Phys.org news

Phys.org / Humans reshape predator-prey rules across food webs, creating a challenging new world for wildlife

The relationship between predators and prey in the wild is underscored by an evolutionary arms race spanning millions of years, but new research has found modern human activity is reshaping the rules.

15 hours ago
Phys.org / Forever chemical reaches fish before they even hatch, new study reveals

There is a forever chemical lurking in the world's oceans that could be fundamentally altering the biology of marine life before it even hatches. PFOS, a notorious member of the PFAS family of chemicals, is known for its ...

16 hours ago
Phys.org / 'Atom Camera' maps laser light at nanoscale using a single ultracold atom

A research group led by Assistant Professor Takafumi Tomita and Professor Kenji Ohmori at the Institute for Molecular Science, National Institutes of Natural Sciences, has developed a new microscopy technique called the Atom ...

21 hours ago
Phys.org / Green stones buried with Panama's ancient chiefs confirmed as Colombian emeralds

More than 1,000 years ago, Panama elites were buried together with translucent green stones long suspected to be emeralds. However, scientific analysis confirming the suspicion has never been conducted. Now, scientists have ...

May 28, 2026
Phys.org / The solar wind's secret hammerheads and what they tell us about heat in space

The proton sharks showed up on a Friday. In a routine data calibration meeting for NASA's Parker Solar Probe in 2020, a small group of scientists were scrolling through visualizations of their data showing solar winds. Suddenly, ...

May 28, 2026
Phys.org / How bean plants call on wasps for help when hungry caterpillars attack

Some plants are not the sitting ducks they appear to be when they come under attack. If a hungry caterpillar starts to chomp on the succulent leaves of a common bean plant, a highly sophisticated defense system kicks into ...

May 28, 2026
Phys.org / Bare supercontinent may have tipped ancient Earth into 'Snowball' phase

About a billion years ago, Earth started to come into its own. It was past the awkwardness of its younger years full of growing pains and turmoil: comet strikes and slimy water, including the Great Oxidation Event that flipped ...

May 28, 2026
Phys.org / Electrical pulses reverse aging in sea squirts, offering clues for extending human longevity

A tiny sea creature might hold the secret to reversing the aging process. When treated with a brief series of electrical pulses, sea squirts experience dramatic and long-lasting health improvements that can significantly ...

May 28, 2026
Phys.org / The generation of massive Schrödinger cat states using ultracold atoms

Quantum mechanics is a physics framework that describes how matter and energy behave at an extremely small scale, specifically at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles. An effect predicted by the laws of quantum mechanics ...

May 28, 2026
Phys.org / Heron-like, fish-eating dinosaur from 70 million years ago discovered in Argentina

A new raptor-like dinosaur from some 70 million years ago that ate fish and behaved like modern herons has been unearthed from southern Patagonia. The new species, which has been named Kank australis, was identified based ...

May 28, 2026
Phys.org / Hailstorms could grow more dangerous and damaging with climate change

Hailstorms can be incredibly dangerous, posing risks to life and property. Then there's the economic damage to cars, crops, and infrastructure caused by large balls of ice falling at high speed from the sky. And the problems ...

May 28, 2026
Phys.org / Ripples in fire-ant collectives suggest motions are driven by neighbor alignments

Researchers in Spain have discovered that in collectives of moving fire ants, rippling "waves" of density and activity are likely triggered by local regions where ants collectively travel in the same direction as their neighbors.

May 28, 2026