Phys.org news

Phys.org / Room-temperature electron behavior defies expectations, hinting at ultra-efficient electronics

Scientists have discovered a way to efficiently transfer electrical current through specific materials at room temperature, a finding that could revolutionize superconductivity and reshape energy preservation and generation.

Dec 15, 2025 in Physics
Phys.org / Iconic 'Little Foot' fossil may be new type of human ancestor

An international study led by researchers from Australia's La Trobe University and the University of Cambridge has challenged the classification of one of the world's most complete human ancestral fossils, raising the possibility ...

Dec 15, 2025 in Biology
Phys.org / Climate whiplash by 2064: Study projects extreme swings in rainfall and drought for Asia

A climate study led by The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), in collaboration with an international research team, reveals that under a high-emission scenario, the Northern Hemisphere summer monsoons ...

Dec 15, 2025 in Earth
Phys.org / Heavy is the head that wears the crown: Dominant baboons miss out on restful nights

Dominant baboons rule the troops by day, but at night, they may pay a hidden cost. A study led by Swansea University has found that higher-ranking baboons get less and more fragmented rest at night than their lower-ranked ...

Dec 15, 2025 in Biology
Phys.org / Making lighter work of calculating fluid and heat flow

Scientists from Tokyo Metropolitan University have re-engineered the popular Lattice-Boltzmann Method (LBM) for simulating the flow of fluids and heat, making it lighter and more stable than the state-of-the-art.

Dec 15, 2025 in Physics
Phys.org / The hidden physics of knot formation in fluids

Knots are everywhere—from tangled headphones to DNA strands packed inside viruses—but how an isolated filament can knot itself without collisions or external agitation has remained a longstanding puzzle in soft-matter ...

Dec 15, 2025 in Physics
Phys.org / Tapping into whale talk: Open-source bio-logger captures underwater cetacean conversations

Say you want to listen in on a group of super-intelligent aliens whose language you don't understand, and whose spaceship only flies by Earth once an hour. It's not unlike what Harvard scientists and others are doing, except ...

Dec 15, 2025 in Biology
Phys.org / Terra Amata site reveals technological flexibility of first humans in Europe

Archaeologist Paula García Medrano, researcher at the Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), has just published in Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology a study on the lithic industry from the ...

Dec 15, 2025 in Other Sciences
Phys.org / Recent H5N1 bird flu variants show increased ability to infect dairy cattle

The H5N1 avian influenza virus—commonly known as bird flu—has been causing outbreaks in dairy cows in the United States since March 2024. Now, scientists studying the adaptation of the avian H5N1 viruses to cows have ...

Dec 15, 2025 in Biology
Phys.org / 3D-printed helixes show promise as THz optical materials

Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) have optimized and 3D-printed helix structures as optical materials for terahertz (THz) frequencies, a potential way to address a technology gap for next-generation ...

Dec 15, 2025 in Physics
Phys.org / Manta rays create mobile ecosystems, study finds

A new study from the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science and the Marine Megafauna Foundation finds that young Caribbean manta rays (Mobula yarae) often swim with groups of other ...

Dec 15, 2025 in Biology
Phys.org / Engineered material uses light to destroy PFAS and other contaminants in water

Materials scientists at Rice University and collaborators have developed a material that uses light to break down a range of pollutants in water, including per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, the "forever chemicals" ...

Dec 15, 2025 in Chemistry