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Notions of 'Christendom' often miss the mark: Medieval Europe's ideas about faith and power were not so simple

During the National Prayer Breakfast on Feb. 5, 2026, Paula White-Cain, senior adviser to the White House Office of Faith, introduced President Donald Trump as "the greatest champion of faith that we ...

https://phys.org/news/2026-03-notions-christendom-medieval-europe-ideas.html

Nanoparticle vaccine approach takes on a new target: Hepatitis C virus

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infects an estimated 50 million people worldwide, according to the World Health Organization, and remains a leading cause of cirrhosis and liver cancer. While antiviral drugs c...

https://phys.org/news/2026-03-nanoparticle-vaccine-approach-hepatitis-virus.html

Artemis II: What's on the menu?

The food flying aboard Artemis II is designed to support crew health and performance during the mission around the moon. With no resupply, refrigeration, or late-load capability, all meals must be car...

https://phys.org/news/2026-03-artemis-ii-menu.html

AI has powerful uses for First Nations oral cultural knowledge. Here's how

Much of the conversation about artificial intelligence (AI) and Indigenous peoples focuses on harms, such as cultural appropriation, cultural flattening and digital exclusion. These risks are real.

https://phys.org/news/2026-03-ai-powerful-nations-oral-cultural.html

Mars Express orbiter captures craters on planet's Arabia Terra

Craters, craters, and yet more craters: this snapshot from ESA's Mars Express is packed full of them, each as fascinating as the last.

https://phys.org/news/2026-03-mars-orbiter-captures-craters-planet.html

The Maya engineering paradox: Masters of water, prisoners of mercury

Under the supervision of Université de Montréal archaeology professor Christina Halperin, Ph.D. student Jean Tremblay spent six years, from 2018 to 2024, studying how the Mayan city of Ucanal managed ...

https://phys.org/news/2026-03-maya-paradox-masters-prisoners-mercury.html

Möbius-inspired surface controls light in two directions

Light is an unusually rich carrier of information. Its direction of travel, wavelength, and polarization can all be used to encode signals or images. Yet controlling these properties independently rem...

https://phys.org/news/2026-03-mbius-surface.html

Preparing students to deal with 'reality shock' in the workplace

A new study from Hiroshima University shows that, among university students just entering the workforce, those with optimism about the future better manage "reality shock" through formation of a caree...

https://phys.org/news/2026-03-students-reality-workplace.html

'Nano-origami' reshapes liquid droplets into six-pointed stars

For the first time, researchers in France and Israel have observed how an emulsified liquid droplet can transform from a hexagon into a six-pointed star shape in response to rising temperature. Publis...

https://phys.org/news/2026-03-nano-origami-reshapes-liquid-droplets.html

Did the first human ancestor originate in the Balkans? New fossil shows evidence of bipedalism

Walking on two legs has long been considered a milestone in human evolution and one of our most defining characteristics. Until now, researchers assumed that the first humans originated in Africa and ...

https://phys.org/news/2026-03-human-ancestor-balkans-fossil-evidence.html

With Evo 2, AI can model and design the genetic code for all domains of life

The DNA foundation model Evo 2 has been published in the journal Nature. Trained on the DNA of over 100,000 species across the entire tree of life, Evo 2 can identify patterns in gene sequences across...

https://phys.org/news/2026-03-evo-ai-genetic-code-domains.html

How natural history museums can help restore the natural world

Natural history museums contain an astonishing snapshot of the planet's biodiversity. Using this information to better research and inform conservation projects could help lead the way in nature recov...

https://phys.org/news/2026-03-natural-history-museums-world.html

Software tool shows potential for cost effective coastal erosion monitoring

A tool originally designed to monitor the erosion of Scotland's coast has proven its worth on a tropical island the other side of the world. The open-source tool, called VedgeSat, was developed by res...

https://phys.org/news/2026-03-software-tool-potential-effective-coastal.html

Forest exhibits resilience after California mega fire

In 2019 and again in 2021, Penn State researchers in the Department of Geography walked a series of 1,000 square foot plots in California's Lassen Volcanic National Park. The goal was to see how the f...

https://phys.org/news/2026-03-forest-resilience-california-mega.html

Effective marine protection can more than triple dive tourism revenue

Funding sustained, effective management of marine protected areas is one of ocean conservation's most stubborn problems. Now, a new study from researchers at UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Ocea...

https://phys.org/news/2026-03-effective-marine-triple-tourism-revenue.html

New peptide catalyst enables stereoselective head-to-tail macrocycle synthesis

A team at ETH Zurich developed a new peptide-based organocatalyst that handles macrocycle formation from start to finish. Macrocyclic compounds are ubiquitous both in nature and in the chemical indust...

https://phys.org/news/2026-03-peptide-catalyst-enables-stereoselective-tail.html

Black soldier fly larvae show promise for safe organic waste removal

People and animals create lots of waste that is usually sent to landfills, incinerated, or stored in engineered ponds such as manure lagoons. Now, researchers report a potential removal method using i...

https://phys.org/news/2026-03-black-soldier-fly-larvae-safe.html

Astronomers discover TOI-5734 b, a hot sub-Neptune twice Earth's size

Using the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher for the Northern Hemisphere (HARPS-N), an international team of astronomers has discovered a ho...

https://phys.org/news/2026-03-astronomers-toi-hot-neptune-earth.html

Research shows risk‑averse producers sell earlier in grain marketing year

A new study from University of Nebraska–Lincoln agricultural economists finds that producers with safety-first risk preferences likely make notably different grain-marketing decisions than those witho...

https://phys.org/news/2026-03-riskaverse-earlier-grain-year.html

Tax evasion should be treated as a form of corruption for criminal accountability, new study argues

Experts warn that without stronger enforcement and clearer rules on corporate liability, the U.K. will continue to struggle to prosecute tax offenses effectively. Despite having sophisticated financia...

https://phys.org/news/2026-03-tax-evasion-corruption-criminal-accountability.html

Could working from home help reverse declining birth rates?

Couples who work from home at least one day a week are having more children and planning larger families, according to a comprehensive new study spanning almost 40 countries. The research, co-authored...

https://phys.org/news/2026-03-home-reverse-declining-birth.html

Carbon-based catalyst can use sunlight to degrade PFAS

An international team of scientists led by the University of Bath has developed a new catalyst—a substance that speeds up chemical reactions—that uses sunlight to break down so-called "forever chemica...

https://phys.org/news/2026-02-carbon-based-catalyst-sunlight-degrade.html

A bacterium's built-in compass, explained: Single-cell magnetometry confirms Earth-field alignment

Some bacterial species possess an astonishing ability: They use Earth's magnetic field to orient themselves. To better understand this mechanism, the team led by Argovia-Professor Martino Poggio from ...

https://phys.org/news/2026-02-bacterium-built-compass-cell-magnetometry.html