Phys.org news
Phys.org / If birds are fancy dancers, are they smarter, too?
Does a male bird with a long and complex courtship dance have superior cognitive abilities? Simply put, is a talented dancer a smarter bird? To answer the question, researchers at Université de Montréal studied the zebra ...
Phys.org / Catching a scramblase in the act could pave the way to improved blood disorder and cancer treatments
Weill Cornell Medicine investigators have revealed the detailed workings of a cell membrane protein that has essential roles in all animals. The discovery could lead to new therapeutic strategies for blood coagulation disorders, ...
Phys.org / A student-led experiment sets new limits in the search for axions
In the era of precision cosmology, research often means big science: large observatories, highly complex instruments, international collaborations and substantial funding. Yet even in such an advanced field, progress is still ...
Phys.org / Monumental ship burial beneath ancient Norwegian mound predates the Viking Age
Monumental ship burials in Scandinavia may have started around a century earlier than previously thought, according to a paper published in the journal Antiquity. It reports the discovery of the remains of a 1,300-year-old ...
Phys.org / Weighing in on the mystery of the gravitational constant
The time had come to open the envelope, but Stephan Schlamminger, a physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), wasn't sure he wanted to know the secret number that lay inside. For the past 10 ...
Phys.org / Navigating the past with ancient stone compass needles
Magnetic rocks with iron oxide concentrations act as natural chroniclers of Earth's past continental movements. Using small samples of rocks, scientists can isolate magnetic grains that were frozen in orientation as the rock ...
Phys.org / Looking deep inside quarks: CMS test probes to 10⁻²⁰ meters and finds no inner structure
According to our current understanding of the universe, quarks are fundamental, point-like particles: basic building blocks that are not made up of smaller particles. A recent paper from the CMS Collaboration describes how ...
Phys.org / Baby Neanderthals may have had a rapid growth spurt compared to modern babies
Baby Neanderthals may have been much larger and grown much more quickly than their modern Homo sapiens counterparts, according to a new study of the most intact Neanderthal infant skeleton. Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) ...
Phys.org / Titan's lakes may spawn 10-foot waves in gentle winds, new model suggests
On a calm day, a light breeze might barely ripple the surface of a lake on Earth. But on Saturn's largest moon, Titan, a similar mild wind would kick up 10-foot-tall waves. This otherworldly behavior is one prediction from ...
Phys.org / Laser-plasma accelerator drives free-electron laser for record 8 hours
For the first time, researchers have demonstrated that a laser-plasma accelerator can reliably drive a free-electron laser for more than eight hours. Published in Physical Review Accelerators and Beams, the result was achieved ...
Phys.org / Atlantic current system could be weakening faster than expected
The Atlantic current system, or more formally the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), is more likely to weaken than previously thought. That's the conclusion of a new study published in the journal Science ...
Phys.org / Monkeys navigate a virtual forest with thought alone, pushing brain-computer interfaces beyond the lab
As a part of a study testing out a new type of implanted brain-computer interface (BCI), three rhesus monkeys controlled movements in a virtual reality (VR) world using only brain signals. The study, published in Science ...
