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Phys.org / Archived tree cores reveal why boreal forests are getting starved for nitrogen

Despite decades of industrial deposition, nitrogen availability in the boreal forest is steadily declining. In a new study published in Nature, researchers from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences using decades ...

Feb 19, 2026 in Earth
Phys.org / Rocket re-entry pollution measured in atmosphere for first time

When part of a SpaceX rocket re-entered Earth's atmosphere exactly a year ago, it created a spectacuglar fireball that streaked across Europe's skies, delighting stargazers and sending a team of scientists rushing toward ...

Feb 19, 2026 in Astronomy & Space
Medical Xpress / Patients want bigger benefits from statins before they consider taking them, finds new study

Heart disease remains one of the leading causes of death worldwide. To lower this risk, doctors prescribe statin drugs that reduce low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, the type that can accumulate in the arteries and ...

Feb 22, 2026 in Medications
Tech Xplore / AI and kindness: Are we morally obligated to be kind to Grok?

Would you ever kick your Roomba? Or leave a scathing review of the robot at a Thai restaurant who delivered your green curry? What about sending a mean message to ChatGPT?

Feb 18, 2026 in Consumer & Gadgets
Tech Xplore / Engineers discover new physics principle to break sound absorption barriers in ventilated spaces

In everyday life, designing spaces that both let air flow and absorb sound can be a tricky balancing act. Usually, materials that allow air to pass through—like vents—also let sound escape, making it hard to reduce noise ...

Feb 23, 2026 in Engineering
Tech Xplore / Quantum materials could enable the solar-powered production of hydrogen from water

Hydrogen fuel is a promising alternative to fossil fuels that only emits water vapor when used and could thus help to lower greenhouse gas emissions on Earth. In the future, it could potentially be used to fuel heavy-duty ...

Feb 22, 2026 in Energy & Green Tech
Phys.org / 5,000-year-old bureaucracy: Over 7,000 prehistoric seal impressions uncovered in western Iran

In the journal Antiquity, Dr. Shokouh Khosravi published preliminary findings of the largest known corpus of prehistoric seal impressions in the entire ancient world. The corpus, made up of over 7,000 seal impressions, more ...

Feb 22, 2026 in Other Sciences
Phys.org / Quantum reservoir computing peaks at the edge of many-body chaos, study suggests

Reservoir computing is a promising machine learning-based approach for the analysis of data that changes over time, such as weather patterns, recorded speech or stock market trends. Classical reservoir computing techniques ...

Feb 22, 2026 in Physics
Phys.org / Peatland lakes in Congo Basin release carbon that is thousands of years old

Researchers at ETH Zurich have now discovered for the first time that large blackwater lakes in the extensive peatlands of the central Congo Basin are releasing ancient carbon. To date, climate researchers had assumed that ...

Feb 23, 2026 in Earth
Phys.org / Ultra-efficient optical sensors can keep light circulating longer inside a microscopic chip

CU Boulder researchers have built high-performing optical microresonators, opening the door for new sensor technologies. At its simplest form, a microresonator is a tiny device that can trap light and build up its intensity. ...

Feb 23, 2026 in Physics
Phys.org / Sunray-like ripples emerge on a frozen reaction front

Researchers in Belgium have unveiled a striking chemical reaction in which ripples along a frozen reaction front resemble the rays of a shining star. Publishing their results in Physical Review Letters, Anne De Wit and colleagues ...

Feb 22, 2026 in Physics
Phys.org / How the echolocation of bats has shaped their skulls

Bats are some of the most highly specialized mammals to have ever evolved. This includes not only the evolution of active flight, but also their echolocation. This ability requires the bats to produce high frequency noises ...

Feb 23, 2026 in Biology