Phys.org news
Phys.org / Climate policies can backfire by eroding 'green' values, study finds
A popular vision of life after climate action looks like vegetarians riding bikes, city centers without cars, and people foregoing air travel. But a new paper published in Nature Sustainability finds that climate policies ...
Phys.org / What's inside Mexico's Popocatépetl? Scientists obtain first 3D images of the whole volcano
In the predawn darkness, a team of scientists climbs the slope of Mexico's Popocatépetl volcano, one of the world's most active and whose eruption could affect millions of people. Its mission: figure out what is happening ...
Phys.org / NASA's Chandra rings in the new year with the Champagne Cluster
Celebrate the New Year with the "Champagne Cluster," a galaxy cluster seen in this new image from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and optical telescopes.
Phys.org / The year's first meteor shower and supermoon clash in January skies
The year's first supermoon and meteor shower will sync up in January skies, but the light from one may dim the other.
Phys.org / Encoding adaptive intelligence in molecular matter by design
For more than 50 years, scientists have sought alternatives to silicon for building molecular electronics. The vision was elegant; the reality proved far more complex. Within a device, molecules behave not as orderly textbook ...
Phys.org / AI model uses social media posts to predict unemployment rates ahead of official data
Social media posts about unemployment can predict official jobless claims up to two weeks before government data is released, according to a study. Unemployment can be tough, and people often post about it online.
Phys.org / Simple wipe test reveals hidden PFAS contamination on firefighter protective gear
The flames die down. The sirens fade. Firefighters peel off their gear, thinking the danger has passed. But in the quiet aftermath, another enemy lingers, an invisible film of "forever chemicals" clinging to jackets, pants ...
Phys.org / New dataset maps global city boundaries in high resolution from 2000 to 2022
A research team led by Prof. Liu Liangyun from the Aerospace Information Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (AIRCAS) has produced the first comprehensive, high-resolution map of global city and town boundaries, ...
Phys.org / 2025 was one of three hottest years on record, scientists say
Climate change worsened by human behavior made 2025 one of the three hottest years on record, scientists said.
Phys.org / Ethylene and oxygen found to drive periderm regeneration after plant injury
Plants have an extraordinary ability to sense tissue damage and quickly rebuild their protective outer layers, a process vital for survival amid environmental stresses. The periderm—a specialized protective tissue found ...
Phys.org / The Star of Bethlehem might have actually been a comet described in an ancient Chinese text
Many researchers have spent decades attempting to decode biblical descriptions and link them to verifiable historical events. One such description is that of the Star of Bethlehem—a bright astronomical body that was said ...
Phys.org / Biology-inspired brain model matches animal learning and reveals overlooked neuron activity
A new computational model of the brain based closely on its biology and physiology has not only learned a simple visual category learning task exactly as well as lab animals, but even enabled the discovery of counterintuitive ...
