Phys.org news

Phys.org / Extreme weather: AI-assisted early warning system offers targeted disaster prevention

AI can assist early warning systems that predict impacts of extreme weather events such as droughts and heavy rainfall.

Jun 30, 2025 in Earth
Phys.org / Study finds online searches reduce diversity of group brainstorming ideas

When asked to brainstorm new and creative uses for a common object, many people's first instinct may be to search online and see what ideas already exist before putting pen to paper. Interestingly, doing so might come at ...

Jun 30, 2025 in Other Sciences
Phys.org / Genetic bottlenecks help explain which cholera strains become pandemic pathogens

A new study sheds light on one of the great enigmas of microbiology: why only certain strains of common bacteria become pandemic pathogens.

Jun 30, 2025 in Biology
Phys.org / Wildfire smoke app highlights risks for populations living near urban-rural borders

Earlier in 2025, wildfires in southern California killed 30 people, destroyed more than 18,000 homes and burned more than 57,000 acres. The fires were stark reminders of the threat of worsening climate change, and the increased ...

Jun 30, 2025 in Earth
Phys.org / Powerful magnets could unlock detection of high-frequency gravitational waves

New research published in Physical Review Letters suggests that superconducting magnets used in dark matter detection experiments could function as highly precise gravitational wave detectors, thereby establishing an entirely ...

Jun 28, 2025 in Astronomy & Space
Phys.org / How night lizards survived the asteroid that ended the dinosaurs

Yale University ecologists reveal a lizard lineage that rode out the dinosaur-killing asteroid event with unexpected evolutionary survival traits. Night lizards (family Xantusiidae) survived the Cretaceous–Paleogene (K-Pg) ...

Jun 28, 2025 in Biology
Phys.org / Saturday Citations: Upside-down sharks; brain network functioning in psychopaths; IQ associated with better predictions

This week, biologists discovered a new cellular organelle that's like "a new recycling center within the cell." Wild-growing tomatoes in the Galápagos are de-evolving. And geologists at the University of Southampton detected ...

Jun 28, 2025 in Other Sciences
Phys.org / Reviving Europe's historical scents—including 'the smell of hell'

Researchers are merging multidisciplinary expertise with AI tools to document, reconstruct and preserve Europe's historical scents.

Jun 28, 2025 in Chemistry
Phys.org / Team tackles support structure bottlenecks with dual-wavelength 3D printing

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers have developed a novel 3D printing technique that uses light to build complex structures, then cleanly dissolves the support material, expanding possibilities in multi-material ...

Jun 28, 2025 in Chemistry
Phys.org / First hominin fossils recovered from submerged Sundaland

The Sunda Shelf is home to a rich Pleistocene hominin fossil record, including specimens of Homo floresiensis, Homo luzonensis, Homo erectus, and archaic Homo. Much of the Sunda Shelf is submerged. At times during the Pleistocene, ...

Jun 27, 2025 in Other Sciences
Phys.org / Twisted trilayer graphene shows high kinetic inductance

Superconductivity is an advantageous physical phenomenon observed in some materials, which entails an electrical resistance of zero below specific critical temperatures. This phenomenon is known to arise following the formation ...

Jun 27, 2025 in Physics
Phys.org / Fossil fungi trapped in amber reveal ancient origin of parasitic zombie-ants

Chinese Academy of Sciences researchers report that fossilized entomopathogenic fungi from mid-Cretaceous amber reveal some of the oldest direct evidence of parasitic relationships between fungi and insects, suggesting that ...

Jun 27, 2025 in Biology