Phys.org news

Phys.org / Since the 1980s, climate change has increasingly altered European bumblebee habitats

Global biodiversity loss is occurring at a rapid pace, driven by multiple human-caused factors, including overexploitation, pollution, invasive species and climate change. Despite increasing research on the impact of climate ...

10 hours ago
Phys.org / Brainless sea sponges use sunset to prepare for metamorphosis—and attach in 30 minutes

Well before I start collecting coats, keys or shoes, my dog always knows when we're about to leave. By picking up on subtle cues, he anticipates our next movements, reminding me he's smarter than he often shows. But anticipation ...

11 hours ago
Phys.org / Davyne changes color beyond human sight, opening path to invisible security tags

While studying the properties of hackmanite, researchers created a new material called davyne that changes color in the near-infrared region. The color change cannot be detected with the human eye, but only with a spectrometer ...

11 hours ago
Phys.org / Patent-reading AI could strengthen early warning systems for hazardous chemicals

Patents are far more than legal documents protecting intellectual property. They are a vast source of scientific information about chemicals under development, often years before they appear in products or in the environment. ...

11 hours ago
Phys.org / Can a full moon really bring bad luck? What about Friday the 13th?

Jeffrey Rosenthal was a young professor at the University of Toronto when he discovered he was born on a Friday—though not just any Friday.

12 hours ago
Phys.org / AI-driven polymer discovery could replace years of trial and error with closed-loop testing

In the realm of materials science, there is a plethora of datasets and tools at our disposal—the issue is how to effectively use these resources in harmony. Researchers at the Advanced Institute for Materials Research (WPI-AIMR), ...

12 hours ago
Phys.org / Wrinkled carbon nitride challenges flat-sheet model for photocatalyst design

Graphene is flat. But that doesn't mean other 2D materials—particularly those containing more than one element—necessarily share the same structure. In the past, researchers have often simplified these materials by modeling ...

12 hours ago
Phys.org / How hibernating squirrels retain sense of touch in the cold

For most mammals, cold suppresses neural activity and diminishes the sense of touch. But the thirteen-lined ground squirrel can detect touch in conditions as low as 4°C (39°F), about as cold as the inside of a refrigerator, ...

13 hours ago
Phys.org / Molecular snapshots reveal how bacteria assemble outer membrane proteins

Gram-negative bacteria are responsible for several infections that are hard to treat because of their high resistance to antibiotics. These bacteria possess an outermost layer called the outer membrane that acts as a protective ...

16 hours ago
Phys.org / Why doesn't Venus have a moon? A new study may have the answer

Venus is one of the solar system's most unusual planets. It may sometimes be called "Earth's twin" because of its similar size and density, but it rotates on its axis in the opposite direction of most planets, has surface ...

Sep 3, 2026
Phys.org / Salt may have helped turn Earth into a frozen world 700 million years ago

Earth may have been pushed deeper into a global deep freeze by something surprisingly ordinary: salt. Around 700 million years ago, Earth entered periods of extreme glaciation known as Snowball Earth, when ice is thought ...

Sep 3, 2026
Phys.org / Away from grand temples, a recycled Bronze Age burial mound became the focus of a Roman religious complex

The Romans were master engineers, building sprawling road networks, towering aqueducts and arenas across their empire. They were also good at recycling. New research has revealed that they turned the remains of a 4,000-year-old ...

Sep 3, 2026