Phys.org news

Phys.org / Grokipedia selectively draws on more-right leaning news sources, says new study

A large-scale analysis of Grokipedia, the world's first AI-written encyclopedia, has found that while many Grokipedia articles closely resemble their Wikipedia counterparts, a substantial subset diverged markedly in style, ...

May 19, 2026
Phys.org / Molecular net boosts the power of natural biopesticides

Scientists at VIB and Vrije Universiteit Brussel have uncovered a previously unknown mechanism that helps a widely used biological pesticide become more effective. The study, published in Nature Communications, reveals how ...

May 19, 2026
Phys.org / Seabird world shrinks as oceans warm, forcing longer flights to survive

Seabirds such as albatrosses and petrels are retreating into smaller areas of ocean and traveling further to find new places to live as the climate warms. Scientists from the University of Reading studied more than 120 species ...

May 19, 2026
Phys.org / DNA floating in seawater is now enough to let scientists monitor the health of America's dolphin populations

DNA is everywhere in the world's oceans—not only packaged inside cells from skin, scales, mucus, feces, and blood, but also floating freely. Sequencing such "environmental DNA" (eDNA) from open water has long been used as ...

May 19, 2026
Phys.org / Bats create 'silent frequency zones' to detect prey in noisy flight, researchers reveal

Sound plays an important role for many animals, helping them navigate and hunt. Echolocation is the ability of animals like bats and dolphins to locate objects by emitting sound waves and interpreting the returning echoes. ...

May 19, 2026
Phys.org / Supernova dust may be behind one of JWST's biggest puzzles

Astronomers may have found an explanation for one of the biggest mysteries revealed by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST): why so many galaxies in the early universe appear unexpectedly bright in ultraviolet light. The ...

May 18, 2026
Phys.org / Debunking a core chemistry concept taught in classrooms everywhere

A new study has revealed that a core idea taught in chemistry classrooms around the world may be wrong. Dr. Edwin Johnson, Lecturer at the University of Newcastle, co-authored the paper published in the Journal of Chemical ...

May 18, 2026
Phys.org / Ultrafast switching device unlocks low-power optical-to-electrical conversion for AI hardware

Modern energy demands are soaring as technologies like AI and IoT become more common, and researchers have been working hard to develop hardware that can keep up. Now, a team of researchers from the University of Tokyo has ...

May 18, 2026
Phys.org / AI-generated fake citations are flooding scientific literature across publications, scientists warn

The citations at the end of a research paper should represent a solid foundation of existing knowledge about a particular field, a pool of peer-reviewed sources built over years of research and study. However, with the increasing ...

May 18, 2026
Phys.org / White hydrogen discovered in billion-year-old Canadian Shield rock points to potential new energy source

Within the Canadian Shield, hydrogen gas is steadily building up naturally among some of the oldest rocks on Earth. Now, for the first time, geochemists at the University of Toronto and the University of Ottawa have measured ...

May 18, 2026
Phys.org / Twisted WSe₂ reveals elusive charge-neutral quantum modes

Quantum materials, materials with properties that are influenced by the laws of quantum mechanics, have attracted considerable attention over the past few decades. Their unique properties make these materials advantageous ...

May 18, 2026
Phys.org / Intensifying droughts may be pushing tropical forests toward a dangerous threshold

Tropical forests, often described as the lungs of the planet, may be edging closer to a dangerous threshold as droughts become more frequent and widespread across the world's humid tropics. New research suggests these ecosystems ...

May 18, 2026