Articles by Andrew Zinin
Phys.org / Sinking Antarctic ice reveals a hidden lake's massive water loss
The Kronshtadskiy subglacial lake near East Antarctica's Amery Ice Shelf was hidden beneath Antarctica's ice, but its drainage left a mark visible from space as a broad depression that deepened by more than 6 meters (20 feet) ...
Phys.org / AI agents can form political camps—and changing their conversation partners does little to soften their views
Give AI agents political positions, ask them to defend their views and persuade one another, and let them decide which contacts to keep. This recent experiment, published in Nature Communications, found that over repeated ...
Phys.org / The sun may have stripped away meters of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS
The interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS brought material from another planetary system within reach of our telescopes, but reading its chemistry poses a problem. Energetic particles encountered during its journey through space may ...
Tech Xplore / Switching languages can change a chatbot's personality test results
Ask an AI chatbot to complete a personality questionnaire in English, then give it the Mandarin version, and its answers paint a different picture. In tests of five systems, switching languages changed how strongly the responses ...
Phys.org / Salt crystals could hold clues to life beneath Enceladus's ice
The ocean beneath Saturn's moon Enceladus lies under kilometers of ice, but some of its contents do reach the surface. Jets near the south pole spray out water vapor and icy particles, offering a way to investigate the hidden ...
Phys.org / Math under pressure may make a gamble's downside seem smaller
People who tackled arithmetic problems while stressed by a countdown clock, error buzzers and an observer nearby later gave potential losses less weight when deciding whether to accept a gamble. This finding from a new study ...
Medical Xpress / A gut microbe makes a fatty acid that cuts artery plaque in half in mice
A common gut bacterium produces a molecule that slows cholesterol production in the liver. When researchers gave the molecule to mice prone to artery disease, the animals developed roughly half as much fatty plaque as untreated ...
Phys.org / Tiny fossils reveal a missing chapter of ocean life after Snowball Earth
A rare assemblage of micro- and macro-fossils found in a roadside outcrop in South China, featuring thin ribbons, branching shapes and a tiny balloon on a stalk, offers a glimpse of marine life after one of Earth's most extreme ...
Phys.org / Ball or strike? Why the count may change what a baseball umpire sees
In baseball, a borderline pitch is more likely to be called a strike when the batter has three balls and no strikes than when the count is no balls and two strikes. The official strike zone hasn't changed. The umpire's judgment ...
Medical Xpress / Two-trigger drugs target 'zombie' cancer cells with sharper aim
Stopping a cancer cell from dividing does not necessarily make it harmless. Chemotherapy can leave behind living, senescent cells. These 'zombie' cells can release inflammatory signals, helping tumors resist treatment. Drugs ...
Phys.org / Spinach nanoparticles help failing rat hearts via 'borrowed photosynthesis'
A spinach leaf can turn light into chemical energy. A struggling heart cannot. Researchers in China have brought part of the leaf's energy-making machinery into rat heart cells to test whether borrowed photosynthesis could ...
Phys.org / Why Kamchatka's giant earthquake sent a smaller tsunami across the Pacific
In 2025, along parts of Kamchatka's coast in Russia, a magnitude 8.8 earthquake caused a tsunami to surge nearly 20 meters (65 feet) above sea level. Yet across the Pacific, its waves were much smaller than those produced ...
Phys.org / How bumblebees keep up with a flower that won't stay still
Landing on a moving target is a challenge for all flying animals. For bumblebees, a flower swaying in the wind creates an erratic landing pad. Reaching it means matching its sideways motion while continuing to face it. When ...
Phys.org / Can Bionic Reading really help you read faster? Scientists put it to the test
Bionic Reading is a method of bolding certain letters in words that is purported to facilitate reading speed and comprehension. The idea is that guiding the eyes to focus on highlighted initial letters lets the brain complete ...
Phys.org / Prefer intricate shapes? You may also favor complex melodies
A shape can be considered complex because it has many sides. A complex melody may feature varied pitches and rhythms. Does the mind treat these as separate features, or can it recognize something common beneath their differences?
