Phys.org

The mighty Congo River feeds millions of people along its course through the vast Democratic Republic of Congo but fishermen near the capital now find more plastic than fish in their nets.

A 5.8 magnitude earthquake struck the Pacific region of southern Peru late Tuesday, injuring 27 people and damaging buildings, officials said. No deaths were reported.

A new study published in Nature Ecology and Evolution examining human populations in Sri Lankan tropical rainforests shows that people's consumption of plants began increasing thousands of years before the introduction of agriculture. The research focuses on human and animal remains dating from approximately 20,000 to 3,000 years ago and uses zinc isotope analysis of tooth enamel to reconstruct an organism's position in the food web—known as a trophic position—and dietary composition.

Eels bred in captivity will be sold in Japanese shops for the first time, in a move that could ease eventually pressure on the endangered fish, officials said Wednesday.

Like fireflies and many deep-sea creatures, certain fungi can naturally emit light through bioluminescence pathways in which specialized enzymes convert chemical energy into visible light. Medical researchers have used fungal light-producing enzymes in the fungal bioluminescence pathway (FBP) to visually track processes like tumor progression and inflammatory responses. New research published in The FEBS Journal provides insights that may help improve and expand such bioluminescence-based tools

A study published in Economic Inquiry provides new evidence that universal free school meals can meaningfully reduce out-of-school suspensions in both elementary and secondary schools.

The American academic research engine has long been the envy of the world. Generally well-funded, labs in the United States have been able to attract the best minds who generate breakthroughs and train the next generation workforce that powers the U.S. economy. But since the start of the second Trump administration in January 2025, new federal policies have destabilized the American scientific enterprise.

Why do some organizations survive across the centuries while others founder when faced with technological disruption? A new study by the University of Zurich shows that historically developed monastic forms of co-determination can be a significant advantage for dealing with digitalization. The findings are published in the journal Research Policy.

Most students use AI—but their attitudes toward it are ambivalent. On the one hand, they see it as helpful for working more efficiently, broadening their knowledge, and overcoming writing difficulties. On the other, they worry about becoming overly dependent on it and losing important skills, while also recognizing the value of writing without AI support. These are among the findings of a recent survey conducted by Goethe University's Schreibzentrum with 4,048 participants. The key question now

RNA is the means of translating the genetic code embedded in DNA into proteins, which serve as enzymes, transporters, signaling molecules, receptors, structural components, regulators, and gene-expression controllers, among many other roles. Yet one gene is not limited to producing one RNA variant. The process of RNA splicing—in which different coding RNA segments (exons) are joined together after noncoding regions (introns) are removed—allows for the generation of a large array of RNA transcrip

The 2026 Atlantic hurricane season starts June 1, and while a developing El Niño might result in a tamer season than in the past few years, all it takes is one big storm hitting a populated area to make it a bad hurricane season.

Some birds sing to attract a mate. Others dance or display colorful feathers. But in the moonlit forests and shrublands of northern Argentina, one bird courts romance by snapping its wrists together, producing a sharp clapping sound scientists have puzzled over for decades. Now, researchers have captured the behavior in detail for the first time, revealing how scissor-tailed nightjars create one of the most curious sounds in the avian world.

Researchers at Bar-Ilan University have successfully restored youthful patterns of DNA organization in the livers of old mice, reversing key molecular features associated with aging. The study, published in Nature Communications, identifies the protein SIRT6 as a powerful protector against age-related breakdown in chromatin, the complex system that packages DNA and controls how genes are switched on and off.

A recent study published in Advances in Atmospheric Sciences has uncovered a detailed mechanism through which intense storms over the Himalayas contribute to increasing moisture in the lower stratosphere—a layer of the atmosphere crucial to global climate regulation. The research, led by Ph.D. student Li Ming and Dr. Wu Xue from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP) at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, highlights the important role of gravity waves generated by deep convection.

An international team of scientists have documented, for the first time, humpback whales traveling between breeding grounds in eastern Australia and Brazil, crossing more than 14,000 kilometers of open ocean. The findings set new records for the greatest distances ever confirmed between sightings of individual humpback whales anywhere in the world.

As primary producers at the base of marine food webs, diatoms are key indicators of environmental change, providing critical insight into the health and resilience of the Salish Sea bioregion. A team of Canadian scientists has recently compiled a new, consolidated checklist of diatoms—a major group of photosynthetic microalgae—for the Salish Sea, northeast Pacific. Integrating historical records with new reports, this first comprehensive baseline establishes a foundation for assessing diatom div

The evolution of tiny arms in several groups of meat-eating dinosaurs was likely driven by the development of strong, powerful heads, which were used to attack prey, according to a new study led by researchers at UCL (University College London) and Cambridge University.

Witches' broom disease, caused by the fungus Moniliophthora perniciosa, decimated cocoa crops in southern Bahia state, Brazil, in the 1990s. It was even the subject of a local soap opera and continues to plague the chocolate industry in the Amazon region. However, a recent study published in Scientific Reports offers hope that increased cocoa production in the Amazon region will not rely so heavily on fungicides and fertilizers.

New research shows that Americans' use of home delivery continues to be split sharply along geographic lines, with shoppers in urban areas remaining more reliant on home delivery than rural households. In a new study published in the International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, Iowa State University researcher Micah Marzolf and co-authors have analyzed more than a decade of shopping data to better understand how demand for last‑mile fulfillment services in the U.S. has

The loss of dense kelp forests along the Maine coast—and the northward proliferation of small, carpet-like turf algae in its place—is accelerating as the ocean warms, according to new research by scientists at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences.