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Phys.org / Astronomers find strongest evidence yet that Betelgeuse has a companion

At long last, astronomers have firm evidence that Betelgeuse, one of the most famous stars in the night sky, is not alone. Using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (ESO's VLT), a team led by French researcher ...

Jul 28, 2026
Phys.org / Likelihood of wildfires in Southern Europe has doubled since the 80s, study shows

Summer days featuring conditions that promote wildfire ignition, intensity and spread have more than doubled across large parts of the Iberian Peninsula, France, Italy and Greece since 1981, according to a study in Scientific ...

Jul 30, 2026
Phys.org / Ancient Chinese seeds spanning 5,000 years train AI to ease archaeology's specialist bottleneck

Ancient plant seeds provide important archaeological evidence for studying the evolution of human civilization. Lingnan University and Shandong University have jointly developed the world's first artificial intelligence (AI) ...

Jul 30, 2026
Phys.org / Spectroscopy system detects aerosols using light reflected from traffic signs and tree trunks

Researchers have developed and tested an infrared spectroscopy system that can rapidly detect chemical aerosols from a distance by using light reflected from common surfaces such as traffic signs, tree trunks or painted surfaces. ...

Jul 30, 2026
Phys.org / Bringing complex field physics to the tabletop: A photonic stage for non-Abelian gauge fields

For most theories in physics, the order of operations has little impact on the result. When setting a dial to a certain position, for example, it doesn't matter whether it's turned clockwise or counterclockwise—the result ...

Jul 29, 2026
Phys.org / Ancient smallpox genomes reveal how European colonization brought the disease to the Americas

Researchers from Trinity College Dublin have recovered and analyzed the first ancient smallpox virus genomes ever identified in the Americas, providing the strongest direct evidence to date that the disease was introduced ...

Jul 30, 2026
Dialog / Bacteria may identify a virus without recognizing its DNA

When a virus enters a cell, its top priority is to replicate its genome rapidly, creating new viruses to infect elsewhere. The host has the opposite priority: to destroy the virus, ideally before it can do any harm. Biology ...

Jul 30, 2026
Phys.org / DNA studies uncover a forgotten population at the top of the world

Scientists have uncovered an ancient population previously unknown to science in Ladakh, a high-altitude region in northern India. Their studies revealed individuals with a nearly perfect 50–50 mix of South Asian-related ...

Jul 28, 2026
Phys.org / California drought may have pushed parts of the Sacramento Valley aquifer toward permanent collapse

Around a quarter of the U.S. food supply is grown in California's Central Valley. Most of its crops, like rice, fruit trees and nut trees, are water-intensive and require extensive groundwater pumping during droughts. Over ...

Jul 28, 2026
Phys.org / Surface engineering advances mitochondrial transplantation as a potential therapeutic strategy

Inside almost every cell in our bodies are tiny structures called organelles that keep us alive and functioning. Among these are many bean-shaped mitochondria, often referred to as the cell's power plants because they generate ...

Jul 30, 2026
Phys.org / Flash droughts can pull 'alarming' amounts of moisture from the landscape and intensify wildfires

When catastrophic wildfires capture global headlines, such as the unprecedented blazes sweeping through southern Europe this summer or the devastating 2019–20 "Black Summer" in Australia, they are almost always preceded by ...

Jul 30, 2026
Science X / One long brisk walk may protect your brain from dementia and anxiety more than short walks put together

Exercise is well known for keeping the brain healthy, but does how we move matter as much as how much we move? In a recent study, researchers investigated whether sustained periods of physical activity offer greater long-term ...

Jul 29, 2026