Phys.org news
Phys.org / Label-free technique unlocks secrets of bacterial shape-shifting
Scientists have long known that bacteria come in many shapes and sizes, but understanding what those differences mean has remained a major challenge, especially for species that can't be grown in the lab.
Phys.org / Searching for landslide clues in seismic signals from Alaska's Barry Arm
Since 2020, the Barry Landslide in Alaska's Prince William Sound has been outfitted with instruments monitoring seismic signals from the area, as researchers hope to catch a destructive, tsunami-generating landslide before ...
Phys.org / Natural language found more complex than it strictly needs to be—and for good reason
Human languages are complex phenomena. Around 7,000 languages are spoken worldwide, some with only a handful of remaining speakers, while others, such as Chinese, English, Spanish and Hindi, are spoken by billions. Despite ...
Phys.org / Physicists create 'quantum wire' where mass and energy flow without friction or loss
In physical systems, transport takes many forms, such as electric current through a wire, heat through metal, or even water through a pipe. Each of these flows can be described by how easily the underlying quantity—charge, ...
Phys.org / Ancient dirty dishes reveal decades of questionable findings
Olive oil is the Swiss army knife of foodstuffs. It can dress salads, sauté vegetables, even grease squeaky hinges. And for archaeologists, its ubiquitous presence in excavated pottery offers a window into the economic, ...
Phys.org / Monkeys have rhythm and can tap along to the beat (with a little help from the Backstreet Boys)
They may not yet be kings of the swingers, but macaque monkeys can keep time to music and move to the beat. Well, at least two adult macaques can, who were trained by researchers to tap along to different kinds of music. ...
Phys.org / Humans first entered Australia 60,000 years ago via two routes, DNA analysis suggests
Debate has long surrounded when humans first traveled into Sahul, the ancient landmass that is now Australia, New Guinea and Tasmania. Now, a study published in Science Advances, lends credence to the theory that the first ...
Phys.org / Close brush with two hot stars millions of years ago left a mark just beyond our solar system
Nearly 4.5 million years ago, two large, hot stars brushed tantalizingly close to Earth's sun. They left behind a trace in the clouds of gas and dust that swirl just beyond our solar system—almost like the scent of perfume ...
Phys.org / New digital state of matter could help build stable quantum computers
Scientists have taken another major step toward creating stable quantum computers. Using a specialized quantum computer chip (an essential component of a quantum computer) as a kind of tiny laboratory, a team led by Pan Jianwei ...
Phys.org / Detecting strong-to-weak symmetry breaking might be impossible, study shows
When a system undergoes a transformation, yet an underlying physical property remains unchanged, this property is referred to as "symmetry." Spontaneous symmetry breaking (SSB) occurs when a system breaks out of this symmetry ...
Phys.org / New discoveries reveal Tell Abraq's role in ancient Persian Gulf trade
If there were a place that could be called the archaeological almanac of Saudi Arabian culture, it would be Tell Abraq, located on the west coast of the United Arab Emirates. This area contains traces of every cultural phase ...
Phys.org / Bipolar planetary nebula reveals rare open cluster association
By analyzing the data from the SuperCOSMOS Hα Survey (SHS) and from the Gaia satellite, astronomers have inspected a bipolar planetary nebula designated PHR J1724-3859. Results of the study, published Nov. 19 on the arXiv ...
