Phys.org news
Phys.org / Medieval text family trees suggest 60% of works vanished over centuries
For every King Arthur or Roland, whose adventures readers can still enjoy today, another hero of ancient literature may have been lost forever. Before the printing press, texts were copied manually. This process introduced ...
Phys.org / New ultrathin lens focuses light into an optical needle
Researchers have created a special flat lens that shapes light into an optical needle—a thin beam that stays tightly focused over a long distance. Combining this lens, which is about 7 microns thick, with optical coherence ...
Phys.org / Massive calving episode in Greenland may foreshadow more rapid ice sheet loss
In November 2025, a study led by Adrien Wehrlé, a researcher in the Department of Geography at the University of Zürich, Switzerland, looked at the massive calving response of one of West Greenland's active glaciers, Sermeq ...
Phys.org / Day-night ocean warming helps explain why El Niño outpaces La Niña in models
Researchers have long known that there is an asymmetry in the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the confluence of wind and water currents that creates warm El Niño events and cooler La Niña events. Large-scale climate ...
Phys.org / Pressure unlocks 3D superconductivity in tantalum disulfide at triple the temperature
Superconductors have long been considered a promising technology for the energy systems of the future. They can conduct electricity without resistance, thus eliminating both conduction losses and waste heat. Up to now, however, ...
Phys.org / Tiny carbon rings enable a new form of quantum control
Quantum states can be precisely controlled with the help of tiny carbon rings measuring only a few nanometers in size. This is made possible by a class of rarely used electromagnetic dipoles called toroidal moments. Using ...
Phys.org / New biobased polymers exhibit excellent tensile properties beyond polyolefins
The research group of Professor Kotohiro Nomura, Tokyo Metropolitan University, in cooperation with the research groups of Senior Researcher Hiroshi Hirano and Director Seiji Higashi of the Osaka Research Institute of Industrial ...
Phys.org / Ancient jaw wound reveals possible violence in Homo sapiens 90,000 years ago
Violence, the care of injured or ill individuals, and funerary behavior are among the most challenging aspects of the human past to reconstruct. A study published in Scientific Reports and led by researchers from the Centro ...
Phys.org / Magnetic octupole model captures domain-wall motion in noncollinear antiferromagnets
Researchers from The Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have developed the first magnetic multipole-based micromagnetic model for antiferromagnets. Published in Applied Physics ...
Phys.org / Migratory birds may carry fewer parasites between islands than expected, DNA shows
A new study published in the Journal of Helminthology by researchers from the Estonian University of Life Sciences and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, together with collaborators from Greenland and the Faroe ...
Phys.org / Raptorial insect forelegs evolved repeatedly but never converged on one winning design
The evolutionary paths that created snatching forelimbs in insects multiple times moved in a similar direction but didn't end at a single solution. Kobe University research is pioneering a study of how organs with similar ...
Phys.org / Where rivers face collapse: New tool shows where conservation dollars can do most good
Freshwater ecosystems are under growing pressure worldwide, but conservation resources are limited. A framework developed by IIASA researchers and partners can help identify where conservation could prevent biodiversity loss ...
