Phys.org news
Phys.org / A single origin story for the Milky Way's most mysterious stars
Lurking at the heart of the Milky Way, Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*) is a supermassive black hole four million times the mass of the sun, surrounded by a puzzling collection of young, massive stars whose orbits have long defied ...
Phys.org / How bacteria use circadian clocks to colonize their world
Research has revealed how bacteria rely on circadian clocks to control the spread of their multicellular colonies. The findings provide important clues as to how we might improve soil health and plant growth. They may also ...
Phys.org / European heatwave's unlikely accomplice: An ocean 'cold blob'
The heat wave battering Europe may have an unlikely partner in crime: a patch of cold ocean water south of Iceland and Greenland that can influence weather patterns over the continent.
Phys.org / Whitebait rapidly switch life cycles when earthquakes cut off route to sea
Aotearoa New Zealand whitebait can rapidly switch their life cycles in response to sudden environmental changes, new University of Otago—Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka research shows. The research is published in the journal Nature ...
Phys.org / Scientists find evidence of vast hidden magma systems inside Mars
Researchers from the University of Oxford have uncovered evidence that Mars once hosted enormous, Earth-like magmatic systems deep beneath its surface—despite the planet lacking the plate tectonics long thought necessary ...
Phys.org / Sea anemones reveal antiviral defense that reverses human immune playbook
A new study has uncovered a previously unknown antiviral defense mechanism in sea anemones, revealing that animals may have evolved more than one way to fight viral infections. Researchers discovered that a protein resembling ...
Phys.org / Elusive thorium–thorium bonding directly observed using Hirshfeld atom refinement
Researchers have directly visualized a rare type of chemical bond between some of the heaviest elements in the periodic table, providing experimental evidence of how these atoms share electrons in systems where this has been ...
Phys.org / How a 'copper economy' helps fungi and bacteria build stubborn biofilms
Scientists have discovered that two common human pathogens can work together by managing copper in their shared environment—a finding that could open new ways to break down stubborn mixed biofilms.
Phys.org / Ancient ocean circulation reversed Atlantic and Pacific oxygen patterns 15 million years ago
The eastern tropical Pacific Ocean is known for its large low-oxygen zones that are increasing in size, putting marine life at risk. New research shows that 15 million years ago, the opposite was true.
Phys.org / Wastewater management reverses widespread freshwater deoxygenation in China
Freshwater ecosystems worldwide have been suffering from declining oxygen levels—a trend known as deoxygenation—that threatens biodiversity, fisheries and ecosystem stability. However, a new study published in Nature Geoscience ...
Phys.org / Do animal behavior experiments give a distorted view of cooperation?
When biologists study cooperation in animals, they usually offer just a single task at a time. But what happens when animals can choose among several opportunities to work together? Biologists at Utrecht University discovered ...
Phys.org / Secrets of how we see color revealed at the molecular level
A global team has cracked a decades-old mystery, revealing the atomic structures of the molecules in our eyes that allow us to see colors. "To understand how we detect light and perceive colors, we need to know the exact ...
