Phys.org news
Phys.org / Extreme 8.5-minute orbit reveals white dwarf being torn apart by its binary companion
A team of U.S. astronomers has observed a binary pair of white dwarfs where one star is actively devouring material from the other. Led by Emma Chickles at MIT, the researchers revealed one of the clearest views yet of how ...
Phys.org / Emergence of new cavefish species challenges evolutionary dead-end idea
A new Yale study identifies a distinct species of eyeless cavefish, a discovery that challenges long-held conventional wisdom that caves and other subterranean ecosystems are evolutionary dead ends.
Phys.org / Controlled experiments reveal how nuclear fallout particles form
In less than a millionth of a second after a nuclear detonation or a severe nuclear reactor accident, an enormous burst of energy heats the surrounding air and materials. Everything in the vicinity is vaporized into a hot, ...
Phys.org / 'Permanently wet' coating method could transform wastewater treatment by helping bacteria survive better
Living bacteria embedded in coatings could clean wastewater, capture carbon and generate biofuels—but only if they survive the manufacturing process. Researchers at the University of Surrey and the University of Warwick have ...
Phys.org / Quantum metasurface boosts terahertz detection sensitivity by exploiting in-plane photoelectric effect
Being able to see light and detect radiation is of utmost importance at any frequency. While this challenge has been solved in the visible range, radiation detectors in the far-infrared and terahertz regimes are either not ...
Phys.org / SpaceX launches its biggest, most beefed-up Starship yet on a test flight
SpaceX launched its biggest, most powerful Starship yet on a test flight Friday, an upgraded version that NASA is counting on to land astronauts on the moon.
Phys.org / The first signs of human cremation may date back 100,000 years
The latest discoveries by an international research team, which includes Academy Research Fellow Ferhat Kaya from the University of Oulu, Finland, offer a detailed view of how early humans lived, moved, and adapted to their ...
Phys.org / Saturday citations: Two T. rexes and new exercise guidance that scientists are not calling 'easy'
John Hammond voice: "Welcome... to Saturday Citations." We're talking about different types of T. rexes today, along with some unwelcome news about cardiovascular health, but this week also brought news about the connection ...
Phys.org / Lost elephant calf reunites with family after researchers track herd across Samburu reserve
Colorado State University Professor George Wittemyer and his research team reunited a 4-month-old elephant calf with her family after she wandered into a tourist camp alone. The orphaned elephant calf was disoriented from ...
Phys.org / Chimpanzees' unusually protracted and vulnerable adolescences
For all the diversity of the human condition, one experience is almost universally painful: adolescence. It's also unusual. Most other species pass from puberty to adulthood quickly, but humans linger for years in a transitional ...
Phys.org / Earth's outer core beneath Pacific reversed direction in 2010, satellite data reveal
The liquid iron in Earth's outer core doesn't always behave as expected. When it changed direction in an unexplained way, ESA satellites provided data on the direction of flow, helping scientists gain better insight into ...
Phys.org / AI makes a major breakthrough in a math problem that had stumped experts for decades
For nearly 80 years, mathematicians have struggled to solve a classic geometry puzzle first posed by Paul Erdős in 1946: the planar unit distance problem. The question posed by the legendary Hungarian mathematician was, on ...