Phys.org news

The possibility of life on other planets is one of the biggest mysteries in science. But what would happen if we actually found it? Our scientists are preparing for this possibility by helping to develop a new system that ...

For people living in some parts of the United States, their accent might not just indicate where they live, but also who they think they are. In a small study in rural northwestern Ohio, researchers found that men who had ...

Every year, the countries competing in the International Mathematical Olympiad arrive with a booklet of their best, most original problems. Those booklets get shared among delegations, then quietly disappear. No one had ever ...

A new theoretical study finds shorter laser pulses achieve higher quantum efficiency for photoemission from a solid surface without increasing power or intensity. Using light to knock electrons loose from a surface—known ...

Georges Cuvier, the 19th-century French anatomist who first recognized pterodactyls as flying reptiles, wrote that "of all the beings whose ancient existence has been revealed to us, [they are] the most extraordinary."

Imagine ordering a truffle dish in a fancy restaurant, and you might picture pricey gourmet mushrooms from France or Italy. But recent decades have seen an upstart on the truffle scene. Today, one of the world's largest producers ...

A research team with scientists from MARUM—Center for Marine Environmental Sciences at the University of Bremen studied the hemispheric origin of Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) and found a high Southern Hemispheric contribution ...

University of California San Diego researchers have developed a new tool for understanding and modifying any microbiome, including the human microbiome. The approach, called Microbial Interaction and Niche Determination (MIND), ...

Heat is a ubiquitous form of energy that, unlike others, is notoriously difficult to store due to its natural tendency to dissipate. While this property is essential for phenomena like solar energy reaching Earth, it also ...

Today, I want to walk you through a deceptively simple innovation from the lab at Loughborough University (PI: Prof Marco Peccianti): what happens when we decorate a spintronic heterostructure with a sparse layer of plasmonic ...

Maintaining connections between natural habitats may support beneficial microbes that help wildlife defend against disease. In a new study of tropical amphibians, a team led by Penn State biologists found that amphibians ...

Scientists have discovered that deep-water corals in the Galapagos region vanished for more than 1,000 years before eventually recovering. The findings reveal that deep-water coral ecosystems may be more susceptible to climate ...