Phys.org news
Phys.org / Experiment relies on pulsars to probe dark matter waves
Dark matter is a type of matter that is predicted to make up most of the matter in the universe, yet it is very difficult to detect using conventional experimental techniques, as it does not emit, absorb, or reflect light. ...
Phys.org / How giant galaxies could form just 1.4 billion years after the Big Bang
The existence of massive, elliptical galaxies in the early universe has puzzled astronomers for two decades. An international team led by Nikolaus Sulzenauer and Axel Weiß from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy ...
Phys.org / Fruit fly study reveals how mating triggers behavioral changes in females
Researchers from The Universities of Manchester and Birmingham have identified the exact nerve cells in the brain that drive important behavioral changes in female fruit flies after they mate. The discovery, published in ...
Phys.org / Non-biologic processes don't fully explain Mars organics collected by Curiosity, researchers say
In a new study, researchers say that nonbiological sources they considered could not fully account for the abundance of organic compounds in a sample collected on Mars by NASA's Curiosity rover. The paper is published in ...
Phys.org / Fermi data help refine orbital parameters of a gamma-ray binary
Using NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, Chinese astronomers have observed a gamma-ray binary system known as PSR J2032+4127. Results of the new observations, published February 3 on the arXiv preprint server, shed more ...
Phys.org / China's emissions policies are helping climate change but also creating a new problem
China's sweeping efforts to clean up its air have delivered one of the biggest public health success stories of recent decades. Since the Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan was launched in 2013, coal-fired power ...
Phys.org / Half of the world's coral reefs suffered major bleaching during the 2014–2017 global heat wave, estimates suggest
Benefits to society from coral reefs, including fisheries, tourism, coastal protection, pharmaceutical discovery and more, are estimated at about $9.8 trillion per year. For the first time, an international team led by Smithsonian ...
Phys.org / Bison hunters abandoned long-used site 1,100 years ago to adapt to changing climate, Great Plains study finds
On the Great Plains of North America, bison were hunted for thousands of years before populations collapsed to near extinction due to overexploitation in the late 1800s. But long before then, bison hunters used various strategies ...
Phys.org / Building blocks of life discovered in Bennu asteroid rewrite origin story
Amino acids, the building blocks necessary for life, were previously found in samples of 4.6-billion-year-old rocks from an asteroid called Bennu, delivered to Earth in 2023 by NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission. How those amino acids—the ...
Phys.org / Escape from Fukushima: Pig-boar hybrids reveal a genetic fast track in the wake of nuclear disaster
A new genetic study examines an unusually large hybridization event that followed the Fukushima nuclear accident, when escaped domestic pigs bred with wild boar. The research shows that domestic pig maternal lineages sped ...
Phys.org / Leading AI models struggle to solve original math problems
Mathematics, like many other scientific endeavors, is increasingly using artificial intelligence. Of course, math is the backbone of AI, but mathematicians are also turning to these tools for tasks like literature searches ...
Phys.org / Nature's 'engine is grinding to a halt' as climate change gains pace, says study
Many ecologists hypothesize that, as global warming accelerates, change in nature must speed up. They assume that as temperatures rise and climatic zones shift, species will face local extinction and colonize new habitats ...