Phys.org news
Phys.org / New study provides rule of thumb to estimate land sustainability in river deltas
As densely populated coastal communities struggle to keep up with rising sea levels, new research reveals a way to predict how river deltas build land and protect coastal regions from encroaching oceans. This insight will ...
Phys.org / Large-scale eDNA survey reveals hidden factors that affect regional fish communities
As climate change and human activities continually ramp up, fish are forced to find ways to adapt. As fish move around to find more suitable habitats as ocean conditions shift, regional fish distributions change—which can ...
Phys.org / Sex-related differences in hoverfly eyes give insight into their aerodynamic powers
Many male hoverflies have bigger eyes than females, giving them the advantage of better optics and faster photoreceptors in high-speed pursuits to find a preferred partner to breed.
Phys.org / Neanderthal dentists used stone drills to treat cavities nearly 60,000 years ago, ancient molar suggests
Neanderthals had the know-how to identify a tooth infection and the motor skills to drill out the damage, according to a study published May 13, 2026, in the open-access journal PLOS One by Alisa Zubova of Peter the Great ...
Phys.org / A history of containers, an ancient technology hundreds of thousands of years in the making
We hardly give them a second thought, but everyday objects like bags and backpacks belong to a long technological tradition that may stretch back hundreds of thousands of years.
Phys.org / Strange 500-million-year-old marine fossils reveal a feeding strategy that still shapes oceans today
More than 500 million years ago, during what is known as the Cambrian period, the seas and oceans on Earth were filled with a myriad of marine animals, many of which have now become extinct. This evolutionary burst in new ...
Phys.org / Atomic bands in two transition metal dichalcogenides hint at long-theorized quantum state
Insulators are materials in which electrons cannot move freely. Past theoretical studies predicted the existence of an unusual insulating state dubbed obstructed atomic insulator (OAI), in which electrons are localized inside ...
Phys.org / Recreating dying stars reveals hydrogen's key role in cosmic dust formation
Silicon carbide (SiC) dust is one of the most important ingredients in cosmic dust, the tiny particles floating throughout the cosmos that eventually give rise to new planets and stars. This compound of silicon and carbon ...
Phys.org / Mostly empty foam overturns assumptions of electron beam stopping
When physicists fire beams of fast electrons at materials, they often need to know exactly how much energy those electrons will lose as they travel through. Through new research published in Physical Review Letters, a team ...
Phys.org / Rivalry with neighboring groups may be a key driver of male size in primates
In many primate species, males are much larger than their female counterparts, which is generally attributed to male competition for mates (sexual selection). But bigger bodies may not just be about alpha males defeating ...
Phys.org / The first domesticated horses: 6,000 years of a complex story
Horses were being ridden, worked, and traded long before anyone thought it possible. New research pushes back the accepted timeline of human use of horses by centuries, showing that humans used horses in organized ways as ...
Phys.org / Bee magnetism appears far more widespread than expected across 120 species
As married research professors at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Dustin Gilbert and Anne Murray often discuss their work once they get home each night. Their fields of study rarely crossover. That changed six years ...
