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Phys.org / Sperm whale clicks follow similar rules to human speech

Sperm whales produce powerful clicks to communicate. To our ears, they sound nothing more than a series of repetitive, mechanical taps. But we could be a step closer to understanding some of their complex communication, as ...

Apr 15, 2026
Phys.org / As Artemis II is celebrated, the world faces hard questions about US leadership in space

The successful Artemis II trip around the moon was a historic achievement—the first crewed lunar fly-by in more than 50 years, and the greatest distance yet traveled by humans from our "pale blue dot."

Apr 13, 2026
Phys.org / First physical evidence of Peruvian Hairless Dogs at Wari site uncovered in Peru

A study published in the Journal of Anthropological Archaeology combined zooarchaeology with multi-isotopic analysis to reveal the diverse life histories of ancient dogs in the Wari Empire (ca. 600–1050 CE). Not only has ...

Apr 15, 2026
Phys.org / Wasps move in on ant-plant partnership, disrupting a 10‑million‑year mutualism

An international team of scientists from Queen Mary University of London, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, the Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences and other institutions has uncovered surprising new behavior in ...

Apr 15, 2026
Phys.org / JWST spots methane on a giant exoplanet, but its star may be distorting the signal

Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers from Johns Hopkins University (JHU) and elsewhere have observed a giant exoplanet known as HATS-75 b. Results of the new observations, published April 8 on the arXiv ...

Apr 15, 2026
Phys.org / Beneath this cemetery, 5.5 million wild bees form a giant underground city vital to spring pollination

To save money, Rachel Fordyce parked her car for free at Ithaca's East Hill Plaza and walked through East Lawn Cemetery to her job as a technician in an entomology lab on Cornell's campus. One spring day in 2022, she walked ...

Apr 13, 2026
Medical Xpress / CRISPR takes a bold leap toward silencing Down syndrome's extra chromosome

Scientists have taken an important step toward a gene therapy that could one day turn off the extra genetic material that causes Down syndrome (DS). Down syndrome is a genetic condition caused by an extra chromosome 21 (and ...

Apr 14, 2026
Phys.org / America's sewage and manure hold a $5.7 billion key to breaking synthetic fertilizer dependence

Nutrients recovered from animal and human waste could drastically reduce synthetic fertilizer use in the U.S., according to a new Cornell University study that takes into account real-world implementation challenges like ...

Apr 15, 2026
Phys.org / 4,000-year-old clay tablets inscribed with magical spells… and beer tabs

For over 100 years, the National Museum has housed a large collection of inscribed tablets from the earliest civilizations of the Middle East—many over 4,000 years old and written in languages that are now extinct. The tablets ...

Apr 15, 2026
Phys.org / See and hear galaxies evolve from the dawn of the universe

The most realistic picture yet of how galaxies formed and then evolved from the beginning of time has been revealed in a suite of new and unique audiovisual simulations. These data, accepted for publication in the Monthly ...

Apr 13, 2026
Phys.org / How farming changed us: Ancient DNA reveals natural selection sped up in recent human evolution

A massive study of ancient DNA from nearly 16,000 people across more than 10,000 years in West Eurasia reveals that natural selection has shaped modern human genomes far more than previously thought.

Apr 15, 2026
Phys.org / Earth's microbes may hide a near-universal plastic-eating arsenal, with 600,000 proteins poised to attack waste

Researchers have identified more than 600,000 microbial proteins capable of breaking down natural and synthetic plastics, revealing a far broader biodegradation potential across microbes than previously known.

Apr 15, 2026