Phys.org news
Phys.org / Winter sea ice loss may be underestimated, ancient clues from a warmer Arctic suggest
Future Arctic winter sea ice is likely to shrink by around 1 million square kilometers (386,000 square miles) more than previously thought, after researchers used clues from a warm period 6,000 years ago to improve the reliability ...
Phys.org / Forecasting 'tipping points' with AI climate simulation
The writer Malcolm Gladwell popularized the term "tipping points" to refer to the moment when a trend or social behavior crosses a threshold and rapidly spreads everywhere. In physics, tipping points occur when systems—say, ...
Phys.org / Maxwell's demon learns to turn concealed information into usable energy for microscopic systems
Since its introduction more than 150 years ago, the thought-provoking idea of Maxwell's demon has profoundly shaped our understanding of the relationship between information and energy. Maxwell's demon is an imagined microscopic ...
Phys.org / World-record intensity in attosecond hard-X-ray pulses could unlock closer study of electrons in atoms and molecules
Researchers used the European XFEL to create X-ray flashes that were not only extremely short but also reached record intensity for this type of pulse. The researchers focused the X-rays to an area roughly 100,000 times smaller ...
Phys.org / Infrared light overcomes mirror coating obstacle in gravitational wave detector upgrades
Researchers have developed and tested a new locking method for gravitational wave detectors that will advance the discovery of distant black holes and neutron stars colliding.
Phys.org / Sunlight gives biodiesel byproduct a second life as hydrogen and valuable chemicals
Australian researchers and international collaborators have demonstrated a solar-driven approach to convert glycerol, a low-value byproduct of biodiesel production, into hydrogen and higher-value chemicals. Using advanced ...
Phys.org / Scientists uncover mystery of how snail shells coil to the right or to the left
Scientists have discovered a gene that determines whether Japanese snails develop shells that are left- or right-coiling—with implications for understanding the underlying handedness of our own bodies. The researchers from ...
Phys.org / A highway instead of a racetrack: Strong coupling of light and sound in an optical fiber
For the first time, scientists have achieved strong coupling between light and long-lived acoustic vibrations in an optical fiber. Optical fibers are used in both classical telecommunications and quantum communication and ...
Phys.org / About 2% of natural gas supplied to a Midwest city leaks into the atmosphere
Most natural gas leakage in Indianapolis likely originates from homes and other buildings, not exterior pipelines and large-scale distribution infrastructure that deliver the fossil fuel, according to Penn State researchers ...
Phys.org / Plants shift gene activity within minutes of entering spaceflight, experiment reveals
Plants begin responding to spaceflight almost immediately after leaving Earth, according to a new University of Florida study that captured the earliest stages of biological adaptation during a commercial suborbital mission. ...
Phys.org / First comprehensive Mars soil classification offers framework for exploration and future farming
A Ph.D. student at the University of Sydney has produced the first comprehensive classification system and map of Martian soils, creating a new framework that could help scientists compare landscapes across the Red Planet ...
Dialog / Forecasting air drag with deep learning helps predict when uncontrolled satellites and rocket stages fall to Earth
On May 10, 2025, a spacecraft built in the Soviet Union to land on Venus came home. Launched in 1972, Cosmos-482 was stranded by a failed upper stage of its rocket and circled Earth for 53 years. In its last days, several ...
