Phys.org news
Phys.org / Analysis of Diplodocus dinosaur scales reveals possible speckled color patterning
Scientists have long been trying to reconstruct the appearance of dinosaurs. The tidbits they are able to piece together from fossils and other analysis are displayed in museums, educational materials, and media, lending ...
Phys.org / Ghostly solar neutrinos caught transforming carbon atoms deep underground
Neutrinos are one of the most mysterious particles in the universe, often called "ghost particles" because they rarely interact with anything else. Trillions stream through our bodies every second, yet leave no trace. They ...
Phys.org / Ancient humans mastered fire-making 400,000 years ago, study shows
Scientists in Britain say ancient humans may have learned to make fire far earlier than previously believed, after uncovering evidence that deliberate fire-setting took place in what is now eastern England around 400,000 ...
Phys.org / Neutrino observatories show promise for detecting light dark matter
Dark matter is an elusive type of matter that does not emit, reflect or absorb light, yet is estimated to account for most of the universe's mass. Over the past decades, many physicists worldwide have been trying to detect ...
Phys.org / Used cooking oil yields super strong glue and recyclable plastics
Plastics are made from crude oil and petroleum by-products, so a team of scientists decided to explore if they could turn waste cooking oil into a useful plastic material, and they succeeded.
Phys.org / Searchable Bronze Age site database could help answer key questions about ancient Anatolia
To boost our understanding of a little-known civilization that thrived more than 3,000 years ago, scientists have built an easy-to-use digital catalog of 483 Bronze Age sites in western Anatolia.
Phys.org / Ancient Roman officers may have kept pet monkeys to highlight their status
There were many ways in which the elites of ancient Roman society flaunted their wealth. They built vast villas, sponsored extravagant games and imported luxury goods. And military top brass, at least those stationed at an ...
Phys.org / Massive non-cool-core galaxy cluster explored with Chandra
Astronomers have employed NASA's Chandra spacecraft to perform X-ray observations of a massive galaxy cluster known as SPT-CL J0217-5014. Results of the observational campaign, published December 4 on the arXiv preprint server, ...
Phys.org / New circoviruses discovered in pilot whales and orcas from the North Atlantic
A collaborative team of researchers has identified two previously unknown circoviruses in short-finned pilot whales and orcas from the Caribbean region of the North Atlantic Ocean. The findings represent the first detection ...
Phys.org / The evolutionary mysteries of a rare parasitic plant: Shrinking plastids and strange reproductive strategies
At the base of mossy trees, deep in the mountains of Taiwan and mainland Japan or nestled in the subtropical forests of Okinawa, grows what most might mistake for a mushroom—but it is actually a very unique plant with some ...
Phys.org / Mitochondrial enzyme's atomic-level structure reveals how it processes RNA
Researchers at the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Karolinska Institutet have captured the first detailed molecular snapshots of human polynucleotide phosphorylase (hPNPase) in action, revealing how this essential ...
Phys.org / Study links vanishing of specific heats at absolute zero with principle of entropy increase
In a new publication, Professor José-María Martín-Olalla, from the Department of Condensed Matter Physics at the University of Seville, has described the direct link between the vanishing of specific heats at absolute ...