savannas and dry forests of southeastern Africa. Despite their unremarkable outward appearance, these small animals display some of the most intriguing reproductive behaviorsā€¦

Machine learning narrows search for additional particles in the Higgs boson family

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-machine-narrows-additional-particles-higgs.html

Published: July 23, 2026 16:50

What if the Higgs boson found in 2012 is not alone but is the only sibling we have encountered so far? Scientists at CERN discovered the particle that year, and it was a major discovery because it explained how other particles acquire mass. For a longā€¦

Universal structure of exceptional points revealed in nonlinear lightā€‘based systems

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-universal-exceptional-revealed-nonlinear-lightbased.html

Published: July 23, 2026 16:40

Exceptional points, or EPs for short, are among the phenomena of modern physics. These are special points or locations at which the properties of matter, space or time change. In a new theoretical study, researchers from the Institute for Photonic Quantumā€¦

Do tourists stress out safari animals? We tested their dung to find out

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-tourists-stress-safari-animals-dung.html

Published: July 23, 2026 16:40

Every year, thousands of tourists pile into game drive vehicles or don their hiking gear and cross South Africa's nature reserves. Binoculars and cameras at the ready, each hopes for a special encounter with Africa's wildlifeā€”as small as dwarf mongooses,ā€¦

Destructive crop caterpillar harbors fungi that can degrade Styrofoam

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-destructive-crop-caterpillar-harbors-fungi.html

Published: July 23, 2026 16:30

A moth caterpillar identified by the agribusiness sector as one of the most destructive pests of soybean, cotton and corn crops may harbor fungi and bacteria in its gut that can degrade expanded polystyrene, also known as Styrofoam. In an article publishedā€¦

NASA's new space telescope will tackle some of the universe's biggest mysteries

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-nasa-space-telescope-tackle-universe.html

Published: July 23, 2026 16:20

NASA is about to launch a space observatory that could help settle some of the biggest mysteries in modern astronomy. The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will study how the universe began, what it is made of and how it has evolved over time.

Mars auroras reveal miniature version of Earth's magnetic engine

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-mars-auroras-reveal-miniature-version.html

Published: July 23, 2026 16:20

NASA MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) mission scientists have uncovered a key puzzle piece in understanding certain types of auroras on Mars, finding that they form in a similar way to Earthā€“based auroras.

Spent coffee grounds reveal a route to biodiesel and other bio-based products

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-spent-coffee-grounds-reveal-route.html

Published: July 23, 2026 16:10

Coffee grounds that usually end up being thrown away can have a second life as a raw material for producing biofuels and other high-value-added products. A study by the Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV) has evaluated how to extract oil from coffee groundsā€¦

New physics-based metric improves estimates of climate-driven cooling demand

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-physics-based-metric-climate-driven.html

Published: July 23, 2026 16:00

New research led by atmospheric scientists at the University of Hawai'i (UH) at Mānoa found that the century-old yardstick used across many industries to estimate air-conditioning and refrigeration energy demandā€”called cooling degree daysā€”is missingā€¦

Melts in your mouth, but not in your car: The ongoing scientific quest to create heatā€‘resistant chocolate

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-mouth-car-ongoing-scientific-quest.html

Published: July 23, 2026 16:00

There are few pleasures greater than letting a piece of chocolate melt slowly on your tongue. Indeed, the proximity of chocolate's melting point to our own body temperature is one reason it is so widely appreciated.

First 3D nanoscale maps of human airway epithelium reveal hidden architecture of lung defense cells

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-3d-nanoscale-human-airway-epithelium.html

Published: July 23, 2026 15:50

Researchers at Queen Mary University of London and University of Cambridge in collaboration with colleagues at HHMI Janelia and NIH, have created some of the most detailed three-dimensional maps ever generated of human airway cells, revealing how theā€¦

Lithium ions sprint up to 10,000 times faster when their molecular cages briefly open

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-lithium-ions-sprint-faster-molecular.html

Published: July 23, 2026 15:40

An international collaborative research group led by Professor Bong June Sung of the Department of Chemistry at Sogang University and Professor Shinji Saito of the Institute for Molecular Science (IMS), National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS), andā€¦

Zebrafish rebuild damaged 'second brain' networks in nine days, offering clues for nerve repair

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-zebrafish-rebuild-brain-networks-days.html

Published: July 23, 2026 15:30

Why can zebrafish regenerate damaged gut nerves while humans largely cannot? Michigan State University researchers have developed a new research tool that allows them to remove gut neurons in zebrafish and watch them regenerate in real time, helpingā€¦

Yeast survives after all 300 known spliceosomal introns are removed

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-yeast-survives-spliceosomal-introns.html

Published: July 23, 2026 15:20

Spliceosomal introns are noncoding DNA sequences located between exons in many eukaryotic protein-coding genes. Most are removed post-transcriptionally by RNA splicing and do not encode proteins, but they have been implicated in various regulatoryā€¦

Trace DNA reveals critically endangered Chinese bahaba in Hong Kong after decade without records

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-dna-reveals-critically-endangered-chinese.html

Published: July 23, 2026 15:20

The Chinese bahaba (Bahaba taipingensis), a marine fish species endemic to the Chinese coast and known as the "Panda of the Sea," is critically endangered and one of the few marine fish listed as a first-class protected wild animal in China. Collaborativeā€¦

Nanopores can activate human T cells without biochemical signals

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-nanopores-human-cells-biochemical.html

Published: July 23, 2026 15:00

Immune cells protect and heal the human body. In medicine, they are specifically activated through biochemical reactions to treat certain diseases. Researchers at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon, ETH Zurich, Humboldt University of Berlin, CharitĆ© Berlin andā€¦

How AI is helping states cut through decades of red tape

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-ai-states-decades-red-tape.html

Published: July 23, 2026 15:00

Bureaucracy moves slowly, and decades of outdated provisions clogging the bylaws of cities and states only make it worse. Sometimes dubbed "policy sludge," such obsolete processes and stale reporting requirements can trap civil servants in red tape andā€¦

Less cannabis use among adolescents, but social disparities persist

https://phys.org/news/2026-07-cannabis-adolescents-social-disparities-persist.html

Published: July 23, 2026 14:40

Past studies have shown that cannabis use during adolescence is associated with a variety of negative impactsā€”including emotional distress, adverse academic outcomes, and brain development and functioningā€”that can persist into adulthood. Though there hasā€¦

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