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Science News

Latest science news, discoveries and scientific developments.

Astrophysicists use wave simulations to open a new window on dark matter
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Astrophysicists use wave simulations to open a new window on dark matter

Astrophysicists from The University of Hong Kong (HKU), working with a research team led by Beijing Normal University (BNU), have developed a more physically realistic approach to testing how ultralight, or "fuzzy," dark matter could influence gravitationally lensed images. The study is the first to make gravitational-lensing predictions directly from three-dimensional wave simulations of fuzzy dark matter.

📅 2026-09-23 23:40:05    •    Phys.org
Biologists battle over North America's largest crayfish
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Biologists battle over North America's largest crayfish

When Caitlin Bloomer wrestled the massive Crawzilla crawdad—yes, that's its actual common name—out of the muck during a biological survey in Kentucky, she was convinced it was the largest crayfish ever recorded.

📅 2026-09-23 23:20:04    •    Phys.org
Scientists make progress in mapping chemicals to six groups of common diseases
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Scientists make progress in mapping chemicals to six groups of common diseases

Exposure to hazardous chemicals can contribute to noncommunicable diseases and remains a key public health challenge. Most chemicals used in consumer products, including food packaging, lack sufficient data to determine whether they are safe. Current testing approaches cannot effectively check for all possible health outcomes, and many testing requirements check only for genotoxicity and examine one substance at a time. Yet evidence shows that consumers are simultaneously exposed to complex mixtures of chemicals from many types of products.

📅 2026-09-23 23:20:01    •    Phys.org
Can this biotech innovation halt the destructive march of a cereal killer?
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Can this biotech innovation halt the destructive march of a cereal killer?

A UK-led research collaboration has taken a significant step in the global effort to protect cereal crops from the devastating blast fungus. Researchers at the John Innes Centre explored a recently discovered class of plant defense receptors, showing at the molecular level how they limit blast pathogen attacks and how they might be bioengineered to provide broader, more durable immunity in wheat, barley and rice.

📅 2026-09-23 23:00:04    •    Phys.org
Combined satellite views offer clues to magma movement beneath Ethiopia's volcanoes
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Combined satellite views offer clues to magma movement beneath Ethiopia's volcanoes

Magma moving beneath a volcano can make the ground rise, sink or shift sideways. Measuring these changes gives scientists clues about where magma is stored and how it travels. A study published in Geodesy and Geodynamics used satellite radar to examine the November 2025 eruption of Hayli Gubbi in Ethiopia's Afar Depression. Hayli Gubbi and nearby Erta Ale are separate volcanoes within the same volcanic zone, where three tectonic plates are pulling apart.

📅 2026-09-23 23:00:01    •    Phys.org
Bennu asteroid samples point to a surprising origin involving Jupiter
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Bennu asteroid samples point to a surprising origin involving Jupiter

The asteroid Bennu orbits the sun once every 1.2 years and approaches Earth every six years, passing within around 300,000 kilometers. NASA took advantage of this to collect material from the celestial body. In a spectacular operation in 2023, the US space agency collected samples from the surface of the asteroid Bennu by its OSIRIS-REx probe.

📅 2026-09-23 22:40:01    •    Phys.org
Starch-based sensor changes color to indicate moisture in food packaging
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Starch-based sensor changes color to indicate moisture in food packaging

Brazilian researchers have developed a biodegradable, starch-based sensor that changes color when moisture enters food packaging. With the addition of cobalt chloride, the sensor changes from blue to pink as moisture levels rise and back to blue as they fall. Consumers and manufacturers could use it to monitor the quality and crispness of foods such as cookies with the naked eye or a cellphone camera, without complex equipment.

