Phys.org news
Phys.org / Listening for extinction: Study finds areas of critical concern for northern spotted owls
Northern spotted owl populations are approaching or have already crossed functional extinction across large areas of the Pacific Northwest, a new study, published in Ecological Applications found. Researchers used artificial ...
Phys.org / A tiny drop of water is all that's needed to find threatened frogs
New James Cook University research has used highly sensitive environmental DNA (e-DNA) techniques to find two species of threatened frogs in places they've never been seen before—and find another still struggling to recover ...
Phys.org / Tides can vary by almost a meter across a single bay, four decades of satellite images reveal
Tide levels can vary by almost a meter across a single bay, according to a new study that uses decades of satellite images to measure tides at the scale of individual beaches.
Phys.org / Young golden eagles leave their parents' territory late
When a young golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) finally leaves its parents' territory, it leaves behind the only safety net it has ever known. Until now, biologists had assumed that eagles took this step as soon as they could ...
Phys.org / New workflow helps ecologists measure how individual animals use their habitat
A researcher has developed a new, reproducible workflow that lets ecologists measure, in a standardized way, how individual animals within a species differ in their habitat use, based on GPS tracking data. The tool was developed ...
Phys.org / How people treat you may shape your reputation and stabilize cooperation
When one person helps, or refuses to help, another in public, this may change not only the provider's reputation but also the recipient's. A theoretical study led by Kobe University offers a simple explanation for how cooperation ...
Phys.org / Nanoscale hairs may help gecko skin trap moisture and slow evaporation
In a dry shrubland, a gecko sprints toward shelter. Its greatest danger is not a predator, although hawks circle overhead and sand cats wait in ambush. Rather, its most pressing concern is dehydration. Its skin is paper-thin; ...
Phys.org / Chatbots are making our writing more similar but losing the identity and personality behind it
Large language models (LLMs) are making writing styles more similar without changing the overall meaning, according to an analysis of more than 880,000 texts across different writing types published in Nature Human Behaviour. ...
Phys.org / AI financial advice can improve decisions or steer investors wrong, experiment finds
To what extent can AI improve our financial decisions or steer us in the wrong direction? Researchers at the University of Bayreuth investigated this question in a new study involving 3,700 participants and fictional investment ...
Phys.org / How the sun's galactic journey and superflare-filled youth shaped Earth's climate
At the center of our solar system, the sun influences every planet that orbits it. In two recent studies, scientists uncovered how ancient events in the sun's history may have helped create Earth's unique climate and driven ...
Phys.org / Cowpea plants create underground defense system for the next generation after insect attacks
Plants might seem helpless when it comes to insect attacks, but they are known to employ various techniques to deter pests. One of these techniques involves sending out signals to recruit parasitoid wasps, and a new study, ...
Phys.org / Mapping thorium's preferred sites could pave the way for nuclear clocks
For decades, physicists have used a technique called Mössbauer spectroscopy to peer inside solid materials, revealing fine details of their surroundings by studying how their atomic nuclei absorb and re-emit gamma rays.
