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214 recent stories from Phys.org
The devastating impacts of marine heat waves extend far beyond dying coral reefs and declining fisheries, with new research warning that these extreme ocean-warming events pose a growing threat to human physical and mental health.
Aug 11, 2026
The devastating impacts of marine heat waves extend far beyond dying coral reefs and declining fisheries, with new research warning that these extreme ocean-warming events pose a growing threat to human physical and mental health.
Phys.org ·
A coalition of farmers, consumer associations and environmental groups is urging Malaysia's National Biosafety Board to reject a proposed field trial of genetically modified rice, warning Tuesday the project could pose risks to food safety, the environment and farmers.
Phys.org ·
Researchers at the Department of Energy's (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and the University of Tennessee (UT), Knoxville, have made an advance by using a natural substance from fungi called chitin to create hydrogels that are significantly stronger and tougher. This new material could lead to safer medical devices, longer-lasting coatings and other innovations that improve everyday technology and health care.
Phys.org ·
A vaccine only protects a whole community if enough people get it, including those who would stay safe anyway once their neighbors are covered. The same tension runs through climate action and social movements: The shared payoff arrives only when enough people pitch in.
Phys.org ·
Like a collage made of layered sheets of colored cellophane, a vibrant new image layers observations of a famous star-forming nebula from NASA's space telescopes. The resulting cosmic "craft" reveals new details about the star-forming region known as 30 Doradus, or the Tarantula Nebula.
Phys.org ·
Human service organizations play an important role in connecting people to housing, health care, food access and other essential services. Yet forecasting community needs can be difficult in times of rapid change or crisis because of limited resources and restricted access to data. For instance, during the COVID-19 pandemic, concerns about a potential surge in evictions exposed gaps in the data used to assess housing instability.
Phys.org ·
From nuclear energy to lab-grown meat, the list of effective but unpopular climate solutions is long. A new University of Colorado Boulder study sheds light on why people reject or accept some proposed sustainability technologies: If it doesn't seem natural, they won't go for it. And that holds across political ideologies.
Phys.org ·
When MIT historian Tristan Brown first examined a Chinese tea chest label displayed as a relic of the Boston Tea Party, he had no reason to doubt its story.
Phys.org ·
New research introduces a contactless way to see how mirror-image materials respond differently to circularly polarized light, without first building them into a complete electronic device. The researchers developed a novel method based on light-induced charge separation that allows researchers to directly probe how the material's structure acts like a microscopic filter, influencing how electrons separate and move.
Phys.org ·
The past decade has brought a wave of legal reforms around same-sex relationships across Asia: India struck down its colonial-era ban in 2018; Taiwan legalized same-sex marriage in 2019; Singapore repealed Section 377A, with the change taking effect in 2023; and Thailand's marriage equality law came into effect in 2025.
Phys.org ·
Nearly 30 years ago, a simple question sent University of Washington researchers into the Puget Sound lowlands to look for birds. With Seattle's population swelling and housing developments pushing into once-forested suburbs, researchers wanted to know how land conversion was affecting birds and whether the type of development mattered.
Phys.org ·
If you ask an economist why everything is so expensive these days, you will likely get an answer explaining how oil—the lifeblood of the global economy—is currently facing supply bottlenecks in the Strait of Hormuz, thereby driving up global energy prices.
Phys.org ·
A new study led by University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign scientists reveals critically low genetic variation in one of the country's primary breeding stocks for corn. The finding relates specifically to grain yield in intermediate-maturity hybrids, which dominate commercial production in the U.S. and represent nearly a third of the world's corn production. The researchers say it's a crisis waiting to happen.
Phys.org ·
Mitochondria are often called the powerhouses of the cell. But their ancient origins may also make them drivers of inflammation. Researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago have discovered that proteins released from mitochondria can activate the immune system in a similar way to invading bacteria. The findings suggest that remnants of mitochondria's evolutionary past may contribute to inflammation in infections and autoimmune disorders.
Phys.org ·
Natural diamonds consistently command higher prices per carat than laboratory-grown synthetic diamonds, according to a large-scale analysis of online diamond sales published in the International Journal of Electronic Marketing and Retailing. This perhaps unsurprising finding suggests that the two products should be treated as distinct market segments.
Phys.org ·
A new archaeobotanical study by researchers from the University of Oxford and Kiel University (CAU) has revealed that increases in cereal grain size at the dawn of agriculture, more than 11,000 years ago, were initially driven by plants' plastic responses to favorable growing conditions, rather than by genetic selection under cultivation as previously thought.
Phys.org ·