📅 2026-09-23 22:20:08    •    Phys.org
Gene editing produces soybean with more than 90% oleic acid
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Gene editing produces soybean with more than 90% oleic acid

Sejong University researchers have developed a high-quality soybean with improved oxidative stability, reduced saturated fat and increased seed fatty acid content. The research team led by Hyun Uk Kim, a professor in the Department of Bio-Industrial Resources Engineering at Sejong University, created the soybean line containing up to 90.2% oleic acid using CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing technology. The study is published in the Plant Biotechnology Journal.

📅 2026-09-23 22:20:05    •    Phys.org
Banking patterns could help identify people experiencing financial abuse, UK study finds
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Banking patterns could help identify people experiencing financial abuse, UK study finds

Telltale signs of financial abuse, such as depleted savings, increasing debts and declining credit scores, can be identified in bank records, according to an analysis of U.K. banking data published in Nature. The findings reveal up to 373 indicators of financial behavior that could help pinpoint customers who may be experiencing economic abuse.

📅 2026-09-23 22:00:02    •    Phys.org
Aiming at number 9: CASPAR targets fluorine in new science run
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Aiming at number 9: CASPAR targets fluorine in new science run

The Compact Accelerator System for Performing Astrophysical Research (CASPAR) recreates conditions inside stars to study how elements are made. The experiment recently restarted with a new target—the ninth element on the periodic table, fluorine.

📅 2026-09-23 21:40:05    •    Phys.org
The Antarctic's only two flowering plants reveal opposing strategies for surviving long-term warming
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The Antarctic's only two flowering plants reveal opposing strategies for surviving long-term warming

A team of Chilean and Spanish researchers has published the results of one of the longest-running in-situ warming experiments in maritime Antarctica in the journal Physiologia Plantarum. The experiment exposed the Antarctic continent's only two native vascular plant species, Deschampsia antarctica (Antarctic hairgrass) and Colobanthus quitensis (Antarctic pearlwort), to passive warming chambers (Open Top Chambers, OTCs) for seven years.

📅 2026-09-23 21:20:08    •    Phys.org
Graphene measurements reveal energy-loss and quantum-coherence exponents diverge under gate control
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Graphene measurements reveal energy-loss and quantum-coherence exponents diverge under gate control

Scientists have shown that the two exponents (inelastic scattering exponent and dephasing exponent) commonly used to describe electron scattering in graphene do not necessarily follow the same behavior. Using gated epitaxial graphene, a multi-institutional team of researchers independently extracted the two exponents through current-heating measurements and weak-localization analysis. The contrasting gate-voltage dependence provides evidence that energy relaxation and loss of quantum phase coherence can be governed by different microscopic processes.

📅 2026-09-23 21:20:04    •    Phys.org
How ChatGPT served up false information before the 2024 election
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How ChatGPT served up false information before the 2024 election

On Oct. 25, 2024, 10 days before the election that would return Republican Donald Trump to the White House and more than three months after Kamala Harris ascended to the top of the Democratic ticket, ChatGPT was still telling users that Joe Biden was running for a second term as president.

📅 2026-09-23 21:00:09    •    Phys.org
Evolved enzymes build tuberculosis antibiotic ingredient in the desired form, potentially reducing waste
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Evolved enzymes build tuberculosis antibiotic ingredient in the desired form, potentially reducing waste

Tuberculosis, or TB, is a contagious bacterial infection that primarily affects the lungs. While curative treatments exist, more than 80% of cases occur in low- and middle-income nations, where drug-resistant strains are on the rise and the cost of medications is a burden. A new class of antibiotics has shown promise against multidrug- and extensively drug-resistant TB, but its manufacturing cost is a barrier to access in poorer countries that need the treatments most.

📅 2026-09-23 21:00:05    •    Phys.org
New AI methodology powers the latest million dollar list
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New AI methodology powers the latest million dollar list

New research from Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy examines charitable gifts of $1 million or more from 2021 to 2023. The Million-Dollar-Plus Giving in the United States, 2021–2023 report offers insights into how these donors responded to a rapidly changing environment.

📅 2026-09-23 20:40:05    •    Phys.org