Phys.org news

Phys.org / Divergent moral values could make groups more accepting of norm-breaking behavior

Individuals in a morally diverse community tend to believe that the community's norms are looser. In turn, norm violations are more accepted, and there is a reduced willingness to police transgressions, according to research ...

10 hours ago
Phys.org / Riding the quantum wave: Quasiparticles reveal a magneto-optical transport phenomenon

Excitons are being explored in materials science and information technology as a means of storing light. These luminous quasiparticles move through individual layers of quantum materials and can absorb and emit light with ...

11 hours ago
Phys.org / A huge tectonic boundary shook the ground where dinosaurs once stood

Scientists have discovered a Jurassic tectonic plate boundary that could help to predict what the planet might look like millions of years into the future. Dr. Jordan Phethean, Senior Lecturer in Earth Sciences at the University ...

10 hours ago
Phys.org / Tiny songbird crosses Sahara by flying night after night

Every year a small songbird, no heavier than a letter, crosses the Sahara Desert, the Mediterranean and the Arabian Desert on its migration. New research from Lund University in Sweden now reveals how the tiny bird manages ...

11 hours ago
Phys.org / Common soil fungus could cut pesticide use while helping tomatoes grow stronger

Trichoderma species—a common fungus found in soils—have varying abilities to promote tomato plant growth and differentially affect the abundance of certain soil bacteria, according to a study led by researchers at Penn State.

11 hours ago
Phys.org / Nuclear war at Ukraine-Russia border could trigger years of global climate disruption and radioactive fallout

Geopolitical tensions in Eastern Europe underscore the urgency of addressing the climate and radiological consequences of a regional nuclear conflict. Even a small-scale nuclear conflict at the Ukraine–Russia border could ...

16 hours ago
Phys.org / Room to move: Neutron scattering shows how proteins behave in crowded environments

Proteins are essential molecules in living systems. They move, interact and organize themselves to carry out a wide range of functions, from helping cells communicate to forming structures inside the cell. In many cases, ...

11 hours ago
Phys.org / 3I/ATLAS contains 30 times more semi-heavy water than comets in our solar system

New observations of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS include the first measurement of the abundance of deuterated water relative to ordinary water in an interstellar object. Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter ...

14 hours ago
Phys.org / E. coli editing technique expands into a universal toolkit for rewriting bacterial DNA

The ability to precisely edit the genomes of bacteria has long been a goal of microbiologists. Such technology would enable scientists to make new inroads into studying disease, developing sustainable materials, and fighting ...

11 hours ago
Phys.org / Atomic-level snapshots reveal how a key copper enzyme powers nature's chemistry

Researchers from the University of Liverpool, Japan, and Argentina have captured atomic-resolution images of an important copper-containing enzyme using advanced X-ray Free Electron Laser (XFEL) technology at SACLA in Japan. ...

11 hours ago
Phys.org / Brazil unearths a bizarre beaked reptile with a trans-Atlantic prehistoric link

Paleontologists from the Federal University of Santa Maria (UFSM) have published a new study in the scientific journal Royal Society Open Science, in which they describe a new species based on a fossil skull approximately ...

13 hours ago
Phys.org / Scientists discover how the Twelve Apostles were formed—and their real age

Scientists at the University of Melbourne have uncovered for the first time how Australia's iconic Twelve Apostles were formed, finding tectonic plate movements over millions of years lifted and tilted the giant structures ...

17 hours ago