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Science X / Across Bronze Age Sweden, carved footprints point to a ritual for turning social ties into stone

Etched into the ancient rocky outcrops of southern Scandinavia and large boulders left behind by retreating glaciers are footprints, also called podomorphic petroglyphs. Some are barefoot with every toe visible, while others ...

May 18, 2026
Phys.org / Integrated solar reactor paves way to make 'clean' chemicals, plastics and food using solar energy

A new study led by Dr. Lin Su of Queen Mary University of London, published today in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, describes a new integrated solar reactor in which engineered Escherichia coli (E. coli) are ...

May 19, 2026
Phys.org / Intrepid tails—fluke photos confirm humpback whales mount 14,000 km open ocean crossing to breeding grounds

An international team of scientists have documented, for the first time, humpback whales traveling between breeding grounds in eastern Australia and Brazil, crossing more than 14,000 kilometers of open ocean. The findings ...

May 19, 2026
Phys.org / Twisted WSe₂ reveals elusive charge-neutral quantum modes

Quantum materials, materials with properties that are influenced by the laws of quantum mechanics, have attracted considerable attention over the past few decades. Their unique properties make these materials advantageous ...

May 18, 2026
Phys.org / Beyond 0 and 1: Ferrotoroidic material can store four magnetic states

Today's computers store information using only two values: 0 and 1. But as electronic devices become smaller and reach their limits, scientists are searching for new ways to pack more information into the same space. One ...

May 19, 2026
Phys.org / New RNA tool maps structure and motifs across organisms and viruses

Researchers at the University of Würzburg have unveiled a new tool for analyzing RNA molecules. It visualizes their structures as interactive maps and could help to improve our understanding of diseases.

May 20, 2026
Phys.org / Intensifying droughts may be pushing tropical forests toward a dangerous threshold

Tropical forests, often described as the lungs of the planet, may be edging closer to a dangerous threshold as droughts become more frequent and widespread across the world's humid tropics. New research suggests these ecosystems ...

May 18, 2026
Phys.org / Young Fraser River Chinook salmon swimming in 'chemical soup,' study finds

Juvenile Chinook salmon in the Lower Fraser River estuary are feeding and growing in a slurry of contaminants from pharmaceuticals, personal care products to industrial chemicals, according to a new Simon Fraser University ...

May 20, 2026
Medical Xpress / Rollback of PFAS drinking water standards raises safety fears

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said Monday it wants to roll back some regulations on "forever chemicals" in drinking water put into place in 2024.

May 20, 2026
Phys.org / Visualizing sound: Scientists reveal hidden behaviors of sound waves

An international team of scientists has developed a new analysis of how sound waves behave, revealing surprising effects that have largely been overlooked for decades. In the new paper in Scientific Reports, which was led ...

May 19, 2026
Phys.org / Extreme weather events may leave rivers unable to rebound

Severe droughts, intense floods, and heat waves are pushing river ecosystems beyond their natural limits of resilience. A review of data on river systems across several continents published in the journal Nature Reviews Biodiversity ...

May 20, 2026
Phys.org / Optoelectronic synapse shows exceptional photoresponse for neuromorphic vision

Like so much else in nature, the human visual system has both a complex structure and functional efficiency that is difficult for scientists to replicate. The system is both a sensor and a processor, with the eyes and the ...

May 20, 2026