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Phys.org / If alien signals have already reached Earth, why haven't we seen them?

For decades, scientists have searched the skies for signs of extraterrestrial technology. A study from EPFL asks a sharp question: if alien signals have already reached Earth without us noticing, what should we realistically ...

Feb 16, 2026 in Astronomy & Space
Dialog / Evidence that some birds are stubborn appears in the form of color preferences

We like to think that animals follow the crowd. If most of the group does something, surely the individual will copy. But what if the story is more complicated? What if the deciding factor isn't just what the majority is ...

Feb 16, 2026 in Biology
Phys.org / Isotopes reveal how social status shaped diet in medieval England

Isotope analysis reveals that social status and wealth had a profound impact on diet in medieval England, showing that people from different social groups in medieval Cambridge ate markedly different food. The research, carried ...

Feb 16, 2026 in Other Sciences
Tech Xplore / Woven nickel-titanium structures unlock new flexibility in 3D-printed shape-memory materials

At first glance, few materials would seem to have less in common than metals and textiles. And yet, by manufacturing nickel-titanium alloys as a highly deformable, interwoven material, more similar to fabric than a typical ...

Feb 16, 2026 in Engineering
Phys.org / New nanohole-based microscopy monitors electrochemical reactions millisecond by millisecond

Many technological applications, such as sensors and batteries, greatly rely on electrochemical reactions. Improving these technologies depends on understanding how electrochemical reactions work. However, most current methods ...

Feb 16, 2026 in Nanotechnology
Phys.org / Deer inhibit trees but raise plant diversity, 18-year study reveals

At high densities, white-tailed deer inhibit growth of trees but increase the overall diversity of smaller plant and weed species, according to a long-term study published recently. The work is published in the journal PLOS ...

Feb 16, 2026 in Biology
Phys.org / What cold-water geysers on Earth reveal about the habitability of ocean worlds

In the eastern Utah desert, carbon-dioxide-saturated water bubbles, sprays and foams from the ground. These cold-water geysers, sometimes called soda pop geysers, are a new and reliable Earth-based analog for scientists studying ...

Feb 16, 2026 in Astronomy & Space
Phys.org / Q&A: Algorithm achieves near end-to-end genome assembly without ultra-long DNA sequencing

Haoyu Cheng, Ph.D., assistant professor of biomedical informatics and data science at Yale School of Medicine, has developed a new algorithm capable of building complete human genomes using standard laboratory technology. ...

Feb 16, 2026 in Biology
Phys.org / Study of 65,000 college students links 16 hours a week on social media to higher loneliness

More than half of college students are lonely—and those who use social media the most are particularly likely to feel isolated, a study of tens of thousands of 18 to 24-year-olds in the US shows. Just 16 hours a week—two ...

Feb 16, 2026 in Other Sciences
Phys.org / New tool could reduce collision risk for Earth-observation satellites

Researchers at The University of Manchester have developed a new way to design Earth-observation satellite missions that could help protect the space environment while continuing to deliver vital data for tackling global ...

Feb 16, 2026 in Astronomy & Space
Tech Xplore / LLMs violate boundaries during mental health dialogues, study finds

Artificial intelligence (AI) agents, particularly those based on large language models (LLMs) like the conversational platform ChatGPT, are now widely used daily by numerous people worldwide. LLMs can generate texts that ...

Feb 15, 2026 in Consumer & Gadgets
Medical Xpress / Blocking both drug-resistant bacteria and influenza with a broad-spectrum infection prevention approach

Secondary infections caused by bacteria or viruses during hospital care remain a long-standing global challenge, despite advances in modern medicine. In particular, mixed bacterial-viral infections in critically ill or immunocompromised ...

Feb 16, 2026 in Immunology