Phys.org news

Phys.org / US politics is not the world's template for polarization, experts warn

Common global narratives about political polarization are skewed because of an overreliance on literature about the U.S., leaving governments unprepared to tackle the problem at home. In new research led by King's College ...

Sep 2, 2026
Phys.org / Seven new species show 250-million-year-old marine group is still evolving

Scientists believed there were only two species of hornerid bryozoans in Aotearoa New Zealand, but new research shows several more have been secretly evolving and thriving in the nation's southern waters.

Sep 2, 2026
Phys.org / Animal-bone records reveal how cattle and sheep fueled medieval England's changing economy

As populations expanded in medieval England, key changes occurred in the uses of cattle and sheep to produce food and materials, according to a study published Sept. 2, 2026, in the journal PLOS One by Matilda Holmes of the ...

Sep 2, 2026
Phys.org / How cells teach themselves to move together

Scientists have long wondered how cells organized into sheets begin to move together to form organs, especially when the sheets form closed, sphere-like surfaces and tissues with no edges to direct motion. Researchers at ...

Sep 2, 2026
Phys.org / Electric fish keep from blinding themselves with these brain cells

The brain cells you see in the above image help an African fish decode electric signals to spot prey, scan its murky surroundings and communicate with its fellows. By rigorously mapping how these cells in the electrosensory ...

Sep 2, 2026
Phys.org / Tracking emperor penguins from space

For the first time, geographers from Durham University have used freely available satellite radar images to track emperor penguins through the polar winter—giving a year-round view of their movements. Monitoring the endangered ...

Sep 2, 2026
Phys.org / Bio-based plastic turns into fertilizer after use

Plastic waste is one of the world's fastest-growing environmental problems. According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development's Global Plastics Outlook: Policy Scenarios to 2060 report, global plastic ...

Sep 2, 2026
Phys.org / Why lower-class workers are less likely to negotiate for higher pay—and how it could cost some nearly $800,000

Michele Gelfand has studied and taught negotiation for years. A professor of organizational behavior at Stanford Graduate School of Business, she sees negotiation as a skill that is imperative for everyone to learn. "It's ...

Sep 2, 2026
Phys.org / A summer odyssey: Female dotterels seek multiple mates across Northern Europe

On a high Norwegian plateau in late May, patches of bare ground begin to appear through the snow, and with them arrive some of Europe's most approachable birds. Eurasian dotterels breed on exposed mountain ridges and Arctic ...

Sep 2, 2026
Phys.org / Geomagnetic superstorm shook GPS accuracy across the US—its timing may have averted agricultural losses

On Nov. 11, 2025, Earth experienced a severe geomagnetic storm triggered by solar flares and coronal mass ejections from an active sunspot region. While this kind of storm brings beautiful auroras admired in many areas around ...

Sep 1, 2026
Phys.org / Giant impact could have formed an intact moon within five hours, simulations suggest

New Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) modeling, conducted in collaboration with scientists at the University of Arizona, shows fundamental differences in how the moon may have formed from the giant impact that created the ...

Sep 1, 2026
Phys.org / A supermassive black hole erupted in X-rays, and its radio jets followed 300 days later

By combining roughly two decades of observations from NASA's Swift X-ray Telescope with radio monitoring, astronomers have caught a supermassive black hole at the heart of the Perseus Cluster suddenly flaring in X-rays, and ...

Sep 1, 2026