Phys.org news
Phys.org / A pair of spacecraft draw closer to Mercury after nearly decade-long voyage
Two Mercury-bound spacecraft left their mother ship behind on Thursday and headed down the home stretch of their nearly decade-long voyage to the solar system's smallest and closest-to-the-sun planet.
Phys.org / Antarctic expedition reveals why Southern Ocean clouds remain one of climate science's greatest challenges
The Southern Ocean plays a pivotal role in regulating Earth's climate, yet the clouds that blanket this remote region remain among the least understood features in atmospheric science. By controlling both incoming sunlight ...
Phys.org / The biggest black hole merger ever observed could be less massive than it appears
Gravitational waves are ripples in spacetime created when pairs of black holes spiral into each other and eventually merge. But if this ripple has been warped by another massive object on its way to Earth, a new analysis ...
Phys.org / How a plant's refusal to self-pollinate could help India grow more of its own cooking oil
Most people assume plants reproduce through whatever pollen happens to land on them. This is not true. A collaborative research initiative involving the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IITGN) has mapped and functionally ...
Phys.org / Traces of nearly 4 million coins reveal how Rome achieved economic integration
For centuries, the study of ancient history relied primarily on interpreting classical texts and examining inscriptions and archaeological remains at their sites of origin or in museums. In recent years, however, a little-known ...
Phys.org / Completing the connectome: How pursuing a map of the fly brain rewired neuroscience
When researchers at HHMI's Janelia Research Campus set out to create a map of all the neurons in the fruit fly brain in 2008, many in the scientific community thought they were out of their minds.
Phys.org / Tiny fossils reveal big insights about ant ancestors
Two tiny ant fossils recovered in southern Saskatchewan are helping scientists better understand the evolutionary history of modern ants. Ant fossils dating from 72–56 million years ago are rare. What happened to insects ...
Phys.org / AI suggests new physics experiments that could outperform human-designed setups
Research means asking questions of the universe. For centuries, clever minds have advanced science by devising ingenious experiments designed so their results reveal something about the laws of nature as clearly and unambiguously ...
Phys.org / Iron helped scientists trace Earth's oxygen. Now it's telling a bigger story
For decades, scientists have studied iron preserved in ancient rocks to reconstruct how Earth's oceans and atmosphere became rich in oxygen. A new study suggests iron has recorded other major transformations too.
Phys.org / How an unassuming wildflower thrives in salt-laden air that kills other plants
On the windswept coasts of Oregon and California lives an unassuming little plant that can withstand salty blasts that kill its inland counterparts. It's called the yellow monkeyflower. Now, researchers are beginning to understand ...
Phys.org / Soft nanoscale confinement prevents ice, exposing water's liquid-to-glass transition
An international collaboration of researchers has used ANSTO's facilities to uncover new properties of one of the most fundamental everyday materials, water, and answer an important scientific question. The findings, published ...
Phys.org / Neutron bone imaging brings T. rex to life
A broken rib from Scotty, the largest T. rex skeleton discovered, is helping scientists uncover new information about life on Earth 66 million years ago. Scotty's rib preserves something rarely seen in the fossil record: ...
