Phys.org news

Phys.org / Astronomers thought the early universe was full of hydrogen: Now they've found it

The Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX) has discovered tens of thousands of gigantic hydrogen gas halos, called "Lyman-alpha nebulae," surrounding galaxies 10 billion to 12 billion years ago. Known as Cosmic ...

Apr 6, 2026
Phys.org / 'Hot Jupiter' orbiting a metal-poor star discovered

Using NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), an international team of astronomers has discovered a new "hot Jupiter" exoplanet. The newfound alien world, designated TOI-7169 b, orbits a metal-poor star, which ...

Apr 6, 2026
Phys.org / Parasitic tapeworm—a risk to domestic dogs and humans—found in Washington coyotes

New evidence suggests that a disease-causing tapeworm that has been spreading across the United States and Canada has arrived in the Pacific Northwest. The tapeworm, called Echinococcus multilocularis, lives as a parasite ...

Apr 6, 2026
Phys.org / Alignment during conversations is highly situation-dependent, study finds

When people are talking, they can start to unconsciously mirror each other, for instance, in the words they use, their sentence structures and even hand gestures. This tendency to mirror others can lead to smoother conversations, ...

Apr 6, 2026
Phys.org / Bacteria are weaving forever chemicals directly into their cell membranes, study finds

University of Tennessee Knoxville professor and Goodrich Chair of Excellence in Civil Engineering Frank Loeffler and his co-authors published new research on the environmental impacts of "forever chemicals" in Nature Microbiology. ...

Apr 6, 2026
Phys.org / How to eat an elephant: Fossil find in Tanzania shows oldest signs of butchering these giant mammals

Imagine a creature nearly twice the size of a modern African elephant, which can weigh up to 6,000 kg. This was Elephas (Paleoxodon) recki, a prehistoric titan that roamed the landscape of what is now Tanzania nearly two ...

Apr 6, 2026
Phys.org / A nanoparticle therapy to treat lung cancer and associated muscle wasting at the same time

Researchers at Oregon State University have developed a technique for simultaneously treating lung cancer and a serious muscle-wasting condition that often accompanies it. The study, published in the Journal of Controlled ...

Apr 6, 2026
Phys.org / Global warming may be a boon for this aggressive prairie plant

Climate change may reduce yields of crops like corn and soybeans, but it can also give some plants an edge. That's one of the takeaways of a recent study of tall goldenrod, a common wildflower that runs rampant in fields ...

Apr 6, 2026
Phys.org / Fluorescence imaging technique reveals hidden magnetic chemistry in living systems

A research team at the University of Tokyo has developed a new microscopy platform that can observe a previously hidden layer of biomolecular chemistry linked to weak magnetic fields. The work, led by Project Researcher Noboru ...

Apr 6, 2026
Phys.org / Pigeons tend to respond 'at the edge of chaos,' study finds

If you were rewarded for following a particular pattern of behavior, wouldn't you keep doing it? The answer turns out to be more nuanced than you might think. In a new study, University of Iowa researchers report that pigeons ...

Apr 6, 2026
Phys.org / Mutant clownfish reveals how nature draws boundaries

In 1999, a clownfish (Amphiprion ocellaris) hatched in the aquarium of a tropical fish hobbyist in the UK. These clownfish are prized by aquarists for their unique pattern of three straight white bars bordered by a thin black ...

Apr 6, 2026
Phys.org / Electrons in moiré crystals explore higher-dimensional quantum worlds

The electrons that power our society flow left and right through the circuitry in our electronics, back and forth along the transmission lines that make up our power grid, and up and down to light up every floor of every ...

Apr 6, 2026