Phys.org news

Phys.org / Mystery of 17th century shipwreck holding 400 gold coins finally solved after 30 years

The identity of a centuries-old shipwreck discovered off the south coast of England, holding 400 gold coins, has finally been identified as the Dutch trading ship "Dom van Keulen," which left Morocco for the Netherlands in ...

11 hours ago
Phys.org / Energetic neutral atoms may help map Uranus's odd magnetic environment

Sending a spacecraft to the underexplored planet Uranus is at the top of many planetary scientists' wish lists. But which spacecraft-mounted instruments would be most useful for answering questions about the mysterious ice ...

4 hours ago
Phys.org / Out-of-equilibrium cesium atoms reveal fractional Fermi seas, exposing new critical quantum phase

In a new study published in Physical Review Letters, a team from the Nägerl group, together with theory collaborator Alvise Bastianello from the CNRS and the Université Paris-Dauphine, demonstrates that highly unusual quantum ...

10 hours ago
Phys.org / World's highest-consuming 10% cause up to $5.7 trillion a year in environmental damage, study finds

The environmental damage caused by the world's highest-consuming 10% of people is worth $1.7 trillion to $5.7 trillion a year. At the central and upper estimates, this is several times more than the international community ...

11 hours ago
Phys.org / What if there is no one to farm? Scientists reveal a hidden risk to future food security

The cause of future food shortages may not be a lack of farmland, but a shortage of agricultural workers. Amid low birth rates and rural decline, a joint international research team from KAIST has developed a new data-driven ...

11 hours ago
Phys.org / Electrically tunable spin polarization in graphene opens path toward low-power spintronic devices

Researchers at the National Graphene Institute, in collaboration with the National University of Singapore, have shown that the magnetic behavior of electrons in graphene can be precisely controlled using electricity, revealing ...

4 hours ago
Phys.org / How to train your magnet: Excitons as a new knob for magnetic control

Scientists can learn a lot about a quantum material by watching how it responds to light. In magnetic semiconductors, one especially useful messenger is the exciton: a pairing of a negatively charged electron and the positively ...

10 hours ago
Phys.org / Circular polarization could cut laser backscatter in fusion experiments

Experiments at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's National Ignition Facility (NIF) require breathtaking precision. Each of the 192 lasers is focused to a width of a few millimeters to enter a 3-millimeter hole at the ...

5 hours ago
Phys.org / How do flocking birds and schools of fish move? New research offers crystal-clear answer

Flocking birds and schools of fish are a familiar sight. While previous research has uncovered the broad dynamics driving these movements, their underlying intricacies remain a mystery. Now a study by a team of New York University ...

11 hours ago
Phys.org / Shell too snug? Hermit crabs have a fix

For decades, biologists have known that hermit crabs forced to live in shells that are too small slow their growth. What wasn't clear was how they did it. New research suggests the answer isn't simply that the crabs eat less. ...

11 hours ago
Phys.org / Suburban street design has driven emissions since WWII, study suggests

Half of all Americans live in the suburbs. For decades, planners and policymakers have blamed suburban sprawl's environmental and social costs on one thing: distance. The farther people live from city centers, the more they ...

5 hours ago
Phys.org / Famous 'Pink Planet' harbors a salty surprise

Northwestern University-led astronomers have discovered salty skies surrounding the universe's famous "Pink Planet." For more than a decade, the ancient, rosy-hazed world kept astronomers guessing. One of the coldest known ...

12 hours ago