🔎

Science News

Latest science news, discoveries and scientific developments.

When microbial DNA is scarce, new profiling method helps separate genuine signals from contamination
Science News

When microbial DNA is scarce, new profiling method helps separate genuine signals from contamination

In acute, life-threatening infections, rapidly characterizing the microorganisms in a patient sample can help guide diagnosis and treatment. Computational methods known as taxonomic profilers can analyze metagenome sequencing data generated from the microorganisms' genomic information and compare it with reference genomes of individual microorganisms. However, taxonomic profilers are still under development and are not yet in common use. Current methods can produce false-positive results or inaccurate abundance estimates.

📅 2026-09-29 00:00:01    •    Phys.org
Party leaders widening Washington's political chasm
Science News

Party leaders widening Washington's political chasm

Most of the polarization currently roiling Congress comes from political parties rather than individual politicians, a study co-authored by University of Miami Business School associate professor Chad Kendall finds.

📅 2026-09-28 23:40:01    •    Phys.org
Plasma treatment helps reveal how molecular coatings dope silicon
Science News

Plasma treatment helps reveal how molecular coatings dope silicon

Controlling dopant concentration near the silicon surface is increasingly important for ultrashallow junctions and nanoscale devices. Mixed monolayer doping (MMLD) offers a surface-chemistry-based approach in which dopant-containing molecules are mixed with nondopant molecules to tune the amount of dopant available at the silicon surface before thermal diffusion.

📅 2026-09-28 23:20:04    •    Phys.org
Two-color glowing molecule could make wind tunnel tests more accurate
Science News

Two-color glowing molecule could make wind tunnel tests more accurate

Most sensors can measure only one thing at a time, like a thermometer for temperature or a pressure gauge for pressure. Measuring two properties accurately from the same surface at the same moment usually means using two separate instruments—adding cost and complexity to the process.

📅 2026-09-28 23:20:02    •    Phys.org
Espionage boosted East Germany's economic output by 7.4%
Science News

Espionage boosted East Germany's economic output by 7.4%

East Germany's espionage activities in the West boosted the country's economic output by 7.4%. Value added in manufacturing alone increased by 22.3% through industrial espionage, equivalent to 20.2 billion East German marks or approximately 4.1 billion euros at 2020 prices.

📅 2026-09-28 23:00:07    •    Phys.org
Assembly pathway reveals how bacteria build protein coils that extend in acid
Science News

Assembly pathway reveals how bacteria build protein coils that extend in acid

The assembly pathway behind refractile-body proteins may have finally been resolved, researchers from Science Tokyo report. Using genetic engineering and several techniques for analyzing protein structure, they investigated how four proteins work together to produce the correct architecture of these complex, pH-responsive protein machines, from the nanoscale to the microscale. The findings could help establish new frameworks for engineering dynamic protein systems as biotechnological tools.

📅 2026-09-28 22:40:01    •    Phys.org
Avian odysseys: Tracking raptor migrations from Europe to Africa
Science News

Avian odysseys: Tracking raptor migrations from Europe to Africa

At the southwest tip of Sweden, the Falsterbo Peninsula stretches into the Baltic Sea, creating a natural bottleneck for hundreds of millions of birds traveling south for the winter each year. Falsterbo is particularly known for raptor migration. One autumn morning, I stood with a group of others by the lighthouse, watching birds gather to cross the open sea—a sight to take your breath away.

📅 2026-09-28 22:20:06    •    Phys.org
European rivers are improving, but not fast enough to meet 2030 goals
Science News

European rivers are improving, but not fast enough to meet 2030 goals

The quality of European rivers has improved in recent years, but not at the pace required to meet the environmental targets set for 2030. This is one of the main conclusions of a study led by researchers María Pachés Giner and Remedios Martínez from the Institute of Water and Environmental Engineering at the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), published in Environmental Science and Pollution Research.

