Phys.org news

Supermassive black holes are the largest known black holes in the universe, sitting at the center of most large galaxies. They are sometimes described as cosmic monsters because they feed on surrounding gas and dust when ...

Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have discovered a stellar bar in GN20, a massive galaxy seen just 1.5 billion years after the Big Bang. The new paper was submitted to the preprint server arXiv on May ...

Ancient Egyptians are often depicted wearing black eyeliner, known as kohl, which was stored in small containers. While kohl containers are typically found throughout Egypt and Sudan (Nubia), their presence beyond these areas ...

Mosquito repellents are key to protecting ourselves from mosquito bites and the pathogens they might carry. The most widely used active ingredient in insect repellents is N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide, commonly known as DEET.

Australian researchers have trained lab-grown brain cells on a silicon computer chip to play the nineties shooter game "Doom" and say they are just scratching the surface of what the neurons could be capable of doing.

Discovering new catalysts is one of the central challenges in developing clean-energy technologies such as green hydrogen production. Yet catalyst discovery has traditionally remained confined within individual material families, ...

Deer keds—biting flies found across Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas—use their eyes and flight to locate a host, typically deer, but occasionally humans or other mammals. Once they land, however, they shed their wings ...

Many soybean farmers use seeds treated with fungicides to ward off disease, but the profits from these increased yields might not offset the cost of the treatment in most cases, according to a study published in Scientific ...

Scientists have uncovered how the interplay between cell shape and mechanical stress influences the orientation of stomata (microscopic pores on the leaf surface) during early plant development.

A new analysis of global wildfire activity in 2025 reveals the world experienced some of the most destructive and deadly fire events in recent history, despite the second lowest area burned since 2002. It highlights a continued ...

Few creatures inspire as much universal dislike as ticks. Though small, these parasites have an enormous impact on human and animal health. Each year, ticks spread viruses and bacteria that infect people, livestock, wildlife, ...

Even though sugars are often framed as simple sources of energy, they also serve as structurally complex and functionally diverse molecules that mediate interactions between organisms. Among these, β-1,2-glucans, which are ...