Phys.org news

Phys.org / Interpretable AI in materials discovery: Uncovering how models make predictions

A method to interpret artificial intelligence (AI) models used in materials discovery by analyzing their learned features has been developed by researchers from Japan. The method extracts key features from an AI model trained ...

12 hours ago
Dialog / When less is more: Scaling law explains why ultrathin materials get stronger as they get thinner

One of the most fascinating aspects of physics is that nature often behaves in ways that seem completely counterintuitive. A good example comes from ultrathin materials. If I take a sheet of material and make it thinner ...

16 hours ago
Phys.org / Hydrogen-based steelmaking gets 2x boost from nickel oxide catalyst, study finds

Steel and metal production are among the largest contributors to global greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for approximately 10% of global CO2 emissions. At the same time, modern technology relies on tailored steels and ...

18 hours ago
Phys.org / New tool to help build more reliable DNA nanostructures

Scaffolded DNA and RNA origami is a technique that allows scientists to build tiny, highly precise two- and three-dimensional objects. Because these nanostructures can interact naturally with biological systems, they could ...

17 hours ago
Phys.org / Manakins' dazzling dances may owe their origins to an ancient diet shift

Few animals put on a show quite like manakins. In the rainforests of Central and South America, males of these small tropical birds, with strikingly bright plumage, often gather at communal display sites (leks), where they ...

19 hours ago
Phys.org / Researchers publish first complete connectome of fruit fly brain and 'spinal cord'

In a first, a large, international team led by multiple labs at Harvard Medical School and Princeton University has published a complete wiring diagram of all the connections between neurons in the central nervous system ...

22 hours ago
Phys.org / Canary Island relics offer new clues into how North African cultures adapted to ocean living

Archaeological evidence from the Canary Islands suggests that by the 11th century, people there were harvesting and processing a variety of fish and other marine organisms—indicating that coastal resources may have played ...

20 hours ago
Phys.org / Is 'gender gating' the secret to success in online dating?

Digital matching platforms—from professional networking to ride-sharing and accommodation services—add value by bringing supply and demand into balance. But deep-seated asymmetries can prove difficult to expunge, causing ...

Jun 14, 2026
Phys.org / Damaged boreal peatlands may triple methane emissions, reshaping climate risk

A new study reveals that, for the first time, areas of Canada's boreal peatlands damaged by oil and gas exploration have failed to recover as scientists and companies predicted and instead have led to a tripling of methane ...

Jun 14, 2026
Phys.org / Light-programmed system projects 28-layer 3D images in single shot

Researchers at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering and CNSI (California NanoSystems Institute), led by Professor Aydogan Ozcan, introduced a snapshot 3D image projection system that integrates a digital encoder with a ...

Jun 14, 2026
Phys.org / NASA's Chandra discovers possible supernova remnant in galactic center

Using data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, astronomers may have found a supernova remnant in an intriguing neighborhood in the middle of our galaxy. A paper describing these new findings was published in The Astrophysical ...

Jun 14, 2026
Phys.org / Chemical impurities make carbon surfaces superslippery, researchers find

Engineers often treat impurities as a problem to eliminate to improve material performance. But new research from Osaka Metropolitan University and Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials IWM suggests that in some ...

Jun 14, 2026