Phys.org news
Phys.org / Bare supercontinent may have tipped ancient Earth into 'Snowball' phase
About a billion years ago, Earth started to come into its own. It was past the awkwardness of its younger years full of growing pains and turmoil: comet strikes and slimy water, including the Great Oxidation Event that flipped ...
Phys.org / Introduced wild pigs linked to fewer invasive plants, while native deer show the opposite pattern
Wild pigs are generally considered among the world's most problematic invasive mammals. But a major new study from Aarhus Universitet shows that the introduced animals may actually have beneficial effects in North American ...
Phys.org / Think DEET keeps mosquitoes away? They may be learning to love it
Every summer, millions of people spray themselves with DEET to keep mosquitoes away. But new research suggests mosquitoes may be able to learn to associate the repellent with food—and even become attracted to it.
Phys.org / Cobalt honeycombs open a new path to quantum computing
Honeycombs are famous for their elegant design, but now they may have found a new application: quantum computing. To collect knowledge from subatomic particles, quantum computers require carefully designed materials capable ...
Phys.org / Green stones buried with Panama's ancient chiefs confirmed as Colombian emeralds
More than 1,000 years ago, Panama elites were buried together with translucent green stones long suspected to be emeralds. However, scientific analysis confirming the suspicion has never been conducted. Now, scientists have ...
Phys.org / Ripples in fire-ant collectives suggest motions are driven by neighbor alignments
Researchers in Spain have discovered that in collectives of moving fire ants, rippling "waves" of density and activity are likely triggered by local regions where ants collectively travel in the same direction as their neighbors.
Phys.org / The generation of massive Schrödinger cat states using ultracold atoms
Quantum mechanics is a physics framework that describes how matter and energy behave at an extremely small scale, specifically at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles. An effect predicted by the laws of quantum mechanics ...
Phys.org / Chang'e-5 regolith studies reveal nanoscale space-weathering processes
On the moon, the lack of atmosphere and accompanying features such as biological activity, oxygen-rich air, flowing water and rain, wind, and most erosion allows the lunar regolith to preserve a long-term record of surface ...
Phys.org / A rare blue micromoon rises this weekend
Get set for a rare blue micromoon this weekend—a blue moon that's also the most distant and smallest-looking full moon of the year.
Phys.org / Neanderthal ancestry may lower defenses against common DNA viruses in people today
Researchers have found surprising links that show that Neanderthal ancestry influences our immune system today in ways more nuanced than previously recognized. Their work is published in the journal Genome Biology and Evolution.
Phys.org / Hyena clan rank metrics need to be trait specific to fully explain hierarchies, scientists argue
Spotted hyenas live in hierarchically organized groups (clans). An individual's dominance over another determines priority access to resources such as food or mating partners, and thus reproductive success. However, the rank ...
Phys.org / Scientists unlock evolution of gigantism in Scottish island wrens
A new study of British wrens has provided new insights into the inner workings of "island syndromes," according to research led by the University of Birmingham. The paper, published in the Evolutionary Journal of the Linnean ...
