All News
Phys.org / Chemical traces of 2023 Canadian wildfires detected in Maryland months after smoke subsided
In 2023, Canada's worst wildfire season on record produced so much smoke that it spilled across national borders into the United States. At times, a thick haze enveloped much of the U.S. East Coast and triggered "Code Purple" ...
Phys.org / Popular song lyrics have become more negative since 1973, analysis reveals
Over the past 50 years, the lyrics of popular songs in the U.S. have become simpler, more negative, and contain more stress-related words, according to an analysis published in Scientific Reports. The authors suggest that ...
Phys.org / Astronomers challenge 50-year-old quasar law
Compelling evidence that the structure of matter surrounding supermassive black holes has changed over cosmic time has been uncovered by an international team of astronomers.
Phys.org / How to build a genome: Scientists release troubleshooting manual for synthetic life
Leading synthetic biologists have shared hard-won lessons from their decade-long quest to build the world's first synthetic eukaryotic genome in a Nature Biotechnology paper. Their insights could accelerate development of ...
Phys.org / Ancient humans mastered fire-making 400,000 years ago, study shows
Scientists in Britain say ancient humans may have learned to make fire far earlier than previously believed, after uncovering evidence that deliberate fire-setting took place in what is now eastern England around 400,000 ...
Phys.org / Swarm detects rare proton spike during solar storm
The European Space Agency's Swarm mission detected a large but temporary spike of high-energy protons at Earth's poles during a geomagnetic storm in November. It did this not with the scientific instruments for measuring ...
Phys.org / Analysis of Diplodocus dinosaur scales reveals possible speckled color patterning
Scientists have long been trying to reconstruct the appearance of dinosaurs. The tidbits they are able to piece together from fossils and other analysis are displayed in museums, educational materials, and media, lending ...
Tech Xplore / Simple teflon coating boosts hydrogen production efficiency by 40%
A common non-stick coating used in cookware has been shown to enhance hydrogen production efficiency in water electrolyzers by approximately 40%. The key innovation involves applying a specialized coating to critical components ...
Phys.org / Rooster 'epidemic' fueled by backyard coops, sanctuaries say
A yearslong surge in displaced roosters is overwhelming animal sanctuaries in Maryland and across the country, fueled by a pandemic-born boom in backyard chicken coops and the noisy realities of owning a male bird.
Phys.org / Orca tail dolphins to hunt salmon—and may share the catch
Killer whales or orca (Orcinus orca) have been observed hunting with Pacific white-sided dolphins (Lagenorhynchus obliquidens) in the waters off British Columbia, Canada, and sharing fish scraps with them after making a kill, ...
Tech Xplore / Squashing 'fantastic bugs' hidden in AI benchmarks
After reviewing thousands of benchmarks used in AI development, a Stanford team found that 5% could have serious flaws with far-reaching ramifications.
Phys.org / Searchable Bronze Age site database could help answer key questions about ancient Anatolia
To boost our understanding of a little-known civilization that thrived more than 3,000 years ago, scientists have built an easy-to-use digital catalog of 483 Bronze Age sites in western Anatolia.