Phys.org news

Phys.org / Permafrost melt could cost $261 billion in infrastructure damages, study suggests

A new study provides insight into the economic impact of melting permafrost on Arctic communities. Permafrost is ground that permanently remains below freezing for at least two consecutive years. Permafrost covers about 24% ...

6 hours ago
Phys.org / Quantum-optical spin glass could improve how AI remembers and learns

A new study has demonstrated that it is possible to make a network of atoms and photons that could improve how artificial intelligence stores and recalls memories. This network, called a quantum-optical spin glass, works ...

6 hours ago
Phys.org / BESIII sets world's most stringent direct limit on Lambda hyperon electric dipole moment

The BESIII Collaboration, led by the Institute of High Energy Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has achieved the world's most precise measurement of the electric dipole moment (EDM) of the Lambda (Λ) hyperon using ...

6 hours ago
Phys.org / The biggest black hole merger ever observed could be less massive than it appears

Gravitational waves are ripples in spacetime created when pairs of black holes spiral into each other and eventually merge. But if this ripple has been warped by another massive object on its way to Earth, a new analysis ...

11 hours ago
Phys.org / Predictive tools can confuse rare mutations with dangerous ones

When a patient's DNA is read, it is compared with a reference version of the human genome. This allows geneticists and rare disease experts to look at a list of places where the patient's DNA differs. Most variations will ...

3 hours ago
Phys.org / Rising species numbers on Europe's mountaintops may mask increasing losses of high-elevation plant specialists

Decades of warming have relaxed cold-temperature constraints on mountain plant distribution and increased species numbers on mountaintops. An international research team led by scientists from the University of Vienna, together ...

6 hours ago
Phys.org / Pigment found in beets linked to plants' adaptation to harsh environments

The pigments that give beets their red color may have helped a major group of flowering plants repeatedly adapt to dry environments, setting the stage for the evolution of traits that allowed plants to adapt to some of the ...

6 hours ago
Phys.org / Completing the connectome: How pursuing a map of the fly brain rewired neuroscience

When researchers at HHMI's Janelia Research Campus set out to create a map of all the neurons in the fruit fly brain in 2008, many in the scientific community thought they were out of their minds.

9 hours ago
Phys.org / Traces of nearly 4 million coins reveal how Rome achieved economic integration

For centuries, the study of ancient history relied primarily on interpreting classical texts and examining inscriptions and archaeological remains at their sites of origin or in museums. In recent years, however, a little-known ...

3 hours ago
Phys.org / Ig Nobel Prize winners reveal why babies smell better than teenagers

Babies smell wonderful—at least to their parents. An international research team of Ilona Croy, Tomasz Frackowiak, Thomas Hummel and Agnieszka Sorokowska investigated why teenagers lose this special olfactory advantage and ...

3 hours ago
Phys.org / Neutron bone imaging brings T. rex to life

A broken rib from Scotty, the largest T. rex skeleton discovered, is helping scientists uncover new information about life on Earth 66 million years ago. Scotty's rib preserves something rarely seen in the fossil record: ...

7 hours ago
Phys.org / Metabolic networks provide clues about the earliest stages of enzyme evolution

The enzymes found in modern organisms are complex proteins, often with multiple folded substructures and specialized catalytic sites. Proteins are encoded by genes. Tracing the history of enzymes across all living organisms ...

6 hours ago