Phys.org news
Phys.org / The world's oyster reefs could add $12 trillion to planetary health each year—if they were better managed
A new study shows that the world's oyster reefs are a precious resource that's vastly underestimated and underutilized. The authors set out to calculate the reefs' potential gross ecosystem product (GEP), the ecological counterpart ...
Phys.org / A gamma-ray burst's engine stayed active for nearly a month, breaking the previous record
Astronomers have observed the longest-lasting central engine activity ever recorded from a gamma-ray burst. The burst occurred at a redshift of 0.8577, and the activity lasted about 27 days in the burst's own rest frame—around ...
Phys.org / Nobel winner Halzen says years of October 'misery' finally over
Physicist Francis Halzen has an impressively long list of academic accolades—but every October, as the Nobel Prize rolled around, his failure to bag the biggest award of them all left him "miserable," he admits.
Phys.org / Meet the long-legged giants that light up the deep ocean
Thousands of meters below the waves off Australia's east coast, far beyond where sunlight can reach, a stunning light show takes place in the dark. The cause? Two species of long-legged creatures emitting a blue glow.
Phys.org / Chernobyl particles reveal unexpectedly stable nuclear fuel after 40 years
Four decades after the 1986 nuclear disaster, researchers at Leibniz University Hannover and the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) examined six tiny, highly radioactive fragments that were released from the destroyed ...
Phys.org / Laughter, sighs and screams reveal unwritten social rules in everyday life
Alongside words, humans have a treasure trove of nonverbal tools to help express themselves. We chuckle, sigh and gasp to communicate our feelings without uttering a word. What has amazed researchers for ages is how we rarely ...
Phys.org / Linguists find Madonna's voice defies age-related expectations
As women go through menopause, their voices tend to become deeper. This is partly because the vocal folds may swell and the surrounding muscles lose elasticity, resulting in a lower pitch. Age-related physiological changes ...
Phys.org / New crocodile species discovered in rocks used to build the Great Sphinx
A new species of extinct crocodile from Egypt has been discovered, sharing more than just its home with the Great Sphinx. Herugavialis cairensis was found in the very same rocks used to build the iconic monument. And, just ...
Phys.org / Nearly 10,000 mapped reactions reveal overlooked steps in CO₂-to-fuel conversion
Scientists are increasingly exploring carbon dioxide (CO₂) hydrogenation—where CO₂ reacts with hydrogen over a catalyst to produce products like methanol—to convert CO₂ into useful chemicals and fuels. However, it involves ...
Phys.org / Hit songs fade faster from the Billboard charts than albums
Favorite songs can stay with us for a lifetime, but their shelf life on the music charts is fleetingly short. Tracks that shoot up the U.S. Billboard charts may flood the airwaves for a short while, but just a few weeks later, ...
Phys.org / Hydrothermal vents supply a geochemical precursor of ATP that could have powered early life
Where did the energy come from to power the chemical origin of life, and how did phosphate come to be the universal energy currency of cells? Biologists from the Institute of Molecular Evolution at Heinrich Heine University ...
Phys.org / Richer people have an edge when it comes to getting national park permits
Many outdoor enthusiasts have spent hours in front of a computer, racing to reserve a campsite, backpacking permit or national park entrance ticket. A recent study suggests that the way these reservation systems are designed ...
