https://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Humans and great apes have been giggling in similar ways since branching off the evolutionary tree, a new study suggests. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-humans-great-apes-similar-giggles.html Plants & Animals Sun, 05 Jul 2026 11:20:01 EDT news701604984 A Japanese space probe performed a flyby of a near-Earth asteroid on Sunday in a test mission for technology that could help protect the planet from space rocks. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-japan-space-probe-skims-asteroid.html Space Exploration Sun, 05 Jul 2026 10:30:12 EDT news702466184 When archaeologists opened the 2,600-year-old tomb of an ancient Chinese lord, they discovered his magnificent bronze bells had been scattered, their wooden hangings broken. But the most mysterious part of all: This was apparently no accident, with the family of the tomb's owner having chosen to "deactivate" the bells when their powers were no longer needed. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-bronze-bells-chinese-lord-year.html Archaeology Sun, 05 Jul 2026 10:20:01 EDT news702053408 Scientists have long posited that the earliest water animals to transition to land had amphibious tadpole features, going through a metamorphosis akin to that of today's frogs. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-rare-million-year-fossils-early.html Paleontology & Fossils Sun, 05 Jul 2026 09:20:01 EDT news701061081 An international team, including the University of Tokyo, has created a sensor inspired by the lateral line in fish—their "sixth sense" organ—which measures the pulse of lab-grown 3D heart tissue (cardiac organoids). The device, called a biomechanical well plate, looks like a small white box containing four liquid-filled wells. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-mini-artificial-heartbeat.html Biotechnology Sun, 05 Jul 2026 09:00:04 EDT news702009512 As consumer interest grows in foods and beverages with added nutritional value, brewers are exploring ways to improve fermentation itself rather than relying on post-production additives. Ornithine, a naturally occurring amino acid involved in several biological processes, has attracted attention as a promising ingredient for value-added products. However, increasing ornithine production in brewing yeast is difficult because the metabolic pathway is tightly regulated, making conventional improvement strategies challenging. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-wild-yeast-discovery-enables-gm.html Cell & Microbiology Sun, 05 Jul 2026 07:40:04 EDT news702281791 When analyzing crime, the foreign population typically shows higher rates than the native population. However, crime statistics change significantly when comparing groups of the same age and gender. A detailed data analysis conducted in a study by the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) demonstrates that the apparent crime gap between the foreign and native populations is primarily due to the fact that the immigrant profile tends to concentrate more young men—the demographic sector with the highest crime rates in any society. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-spain-million-convictions-immigration-crime.html Social Sciences Sun, 05 Jul 2026 07:00:01 EDT news702217633 Magnetic storage devices, like a computer's hard disk drive, utilize magnets to represent binary data. However, as these devices are downsized, stray magnetic fields generated by individual magnetic components can interact with neighboring elements to cause operational malfunctions, limiting how much data we can densely pack into memory devices. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-magnetic-chirality-memory.html Condensed Matter Sun, 05 Jul 2026 06:40:02 EDT news702292237 Howling winds and lashing rain battered Guam and the Northern Marianas late Sunday, hours before the projected arrival of a "super typhoon" with force equivalent to a Category 5 hurricane over the U.S. Pacific territories. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-dangerous-super-typhoon-nears-pacific.html Environment Sun, 05 Jul 2026 04:55:51 EDT news702446120 Astronomers have uncovered a pair of giant planets that are lighter than cotton candy—super-puffs the size of Jupiter. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-astronomers-biggest-super-puff-planets.html Astronomy Sun, 05 Jul 2026 04:40:01 EDT news701581244 After several quieter years, wildfires have returned to western Greenland. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-people-greenland-told-wildfires.html Environment Sat, 04 Jul 2026 22:50:01 EDT news701955372 Researchers from Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) have—in collaboration with colleagues from Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU) in Munich—analyzed the complex biochemical processes that bacteria use to insert proteins into their cell membranes. They explain that—contrary to prior assumptions—there are more similarities between the processes in bacteria and higher cells than previously thought. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-proteins-inserted-cell-membranes.html Cell & Microbiology Sat, 04 Jul 2026 19:30:01 EDT news701955169 The 1.7 million satellites that companies are aiming to launch into Earth's orbit in the coming years will have "devastating consequences for astronomy," new research warned Wednesday. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-million-satellites-devastating-astronomy.html Astronomy Sat, 04 Jul 2026 18:20:01 EDT news702139042 When a company faces the prospect of a hostile takeover, its board may reach for traditional anti-takeover defenses. "Poison pills," for instance, allow existing shareholders to buy additional shares at a discount, diluting a would-be acquirer's stake and making the target more expensive to absorb. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-companies-hostile-takeover-threats-esg.html Economics & Business Sat, 04 Jul 2026 17:00:01 EDT news701955397 A German-Japanese research team involving the University of Augsburg has made a significant breakthrough in the use of antiferromagnets. For the first time, the team has succeeded in writing magnetic information using only ultrashort laser pulses—without the need for electric currents or magnetic fields. