Phys.org news
Phys.org / Massive rock layer beneath Bermuda may explain island's unusual elevation
Bermuda may well be associated with exaggerated stories of missing ships and planes, but there is another mystery about this part of the Atlantic that has been puzzling scientists for decades: Why does the island appear to ...
Phys.org / Astronomers find planetary and stellar companions to two ultracool dwarfs in Taurus
Astronomers from the University of Hawai'i (UH) at Manoa and elsewhere have observed the Taurus star-forming region, which resulted in the discovery of planetary-mass and stellar companions of two ultracool dwarf stars. The ...
Phys.org / 2.8 days to disaster: Why we are running out of time in low earth orbit
A "House of Cards" is a wonderful English phrase that it seems is now primarily associated with a Netflix political drama. However, its original meaning is of a system that is fundamentally unstable. It's also the term Sarah ...
Phys.org / Italian bears living near villages have evolved to be smaller and less aggressive, finds study
A paper in Molecular Biology and Evolution, reports that Italian bears living in areas with many villages evolved and became smaller and less aggressive.
Phys.org / Video: Lunar impact flash detected on the moon by Armagh Observatory and Planetarium
On 12 December 2025 at 03:09:36 UTC, astronomers at the Armagh Observatory and Planetarium (AOP) have captured what is believed to be the first video recording of a lunar impact flash in Ireland, and the second recorded from ...
Phys.org / Rare, deep-sea encounter: Scientists observe 'extraordinary' seven-arm octopus
Almost a half-mile below the surface of Monterey Bay, California, scientists have recorded rare footage of a seven-arm octopus— only the fourth time the same research team has spotted the species in about four decades.
Phys.org / XMM-Newton sees comet 3I/ATLAS in X-ray light
The European Space Agency's X-ray space observatory XMM-Newton observed interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS on 3 December for around 20 hours. During that time, the comet was about 282–285 million km from the spacecraft.
Phys.org / Thank the JWST for confirming the first runaway supermassive black hole
What could force a supermassive black hole (SMBH) out of its host galaxy? They can have hundreds of millions, even billions of solar masses. What's powerful enough to dislodge one of these behemoths?
Dialog / The moon-forming event: Why it was by explosive ejection rather than a giant impact
One of the oldest unsolved riddles in planetary science concerns the origin of the moon. Over a century ago, George Darwin proposed that tidal and centrifugal forces on a rapidly rotating proto-Earth caused the moon to be ...
Phys.org / Scientists develop a smarter mRNA therapy that knows which cells to target
Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have developed a first-of-its-kind mRNA system that switches on therapeutic genes preferentially inside targeted cells—an advance demonstrated in studies in mice ...
Phys.org / Ancient genetic 'start' signal found in bacteria, archaea and eukaryotes
A newly discovered promoter element "start" points to a shared regulatory syntax for controlling transcription initiation in bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotes.
Phys.org / Synthetic key enzyme enables the conversion of CO₂ into formic acid
For a carbon-neutral bioeconomy, processes are needed that can efficiently capture CO2 and convert it into valuable products. Formic acid, or more specifically its salt, formate, is considered a promising candidate as it ...