Phys.org news

Phys.org / New study of global reef growth over past 12,000 years offers insights into impact of rising ocean temperatures

Coral reefs over the past 12,000 years grew best when the ocean temperature was 77 degrees Fahrenheit (25 degrees Celsius), according to new research from Florida Tech. Recent ocean warming and regional and local disturbances ...

16 hours ago
Phys.org / Turning penicillin into a lethal force against bacteria again

When many disease-causing bacteria encounter penicillin, they are not always destroyed right away, shifting into a temporary survival state called antibiotic tolerance. This state allows them to withstand drug levels that ...

17 hours ago
Phys.org / Upper Egypt site has now yielded more than 43,000 inscribed pot sherds, a record-breaking trove of information

A joint archaeological mission by the University of Tübingen and the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities (MoTA) has documented the world's most extensive find of inscribed pottery sherds at the Upper Egypt site ...

17 hours ago
Phys.org / Shell game: How oysters enlist help from microbes

For an oyster, creating an internal environment for calcification that forms its distinctive hard shell is essential. But new Harvard research has found that these bivalves may outsource the work, coordinating with microbes ...

16 hours ago
Phys.org / The bizarre sex life of mayflies: Micro-CT scans reveal ins and outs of swarm Kamasutra

A new study on mayflies of the genus Ecdyonurus illustrates just how multifaceted and surprising reproductive behavior in nature can be. Entomologists at the State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart (SMNS), using state-of-the-art ...

17 hours ago
Phys.org / Wolves kill—and ravens remember where

When a wolf pack runs down its prey, the first on the scene is often the raven. Even before the predators have had time to dig in, the ravens are already in line, waiting to take advantage of the odd scrap of meat that becomes ...

19 hours ago
Phys.org / Allowing atoms to come and go can open the door to better materials modeling

Most materials, especially metals and ceramics, are crystals. Their atoms are arranged in three-dimensional lattices that repeat the same exact pattern, over and over again. But there's a well-known saying in materials science: ...

17 hours ago
Phys.org / Musicologists map medieval chant tropes to 9th-century political borders

The spread of a particular genre of music reflects the borders between medieval empires in Europe. This is shown by a study conducted by a musicologist at the University of Würzburg, appearing in Transactions of the International ...

18 hours ago
Phys.org / Capsule technology opens new window into individual cells

Researchers have developed a capsule-based method that makes it possible to analyze the same cell through multiple experimental steps. The technology overcomes a long-standing limitation in cell research and could open new ...

18 hours ago
Phys.org / Lost page of legendary Archimedes palimpsest found in France

It all started off as a joke, a French researcher told AFP. But what the team found was a piece of history—a long-lost page from a legendary manuscript by ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes which had been languishing, ...

20 hours ago
Phys.org / A common hydrogel may be built differently than assumed, with big implications for mechanics

A study led by Northwestern University researchers has reported a way to observe hydrogel nano and microstructure while the hydrogel remains fully solvated. The approach reveals that methylcellulose, one of the most widely ...

18 hours ago
Phys.org / Musicality is rooted in human biology, not just culture, says professor

Humans are fundamentally "musical animals"—and our capacity for music is rooted in biology, not just culture. This is the conclusion of new work by University of Amsterdam professor of Music Cognition Henkjan Honing. In ...

21 hours ago