Phys.org news
Phys.org / Antenna-like cell appendage may help turtle embryos sense sex-deciding nest temperatures
When most baby turtles hatch, their sex depends on the temperature of the sand or soil where their mother laid her eggs. Warm incubation produces females, while cool nests produce males.
Phys.org / One snail, five slimes: Collagen and calcium reshape mucus for different jobs
Snails are particularly active after a rain shower. Even on the Max Planck Campus in Potsdam-Golm, common brown-lipped snails (Cepaea nemoralis) leave behind shiny trails of mucus. Researchers from the "Biomaterials" department ...
Phys.org / Physicists trace solar outbursts that led to historic Mother's Day storms
On Mother's Day weekend in May 2024, Earth experienced its most powerful geomagnetic storm in two decades, spawning auroras—the ribbony bands of light in the nighttime skies in the Northern and Southern hemispheres—that may ...
Phys.org / Mobile fungal 'Starship' carries protein that triggers crop leaf loss
An international research team led by plant scientist Professor Dr. Bart Thomma of the Institute of Plant Sciences at the University of Cologne, the MiBiNet Collaborative Research Center and the CEPLAS Cluster of Excellence ...
Phys.org / Just 50°C decides whether an ultrathin magnetic film stays flat or falls apart
Magnetic storage technologies, which store information in the direction of magnetization, play an essential role in modern data storage. Hard disk drives (HDDs) are widely used for long-term storage, while nonvolatile magnetic ...
Phys.org / Mushroom behind 'tiny people' hallucinations identified
People in communities thousands of miles apart have described the same strange experience after eating a mysterious mushroom: vivid visions of tiny humans moving through and interacting with the physical world around them. ...
Phys.org / Sunlight-powered setup generates quantum entanglement
Today's quantum technologies rely on energy-intensive lasers, raising concerns that scaling them up could further increase energy demands. In new work, researchers have demonstrated that quantum entanglement between photons ...
Phys.org / JWST study suggests a handful of 'leaky' galaxies reionized the early universe
A new study analyzing the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) spectra of more than 1,400 galaxies suggests a surprisingly small group of "leaky" galaxies was responsible for cosmic reionization. The paper outlining this work ...
Phys.org / Two-qubit entangling gate flags its own errors as detectable photon losses
Quantum errors are a normal part of quantum computing because fragile physical qubits (the tiny components storing data) can easily break down because of environmental noise, like heat, stray signals or microscopic vibrations. ...
Phys.org / Songbirds may have developed sharper senses to de-husk seeds
Songbirds, birds belonging to the Passeriformes order, are best known for their ability to produce complex musical sounds. Yet some songbird species also have another remarkable skill: They can easily remove the tough layer ...
Phys.org / Zoo-housed lions show wild-style behaviors when fed whole carcasses
A new Australian study has found that feeding zoo-housed lions whole-animal carcasses on a feast-and-fast schedule encourages behaviors more closely aligned with those seen in the wild.
Phys.org / Spacecraft observations may conceal how particles really move through near-Earth space
High-energy particles in Earth's radiation belt can appear to spread out randomly, even when they are moving in a "predictable" way. This is because spacecraft observations naturally blur the fine-scale structure of the particle ...