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-optical-antiferromagnets-storage-devices-energy.html Condensed Matter Sat, 04 Jul 2026 16:00:03 EDT news702223904 Summer came too early to Europe's most important rice-growing region, and weeds are taking over Sharon Angoli's parched paddies in Italy's Pavia province. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-europe-rice-bowl-drought.html Agriculture Sat, 04 Jul 2026 16:00:01 EDT news702399511 Scientists have found the oldest known evidence of the plague, which sparked deadly outbreaks dating back about 5,500 years ago—some 200 years earlier than previously thought. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-ancient-teeth-siberia-rewrite-plague.html Archaeology Sat, 04 Jul 2026 14:40:01 EDT news700915129 A newly developed framework for understanding the photoproperties of both natural organic matter and eumelanin, a natural pigment responsible for dark colors in organisms, may inspire advanced sustainable technologies, scientists say. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-common-nanostructures-photoproperties-widespread-dark.html Nanophysics Sat, 04 Jul 2026 14:00:01 EDT news701963416 In May, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced plans to double the capacity of Canada's electricity grid by 2050, using natural gas in the name of "powering Canada strong." Almost all Canadian natural gas these days is derived from hydraulic fracturing—known as fracking—an industrial process involving large amounts of water laced with chemicals pumped long distances underground. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-bc-alberta-fall-fracking-safety.html Environment Sat, 04 Jul 2026 13:00:05 EDT news702290166 The state of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) has been a hot topic among climate scientists in recent years. The AMOC is crucial for climate regulation because it pulls warm surface water from the tropics north and sends colder, deeper water south, redistributing large amounts of heat, helping to sustain marine ecosystems and keeping global weather patterns steady. However, most standard AMOC-focused climate models may be missing an important piece of the puzzle—they don't include the growing pulse of freshwater from Greenland ice melt, which could further disrupt the AMOC. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-greenland-meltwater-amoc-weakening-sight.html Earth Sciences Sat, 04 Jul 2026 13:00:01 EDT news702218339 Scientists have stumbled on a rare dinosaur fossil from Antarctica, tucked away for decades in a drawer. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-rare-dinosaur-fossil-antarctica-tucked.html Paleontology & Fossils Sat, 04 Jul 2026 12:00:01 EDT news701966414 A small change in acidity can transform the world around us. A squeeze of lemon changes the taste of food. Vinegar preserves vegetables. Stomach acid helps break down a meal. These familiar effects come from protons—tiny charged particles that can reshape chemical interactions. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-bacterial-protein-reveals-hidden-calcium.html Cell & Microbiology Sat, 04 Jul 2026 11:20:01 EDT news702218376 Extreme floods that once swamped coastal communities only rarely are becoming far more common as climate change caused by humans pushes sea levels higher, according to new research published Wednesday. Experts say the findings are crucial for making plans about floods and coastal infrastructure as the planet warms. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-seas-rare-coastal.html Environment Sat, 04 Jul 2026 10:30:01 EDT news700370478 Astronomers have spotted many "red and dead" galaxies in the early universe. These are massive systems that stopped forming stars surprisingly early in cosmic history. Now, they may have found evidence of one in the act of becoming dead: a massive galaxy being stripped of its star-forming gas just 1.4 billion years after the Big Bang. The clues behind why it lost its star-forming material are detailed in a paper posted to the arXiv preprint server on June 16. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-astronomers-caught-early-galaxy-dying.html Astronomy Sat, 04 Jul 2026 09:40:01 EDT news701947729 Researchers have taken over 120,000 images of salmon lice larvae in seawater and used them to train AI models. The models were much faster and more accurate than experienced biologists at identifying the parasites that feed on the skin and blood of salmonids. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-ai-outperforms-biologists-salmon-lice.html Ecology Sat, 04 Jul 2026 09:00:01 EDT news702210398 Birds are known for their distinctive plumage that helps them attract mates during the breeding season. For some birds, the path to adulthood is quite linear. One day they are chicks, and a few months later they are fully grown adults with their mature plumage, all set to find and fight for a mate. However, some seabirds linger much longer in the awkward adolescent phase. Species like the American herring gull take several years to develop their adult feathers, a process called delayed plumage maturation. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-young-gull-mottled-brown-plumage.html Plants & Animals Sat, 04 Jul 2026 08:00:04 EDT news702287142 El Nino is here and will quickly develop into a strong event between July and September, fueling the likelihood of extreme weather, the United Nations' climate agency warned Friday. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-el-nino-strong.html Environment Sat, 04 Jul 2026 06:00:01 EDT news702266967 Europe is still taking stock of a powerful heat wave in late June, but experts are already confident it ranks among the worst ever recorded—even rivaling a freak 2003 episode. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-history-european.html Environment Sat, 04 Jul 2026 04:10:01 EDT news702355927 Yeast has been growing in the guts of a frozen mummy called Oetzi the Iceman for thousands of years, scientists have discovered, telling AFP they used it to make a tasty sourdough bread. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-scientists-yeast-ancient-iceman-guts.html Molecular & Computational biology Sat, 04 Jul 2026 04:00:01 EDT news699677993 Costa Rican scientists may have discovered a new species of ghost shark in Pacific waters near Cabo Blanco and Cano Island. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-species-ghost-shark-costa-rica.html Plants & Animals Sat, 04 Jul 2026 03:50:20 EDT news702355799