Phys.org news

Phys.org / A new equation may help baristas produce the perfect espresso shot every time

Everyone's idea of the perfect cup of coffee is different. Whether you have yours black, with a splash of milk or extra sweet, you like it your way. But is there a universal law that governs how that flavor gets into your ...

12 hours ago
Phys.org / Three Himalayan predators coexist by partitioning prey, reducing direct competition

Snow leopards, leopards, and Himalayan wolves all share similar stomping grounds in Nepal's Lapchi Valley in the Himalayas. A recent study, published in PLOS One, has taken a closer look at how these apex predators have found ...

9 hours ago
Phys.org / Polymers built inside the body through blood-catalyzed chemistry allow on-demand brain control

The 19th-century science fiction novel Frankenstein explores the idea of combining artificial materials with human body components, purely as a matter of imagination. Two centuries later, such concepts have become integral ...

11 hours ago
Phys.org / How the female baboon body has the final say in sperm selection

Just because a female olive baboon has mated with a specific male doesn't mean he will be the father of her offspring. According to a new study published in PLOS Biology, mate selection continues long after copulation as ...

10 hours ago
Phys.org / Astronomers thought the early universe was full of hydrogen: Now they've found it

The Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX) has discovered tens of thousands of gigantic hydrogen gas halos, called "Lyman-alpha nebulae," surrounding galaxies 10 billion to 12 billion years ago. Known as Cosmic ...

12 hours ago
Phys.org / 'Hot Jupiter' orbiting a metal-poor star discovered

Using NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), an international team of astronomers has discovered a new "hot Jupiter" exoplanet. The newfound alien world, designated TOI-7169 b, orbits a metal-poor star, which ...

13 hours ago
Phys.org / How to eat an elephant: Fossil find in Tanzania shows oldest signs of butchering these giant mammals

Imagine a creature nearly twice the size of a modern African elephant, which can weigh up to 6,000 kg. This was Elephas (Paleoxodon) recki, a prehistoric titan that roamed the landscape of what is now Tanzania nearly two ...

7 hours ago
Phys.org / Alignment during conversations is highly situation-dependent, study finds

When people are talking, they can start to unconsciously mirror each other, for instance, in the words they use, their sentence structures and even hand gestures. This tendency to mirror others can lead to smoother conversations, ...

13 hours ago
Phys.org / Mechanical inputs boost diamond quantum sensor states as Q factor tops one million

Most people think of diamonds as high-end adornments. Not Ania Bleszynski Jayich. The UC Santa Barbara physicist sees diamonds, which she grows in the UC Quantum Foundry, as a potentially powerful foundation for quantum sensors. ...

7 hours ago
Phys.org / Analysis finds geometric thinking may come from wandering, not a human-only math module

Debates over how geometry is understood and learned date back at least to the days of Plato, with more recent scholars concluding that only humans possess the foundations of this understanding. However, a new analysis by ...

7 hours ago
Phys.org / Parasitic tapeworm—a risk to domestic dogs and humans—found in Washington coyotes

New evidence suggests that a disease-causing tapeworm that has been spreading across the United States and Canada has arrived in the Pacific Northwest. The tapeworm, called Echinococcus multilocularis, lives as a parasite ...

7 hours ago
Phys.org / Bacteria are weaving forever chemicals directly into their cell membranes, study finds

University of Tennessee Knoxville professor and Goodrich Chair of Excellence in Civil Engineering Frank Loeffler and his co-authors published new research on the environmental impacts of "forever chemicals" in Nature Microbiology. ...

7 hours ago