Phys.org news
Phys.org / Guangzhou crucibles provide earliest direct evidence of brass-making in East Asia
For centuries, scholars have read ancient documents describing the production of brass in 10th-century A.D. China. The problem was that the earliest physical evidence of brass production would be found nearly 600 years later, ...
Phys.org / Rings forged from meteorites may have been fashionable among ancient Greek elites
Meteorites provided a rare but ready source of iron for ancient Bronze Age cultures before smelting became common. A new study, published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, sheds light on how the ancient Minoan and ...
Phys.org / Human blood may have helped preserve ancient Chinese rock art for 2,000 years
The Huashan rock art landscape in southern China, close to the border with Vietnam, is a remarkable UNESCO World Heritage site. Thousands of images are painted on river cliffs across more than 80 locations stretching 260 ...
Phys.org / Quality vs. quantity: Why 'super-shedders' may not be the superspreaders of disease outbreaks
A host that sheds an abundance of parasites might seem like an obvious disease-spreading threat. But new research suggests that shedding large volumes of parasites does not dictate transmission efficiency—and "super-shedders" ...
Phys.org / New findings overturn 100-year-old assumption about common bacteria in the lungs
The human body is teeming with more than 35 trillion bacteria, coexisting in microbiomes inside the gut, mouth, lungs, skin and urogenital tract. While it's now clear these microbes are associated with health and disease, ...
Phys.org / Early settlement dynamics in the Pacific revealed through ancient DNA
New genetic analyses of ancient human skeletons from western Remote Oceania are shedding light on the complex history of settlement in this vast Pacific region over the past 3,000 years. With island nations such as Vanuatu, ...
Dialog / Bound gravitational waves inspired by photonic systems
When one mentions "waves," we immediately think of a perturbation that propagates. This applies to waves on the shore, sound waves in the air or electromagnetic waves that we use to transmit information via optical fibers. ...
Phys.org / Engineered microbe speeds CO₂ capture and recovers critical metals
A genetically engineered bacterium can rapidly break down one of Earth's most abundant minerals, opening a promising new pathway for simultaneously removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and recovering critical elements ...
Phys.org / Airborne observatory improves views of solar corona during cloud-covered eclipse
Using unique equipment installed on NASA's WB-57 aircraft flying above heavy clouds off the coast of Iceland, a Southwest Research Institute-led team successfully observed a total solar eclipse on Wednesday. The high-altitude ...
Phys.org / Cell biochemistry beyond membranes: Condensate physics reveals general rules for chemical responses
Basic biology courses teach that cells contain organelles—such as the nucleus, mitochondria and Golgi apparatus—set apart by lipid membranes to get things done. Recent cell biology research has revealed another organizational ...
Phys.org / Controlling the rotation direction of light without complex new materials
A new pathway has opened for controlling the rotation direction of light simply by changing how molecules are arranged, without having to synthesize complex new materials. Circularly polarized light is a special form of light ...
Phys.org / Constipation is common in astronauts—blood tests provide new answers
For astronauts in space, constipation is a well-known problem. But why this happens has long been unclear. Now, a new study from the University of Copenhagen in collaboration with NASA provides an idea of what happens in ...
