Phys.org news
Phys.org / Optical atomic clocks poised to redefine how the world measures seconds
Time is almost up on the way we track each second of the day, with optical atomic clocks set to redefine the way the world measures one second in the near future. Researchers from Adelaide University worked with the National ...
Phys.org / 'Negative viscosity' helps propel groups of migrating cells, study finds
The cells in our bodies move in groups during biological processes such as wound healing and tissue development—but because of resistance, or viscosity, those cells can't just neatly glide past each other.
Phys.org / Saturday Citations: Understanding procrastination; delicious baby sauropods; a study on musical 'pleasure chills'
This week, researchers identified the role of the brain's protein clean-up system in dementia. Fecal transplants show promising benefits in treating multiple cancer types. And biologists found that saltwater crocodiles traveled ...
Phys.org / Signs of Sir Terry Pratchett's dementia may have been hidden in his books
Signs of Sir Terry Pratchett's dementia may have been present in his writing a decade before his official diagnosis, new research has found. Researchers have examined the lexical diversity—a measure of how varied an author's ...
Phys.org / Ashwagandha is having a moment—researchers want to take this shrub further
Ashwagandha is a small shrub that's having a big moment. Used in traditional Indian medicine for thousands of years, ashwagandha is now one of the most popular herbal supplements in the U.S. because of its professed benefits ...
Phys.org / Snakes on trains: King cobras are 'hopping railways' to unsuitable habitats in India
King cobras are the world's longest venomous snakes. So, imagine seeing one a few feet away as you embark on a train in India. The Western Ghats King Cobra (Ophiophagus kaalinga)—a vulnerable king cobra species found in ...
Phys.org / Why are Tatooine planets rare? General relativity explains why binary star systems rarely host planets
Astronomers have found thousands of exoplanets around single stars, but few around binary stars—even though both types of stars are equally common. Physicists can now explain the dearth.
Phys.org / Spider spinneret evolution: How a genome duplication event 438 million years ago set the stage
Scientists have uncovered a 400-million-year-old genetic secret that gave spiders the ability to produce silk and weave their webs. Spiders didn't begin their journey on Earth in the same way as they are known today. Arthropods ...
Phys.org / Lab study suggests longer waves fracture floating ice sheets at lower stress
When waves are moving across ice-covered seas, they can cause sheets of ice to bend and ultimately break. Understanding the processes underlying these wave-induced ice fractures and predicting when they will occur could help ...
Phys.org / NASA delays the first Artemis moonshot with astronauts because of extreme cold at the launch site
NASA has delayed astronauts' upcoming trip to the moon because of near-freezing temperatures expected at the launch site.
Phys.org / How a broken DNA repair tool accelerates aging
Although DNA is tightly packed and protected within the cell nucleus, it is constantly threatened by damage from normal metabolic processes or external stressors such as radiation or chemical substances. To counteract this, ...
Phys.org / Baby dinosaurs were common prey for Late Jurassic predators, reconstructed food web suggests
Babies and very young sauropods—the long-necked, long-tailed plant-eaters that in adulthood were the largest animals to have ever walked on land—were a key food sustaining predators in the Late Jurassic, according to ...