Phys.org news
Phys.org / Plans to artificially dim the sun have divided scientists—here's what they're actually arguing about
No, President Joe Biden did not engineer Hurricane Milton. No, the ice crystal contrails left behind by high-altitude aircraft are not "chemtrails" sprayed by governments to control the weather or manipulate populations. ...
Phys.org / Why most rivers don't respond to storms the same way twice
The same amount of rain falling on the same landscape at different times can send very different amounts of water into its rivers, according to a new study in Nature Water. The research offers a global picture of how catchments ...
Phys.org / Record-breaking levels of plastic found in seabirds, with almost 900 pieces found in one bird alone
For more than a decade, it was thought that the world's most plastic-polluted birds couldn't get any more contaminated by the man-made material. But then, from 2023–2026, the record was broken every single year.
Phys.org / Laser altimeter BELA ready to explore Mercury's surface
Launched on Oct. 20, 2018, the joint ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission has traveled for almost eight years, using a carefully planned but eventful sequence of planetary flybys and solar-electric propulsion to gradually approach ...
Phys.org / Marine bacteria team up to break down one of the ocean's toughest carbon-storing molecules
Deep in the ocean, brown algae and diatoms produce a complex carbohydrate molecule called fucoidan, which helps form their protective outer layers. The fucoidan molecule is very difficult for microbes to break down because ...
Phys.org / Great Salt Lake's ancient past reveals how quickly fresh water can disappear
From a mountainside overlooking Utah's Great Salt Lake, a time traveler turning back the clock 20,000 years would watch a dramatic transformation of the landscape. The shallow, salty lake below would swell into an immense ...
Phys.org / Robots and AI uncover unexpected pathway in classic 135-year-old chemical reaction
Chemical reactions are often written as simple equations: Starting materials go in, and a product comes out. In reality, the same substrates can follow many different pathways depending on their concentrations, temperature, ...
Phys.org / Disordered atoms steer shared light pulses by matching motion and timing
A research team at the Institute of Applied Physics at TU Darmstadt has shown for the first time that atoms that are completely disordered and in constant motion can nevertheless emit jointly directed light preferentially ...
Phys.org / Examining Americans' complicated relationship with science
A new study finds that while most Americans are interested in science and believe it benefits society, the public's relationship with science is more complicated than those positive views suggest.
Phys.org / Scientists create 'super ice' that is ten times stronger and far harder to shatter
Ice is cheap, abundant and surprisingly strong. But it has one major weakness: Cracks can race through it, causing it to shatter without warning. Now, scientists have developed a new material that could overcome that problem. ...
Phys.org / A 5,000-year-old royal mystery: Digital clues point to Meretneith as Egypt's female king
More than 5,000 years ago, a royal woman named Meretneith (also written as Merneith) lived in ancient Egypt. She was possibly the daughter of Djer, the third king of the First Dynasty, a period when the first kings ruled ...
Phys.org / Mitotic chromosomes may assemble from pre-existing chromatin 'building blocks' during cell division
Inside each human cell, about 2 meters (6.6 feet) of genomic DNA must be accurately copied and equally transmitted to two daughter cells during cell division. To achieve this, the copied DNA is condensed into thick, short ...
