Phys.org news

Phys.org / After Artemis II, NASA looks to SpaceX, Blue Origin for moon landings

With Artemis II successfully completing its historic lunar mission on Friday, NASA is banking on billionaires Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk for the next step: landing astronauts on the moon.

Apr 11, 2026
Phys.org / Worsening ocean heat waves are 'supercharging' hurricane damage, study finds

Marine heat waves are supercharging damage caused by hurricanes and tropical cyclones across the globe, a new study found.

Apr 11, 2026
Phys.org / Search for dark matter intensifies as leading detector reaches milestone

Deep underground in a Canadian mine, a refrigerator nearly 1,000 times colder than outer space has just reached its target temperature—a milestone that brings scientists one step closer to potentially detecting dark matter, ...

Apr 10, 2026
Phys.org / Glaciers rapidly declining, with extreme losses in 2025

Earth's glaciers are continuing to shrink at alarming rates, with new international research revealing that 2025 was among the worst years on record for global ice loss. Published in the Climate Chronicles collection of Nature ...

Apr 10, 2026
Phys.org / Yellowstone's magma source may be closer than thought, reshaping hazard models

Supereruptions are extremely large volcanic eruptions that eject more than 1,000 cubic kilometers of magma, rock and ash. They are among the most hazardous geological events on Earth and have profound impacts on the environment, ...

Apr 10, 2026
Phys.org / Scientists turn 'mess' into breakthrough: Chaotic design unlocks next-generation optical devices

Researchers from the Monash University School of Physics and Astronomy have flipped a long-held assumption in optics, showing that deliberately introducing controlled disorder into ultra-thin optical devices can dramatically ...

Apr 10, 2026
Phys.org / Yellowstone's magma plumbing mainly shaped by tectonic forces—not deep mantle plume

A lot of research goes into determining how to best predict the next eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano. Part of this involves pinning down how the magma migration system functions and evolves over time. The exact mechanism ...

Apr 10, 2026
Phys.org / Archaeological survey at Gnith reveals new details about pearl millet's westward expansion

A study published in Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa sheds new light on the westward spread of pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) agriculture in prehistoric West Africa. A recent survey documented its earliest known ...

Apr 10, 2026
Phys.org / Peculiar core-collapse supernova breaks the mold with a long, dim plateau

Astronomers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) have employed the Lijiang 2.4-m telescope to perform optical photometric and spectroscopic observations of a core-collapse Type IIP supernova designated SN 2024abfl. ...

Apr 10, 2026
Phys.org / Dual-frequency Paul trap shows potential for synthesizing antihydrogen outside of CERN

A new type of radiofrequency trap can capture particles with extremely different requirements and could theoretically hold both types of particles at the same time. Researchers in the group of Professor Dmitry Budker from ...

Apr 10, 2026
Phys.org / Back-to-back Amazon droughts trigger record forest stress

Two back-to-back droughts in 2023 and 2024 caused the most severe decline in forest moisture and biomass (the total mass of living vegetation such as leaves, trunks and branches) in the Amazon since 1992, according to a study ...

Apr 10, 2026
Phys.org / Universal surface-growth law confirmed in two dimensions after 40 years

Crystals, bacterial colonies, flame fronts: the growth of surfaces was first described in the 1980s by the Kardar–Parisi–Zhang equation. Since then, it has been regarded as a fundamental model in physics, with implications ...

Apr 10, 2026