Phys.org news
Phys.org / Moms' learned fear of snakes gets inherited by offspring in a critically endangered mouse, biologists discover
Conservationists often raise the young of endangered species in captivity before releasing them into suitable habitats as adults. The benefits are obvious: survival to adulthood is typically high, as captive animals are safe ...
Phys.org / Greenland shark genome reveals clues to 400-year lifespan
The first comprehensive map of nearly the entire Greenland shark genome is beginning to reveal some of the genetic clues behind its incredibly long life. The work could one day help scientists develop new cures and treatments ...
Phys.org / Warming unlocks ancient carbon in Tibetan permafrost, triggering climate tipping point
A new study in Nature Communications finds a critical climate tipping point in Tibetan permafrost ecosystems. Warming of 2–4 degrees Celsius triggers a self-reinforcing cycle of carbon release that could significantly accelerate ...
Phys.org / 'Don't scare the cat!' Engineers find smarter way to measure quantum systems
UNSW Sydney engineers have riffed on the famous Schrödinger's cat analogy to demonstrate a more efficient way to eliminate errors in quantum computing.
Phys.org / How honeybees really crown their queens
For generations, scientists believed a queen honeybee was made almost entirely by diet: feed an ordinary larva enough royal jelly and a ruler emerges. But new research suggests queens are created through a more elaborate ...
Phys.org / Octopuses learn mirror-guided navigation to locate prey
Octopuses are remarkably intelligent creatures, as was demonstrated by Inky the Octopus's famous escape from the National Aquarium of New Zealand through a drainpipe back to sea in 2016. A new Dartmouth study shows octopuses ...
Phys.org / Extraordinary fossils solve a 500-million-year mystery: Bryozoans were there at the dawn of animal life
Bryozoans are tiny, filter-feeding colonial invertebrates that thrive in the world's oceans today, yet for decades their origins presented a puzzling gap in the fossil record. While nearly every other major animal group made ...
Phys.org / Violating the 3rd law of black hole mechanics in vacuum gravity
Black holes, regions in space where gravity is so strong that nothing can escape, have been widely studied over the past decades, due to their unique and intriguing properties. Einstein's theory of general relativity predicts ...
Phys.org / Solar sails edge closer to reality, but interstellar travel is another story
From planetary rovers and asteroid sample return missions to the recent Artemis II flight above the far side of the moon, we are seemingly good at doing space. But our achievements still do not match many of our space dreams, ...
Phys.org / Deep-Earth seismic anomalies may be explained by newly discovered manganese compound
Scientists know that manganese, in its various oxide forms, plays a significant role in Earth's geochemical cycles. However, the exact forms of manganese, their abundance and the mechanisms behind these cycles that occur ...
Phys.org / Brightness 'gap' in ancient star cluster reveals missing red dwarfs
Scientists from the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland, sought to study one stellar subject and ended up finding something even more exciting. The team's results published today in Astronomy ...
Phys.org / Giant fan-shaped structure found under East Antarctica
An international team of researchers including our Department of Geography has discovered a vast geological structure hidden beneath the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. The findings are published in the journal Nature Geoscience.