Phys.org news

Our universe is known to be remarkably homogeneous and isotropic. This essentially means that matter is distributed evenly throughout the universe and that it looks almost the same in all directions.

Buried in the rubble outside an ancient city, archaeologists have discovered golden diadems and mouthpieces stamped with sun-crowned bulls and running ibexes. Their designs borrow from nearly every corner of the ancient Mediterranean, ...

The planets that appear most common in the universe could have a lot of water—but it could be hiding where telescopes can't detect it, according to a new study led by scientists with the University of Chicago.

For over a century, the accepted value for a firefly's brightness has mostly stood, tracing its origins to experiments carried out in 1912. Through rigorous new analysis published in the American Journal of Physics, David ...

The massive globular star cluster Omega Centauri has puzzled astronomers for decades. It should be filled with black holes left behind by exploding stars, yet evidence for them is scarce. Now, astronomers using archival data ...

On Caribbean coral reefs, an unlikely partnership has gone largely unnoticed: Tiny fish regularly nestle within the feathery structures of tube worms. While these sensitive worms typically snap shut at the slightest disturbance, ...

Researchers have captured how a molecule redistributes energy after absorbing light, differentiating the roles of individual atoms in the process. They used X-ray flashes from the European XFEL to show that different atoms ...

Researchers at the Department of Materials Engineering (MatE), Indian Institute of Science (IISc), and collaborators have developed a new lightweight cast aluminum alloy that is both exceptionally strong and remarkably ductile, ...

Pyrite, an iron sulfide ore, is often known as fool's gold because its shiny metallic luster and pale brass-yellow color can easily fool the untrained eye into mistaking it for real gold. This time, however, 360 kilometers ...

When you think of a South American rainforest, you probably don't imagine biting winds, heavy frosts and freezing temperatures. But in the mountains of southern Brazil, that's exactly what you can find. On this highland plateau, ...

A giant mirror to create "sunlight on demand" was just approved by the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC), despite opposition from astronomers and the public, and real safety concerns.

The lava that buried entire neighborhoods during the 2018 Kīlauea eruption was composed of nearly 80% gas bubbles near its source. A recent study shows that those bubbles played a central role in controlling how fast and ...