Phys.org news

Phys.org / Sound waves reconstruct Alaska fireball path after cameras miss key details

When a bright fireball streaked across the Alaska sky last spring, the usual tools scientists rely on to track such events—cameras and satellites—did not provide a detailed picture. But the meteoroid left behind something ...

16 hours ago
Phys.org / Layered ZnPS₃ emits single photons, opening new path for quantum chips

Scientists from the Faculty of Physics at the University of Warsaw, in collaboration with teams from the National University of Singapore and Radboud University in the Netherlands, have observed single-photon emission from ...

15 hours ago
Phys.org / Mice actively seek better views to make visual decisions, virtual reality experiments show

Animals don't experience the world passively. A hawk tilts its head to track prey. A person leans forward to read a sign. Scientists call this "active sensing": moving the body to gather better information. A specific version ...

16 hours ago
Phys.org / A cataclysmic collision in space provides new clues on astronomy's biggest stalemate

Second only to black holes, neutron stars—incredibly dense star remnants—are the densest objects in the universe. When neutron stars collide, they create ripples in the fabric of space and time that we can detect on Earth.

18 hours ago
Phys.org / Extreme droughts in the rainforest reduce important feedback between soil and atmosphere, study finds

Isoprene is a volatile organic compound (VOC) that is produced naturally by plants. More than 500 megatonnes of isoprene are emitted each year into Earth's atmosphere, primarily from tropical forests. Soils are recognized ...

15 hours ago
Phys.org / Tiny ancient fish fossil with preserved brain offers clues to early fish evolution

Over 300 million years ago, a minnow-sized fish died and fell to the bottom of a prehistoric swamp near the village of Trawden, Lancashire, in northwest England. The remains of this tiny fish—known as Trawdenia planti—became ...

19 hours ago
Phys.org / 'Atomic zoom' brings gum disease bacteria into sharp focus

The technology at the center of the growing "resolution revolution" has again shown its value to scientists at Yale by revealing the secrets of gum disease.

17 hours ago
Phys.org / Computer scientists develop a new AI tool that rivals AlphaFold 3 in mapping RNA

The same family of artificial intelligence that powers today's image generators is now being aimed at one of biology's hardest puzzles: the ever-changing, three-dimensional shapes of RNA. These are the molecules behind mRNA ...

17 hours ago
Phys.org / The largest digital camera ever built begins decade-long survey of the universe

The largest digital camera ever built is starting to capture images of unseen corners of the universe.

20 hours ago
Phys.org / 3D genome analysis of germ cell formation tracks 350 million years of vertebrate evolution

A research team led by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) has revealed how the genome is reorganized in 3D during male germ cell formation in vertebrates, leading to important new insights into how biodiversity is ...

16 hours ago
Phys.org / Houston power plant emerges as dominant source of cloud-forming aerosols

Research by atmospheric scientists at UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography and colleagues pinpointed an individual coal-fired power plant in Houston as the main source of particles most likely to encourage the ...

20 hours ago
Phys.org / Why some wolves react more strongly to trespassers: Breeders may hold key to scent-based barriers

Wolves use their urine to communicate with each other. A recent study looked at the reactions of a pack to the marking of an intruder. This is a first step toward understanding what attracts or repels canids.

17 hours ago