📅 2026-09-28 22:20:01    •    Phys.org
Experimental evidence of altermagnetism in a layered material opens a promising path toward future spintronics
Science News

Experimental evidence of altermagnetism in a layered material opens a promising path toward future spintronics

To build the ultrafast computers of the future, scientists are looking beyond the electrical charge of electrons to another property: their spin. While conventional hardware relies on the movement of charge to process data, tapping into this intrinsic quantum property could enable researchers to reinvent how information travels through a circuit.

📅 2026-09-28 22:10:01    •    Phys.org
Exposed ends and bends attract DNA-cutting enzymes, live imaging reveals
Science News

Exposed ends and bends attract DNA-cutting enzymes, live imaging reveals

Researchers at the Nano Life Science Institute (WPI-NanoLSI) at Kanazawa University have directly visualized how enzymes find and break DNA molecules in real time. Using high-speed atomic force microscopy, the team followed individual enzymes as they moved along DNA and found that they repeatedly returned to vulnerable regions before breaking them apart. The findings reveal how the structure of DNA influences its vulnerability to enzymatic breakdown. The research was led by Richard Wong and his team: Jingge Yang, Yujia Qiu, Keesiang Lim and Toshio Ando. The work is published in Nature Communications.

📅 2026-09-28 22:00:17    •    Phys.org
Subjective and objective difficulty of English texts are related—but not the same
Science News

Subjective and objective difficulty of English texts are related—but not the same

Evaluating the difficulty of English texts used in educational materials and language assessments is a central concern in English language education. Traditionally, researchers have relied on objective measures of text difficulty based on linguistic features, including characteristics of words and sentences. However, learners can differ substantially in how difficult they perceive the same text to be. To examine the relationship between objective and subjective text difficulty, the researchers investigated the extent to which objective estimates correspond with learners' perceptions. The work is published in the journal Reading and Writing.

📅 2026-09-28 22:00:13    •    Phys.org
Meteor hit Oklahoma 100 million years later than previously thought
Science News

Meteor hit Oklahoma 100 million years later than previously thought

Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have rewritten a small part of Oklahoma's geologic history with global implications for ancient life. Below the surface of the small town of Ames, Oklahoma, a meteor impact site spans miles. The crater is buried by sedimentary strata in the subsurface, but it remains an important marker of Oklahoma's ancient past and present-day economy; the Ames impact structure is a major oil and gas producer.

📅 2026-09-28 21:50:01    •    Phys.org
Mapping the 'social network' of proteins in the cell to understand how genes shape living things
Science News

Mapping the 'social network' of proteins in the cell to understand how genes shape living things

One of biology's fundamental questions is how our genes shape who we are. Adrian Serohijos and Stephen Michnick, professors in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine at Université de Montréal's Faculty of Medicine, are studying the relationship between genotype and phenotype—that is, how DNA becomes RNA, then protein, and ultimately gives rise to observable characteristics in an individual or any other living organism. "We're trying to unravel the mechanisms of the genome, specifically how the information it encodes is processed inside the cell," Serohijos says.

📅 2026-09-28 21:40:02    •    Phys.org
Water-stable catalyst could bring carbon-bond chemistry closer to use in living cells
Science News

Water-stable catalyst could bring carbon-bond chemistry closer to use in living cells

Olefin metathesis is one of the most important reactions in organic chemistry for forming carbon–carbon bonds—for example, in the production of pharmaceuticals, plastics and complex natural products. However, previous ruthenium catalysts that enable this reaction have faced a major challenge: They rapidly degrade in aqueous or biological environments, making their use in natural systems such as cells or blood extremely difficult.

📅 2026-09-28 21:20:08    •    Phys.org
Ancient spearheads reveal how Ice Age humans learned the land
Science News

Ancient spearheads reveal how Ice Age humans learned the land

At the end of the last ice age, early humans crisscrossed the Americas following seasons, rivers and game, often with a trusty spear in hand. Nearly 13,000 years later, archaeologists are using those spearheads to study how America's first inhabitants understood risk.

📅 2026-09-28 21:20:05    •    Phys.org