Phys.org news

Phys.org / Artificial light is keeping reef fish awake, and the effects may ripple across coral reefs

Artificial light spilling into coastal waters from cities, ports, roads and hotels is disrupting sleep in coral reef fish and is associated with changes in markers linked to brain health, according to a new study from Bar-Ilan ...

Jun 22, 2026
Phys.org / Astronomers map a magnetic 'skeleton' funneling gas into a stellar nursery

Stars form when vast clouds of cold gas in space collapse under their own gravity. But not all gas collapses, and not all clouds form stars equally efficiently. A longstanding puzzle in astrophysics is what controls this ...

Jun 22, 2026
Phys.org / 125-million-year-old fossil reveals 'pregnant' shellfish

An international team of scientists led by Dr. Graciela Delvene of the Geological and Mining Institute of Spain (CSIC) has uncovered the oldest known evidence of maternal care in shellfish, revealing that some freshwater ...

Jun 22, 2026
Phys.org / Seal pups and seabird chicks are suffering in extreme weather. How can we protect them?

Extreme weather is becoming the new normal, disrupting human communities across the globe.

Jun 22, 2026
Phys.org / Women negotiate as effectively as men—but leave people happier

Men and women achieve similar economic outcomes in negotiations, but female negotiators foster stronger interpersonal relationships, which lead in turn to greater satisfaction with the result and a greater desire to negotiate ...

Jun 22, 2026
Phys.org / Crashing insect populations lead to smaller tree swallows that reproduce less

Since the 1970s, the number of insects at Canada's Long Point Bird Observatory has dropped by more than 60%, according to a new study led by the University of Michigan. Because of this, today's birds are smaller and facing ...

Jun 22, 2026
Phys.org / Four new chameleon species found on Mozambique's mountaintop 'sky islands'

Tropical rainforest patches perched on isolated granite mountains in northern Mozambique have yielded four new species of sylvan chameleons, according to a new study by Prof. Krystal A. Tolley and Dr. Werner Conradie, recently ...

Jun 22, 2026
Phys.org / How thousands of nature's longest sperm squeeze into a tiny fruit fly

When Jasmin Imran Alsous peered down her microscope lens, she expected to see chaos—a mishmash of tangled cells. She was viewing the inside of a male fruit fly's sperm storage organ, using a powerful microscope at the CCBScope ...

Jun 22, 2026
Phys.org / Mosquito-borne viruses avoid killing hosts by limiting protein output, study reveals

The increase in mosquito-borne virus infections is a growing public health concern. Diseases traditionally confined to tropical or subtropical regions, like dengue or West Nile virus, are expanding their geographic scope. ...

Jun 22, 2026
Phys.org / How solar wind forecasting will help define heliosphere's boundaries

Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) scientists are using a solar wind forecasting method combined with analytic and numerical heliosphere models to find out where the first plasma boundary of the outer heliosphere lies as ...

Jun 22, 2026
Phys.org / Cats age like humans—could studying their brains reveal healthy aging secrets?

Domestic cats age in remarkably similar ways to humans and show comparable age-related patterns of brain deterioration, according to an international collaboration among the University of Bath in the U.K., Auburn University ...

Jun 22, 2026
Phys.org / Using less, living better: Demand-side climate action wins public support

Climate strategies are still judged largely across two dimensions: how much they cost and how many tons of CO2 they save. A new study published in Communications Sustainability argues that this narrow lens overlooks much ...

Jun 22, 2026