Phys.org news

Phys.org / Titan's lakes may spawn 10-foot waves in gentle winds, new model suggests

On a calm day, a light breeze might barely ripple the surface of a lake on Earth. But on Saturn's largest moon, Titan, a similar mild wind would kick up 10-foot-tall waves. This otherworldly behavior is one prediction from ...

Apr 16, 2026
Phys.org / Atlantic current system could be weakening faster than expected

The Atlantic current system, or more formally the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), is more likely to weaken than previously thought. That's the conclusion of a new study published in the journal Science ...

Apr 16, 2026
Phys.org / Baby Neanderthals may have had a rapid growth spurt compared to modern babies

Baby Neanderthals may have been much larger and grown much more quickly than their modern Homo sapiens counterparts, according to a new study of the most intact Neanderthal infant skeleton. Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) ...

Apr 16, 2026
Phys.org / Laser-plasma accelerator drives free-electron laser for record 8 hours

For the first time, researchers have demonstrated that a laser-plasma accelerator can reliably drive a free-electron laser for more than eight hours. Published in Physical Review Accelerators and Beams, the result was achieved ...

Apr 16, 2026
Phys.org / Monkeys navigate a virtual forest with thought alone, pushing brain-computer interfaces beyond the lab

As a part of a study testing out a new type of implanted brain-computer interface (BCI), three rhesus monkeys controlled movements in a virtual reality (VR) world using only brain signals. The study, published in Science ...

Apr 16, 2026
Phys.org / Methane emerges from interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS as it exits the solar system

Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS is now on its way out of our solar system, never to return. The comet was only the third-ever detected object to originate from outside our solar system. Traveling at high speeds, it looped around ...

Apr 16, 2026
Phys.org / Patagonia yields 155-million-year-old long-necked dinosaur with links to two famous lineages

A German–Argentine team of paleontologists led by SNSB dinosaur expert Oliver Rauhut has discovered a new long-necked dinosaur, Bicharracosaurus dionidei, from the Upper Jurassic period in Argentina, dating back approximately ...

Apr 16, 2026
Phys.org / A newly recognized pollutant is widely present in the atmosphere

A new study shows that a specific type of silicone, the so-called methylsiloxanes, is widely present in the atmosphere across diverse environments. Also, concentrations appear to be much higher than expected. According to ...

Apr 16, 2026
Phys.org / Quantum bottleneck breaks wide open as one light beam carries 23 secure channels at the same time

A new Bar-Ilan University study points to a major advance in quantum information processing, demonstrating a way to send, manipulate, and measure quantum information across many frequency channels simultaneously, rather than ...

Apr 16, 2026
Phys.org / Common Asian plant in Brazil shows potential for removing microplastics from water

A study conducted at the Institute of Science and Technology of São Paulo State University (ICT-UNESP) in São José dos Campos, Brazil, shows that Moringa oleifera, also known as moringa or white acacia, has the potential ...

Apr 16, 2026
Phys.org / African elephant genomes reveal a past of continental connectivity and a future of increasing isolation

In the largest genomic mapping of Africa's elephants to date, an international team of researchers shows that elephant history is defined by the ability to move across large distances and exchange genes throughout the African ...

Apr 16, 2026
Phys.org / Webb's Little Red Dots may reveal how giant black holes formed soon after the Big Bang

The launch of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) in 2021 pushed the horizon of seeing the early universe, unveiling cosmic events just a few hundred million years after the Big Bang. Among the most striking discoveries ...

Apr 16, 2026