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Phys.org / How the octopus uses its 'taste by touch' sensory system to feel out potential mates

A new study by Harvard biologists reveals how octopuses feel their way to potential mates with a "taste by touch" sensory system and can even couple at arm's length without actually seeing each other. In a study featured ...

Apr 2, 2026
Tech Xplore / How a 'perfectly symmetrical' 2D perovskite could boost tandem solar cells

Rice University scientists and collaborators have created a new type of two-dimensional (2D) semiconductor that comes closer than ever to a "perfect" crystal. The findings, reported in the journal Nature Synthesis, could ...

Apr 4, 2026
Phys.org / AI makes rewilding look tame—and misses its messy reality

Humans have always imagined the natural world. From Ice Age cave paintings to the modern day, we depict the animals and landscapes we value—and ignore those we don't.

Apr 4, 2026
Phys.org / Insects in the tropics are already near their heat limits. Climate change could push many beyond survival

Insects make up to 90% of all animal species on the planet, and most of them can be found in the tropics, the regions around the equator. Yet we still know surprisingly little about how these species will cope with rising ...

Apr 4, 2026
Phys.org / High nickel concentrations in Martian bedrock point to potential biosignatures

In 2024, NASA's Perseverance rover found surprising levels of Nickel in the Martian bedrock of an ancient river channel, called Neretva Vallis, which flowed into the Jezero crater. A new study, published in Nature Communications, ...

Apr 1, 2026
Phys.org / Gravitational waves suggest a 'forbidden zone' for stellar-origin black holes

An international team led by Monash University has uncovered evidence of a rare form of exploding star, helping to shed light on one of the most cataclysmic events in the universe. At the end of their lives, most massive ...

Apr 1, 2026
Phys.org / New study pinpoints climate conditions for restoring the endangered butternut tree

The butternut tree, a close relative of black walnut prized for its pale wood and wildlife value, is on the brink of disappearing from North American forests. A new study from Virginia Tech offers hope that the species could ...

Apr 4, 2026
Phys.org / New disk-shaped catalyst turns carbon dioxide into methanol at lower temperatures

Low-temperature CO2 hydrogenation might have sounded almost paradoxical until a recent study made it possible. Researchers have designed new catalysts that can transform the greenhouse gas into methanol at temperatures ranging ...

Apr 2, 2026
Phys.org / How we came to be: Scientists get first look at the evolution of early complex animals

Newly discovered fossils have given scientists their first real glimpse of when Earth made a crucial transition from plants and unrecognizably simple animals to the complex creatures that took over the world and would eventually ...

Apr 4, 2026
Phys.org / New evidence challenges assumptions of mass feasting at ancient Mongolian burial mounds

Khirigsuurs are Late Bronze Age monuments found across Mongolia and parts of southern Siberia. They are typically thought to be burial monuments or ritual spaces, consisting of a burial mound surrounded by satellite features ...

Apr 2, 2026
Phys.org / Humans' closest invertebrate ancestors date back much further than thought

Animal life is extraordinarily diverse and complex, having colonized almost all environments on Earth—from hostile hydrothermal vents in the deep sea to the skies across our continents. But the planet was not always teeming ...

Apr 4, 2026
Phys.org / Assembling more than 1,000 human genomes affordably: New method could power genetic screening's future

A research team led by Zhen-Xing Endowed Professor Jian Yang at the School of Life Sciences, Westlake University, has developed a pangenome-informed genome assembly (PIGA) method. By combining a cost-effective hybrid sequencing ...

Apr 3, 2026