Phys.org news

Phys.org / AI reveals novel nighttime feeding behaviors in right whales

Right whales forage near the water's surface at night, putting them at greater risk of potentially fatal collisions with boats, Jay Kirkham at Dalhousie University, Canada, and colleagues report Sept. 16, 2026, in the journal ...

10 hours ago
Phys.org / A 6-nanometer vapor barrier insulates ice during rapid heating

Put a drop of water into a very hot pan, and it can skitter across the surface on a cushion of vapor. This is known as the Leidenfrost effect. Now, scientists have observed a related phenomenon involving ice and an extremely ...

12 hours ago
Phys.org / Henry VIII's dissolution enforcer stashed Catholic manuscript—its lost pages have just been rediscovered

Sir John Gage, a key figure in Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries, saved a dangerous Catholic book from likely destruction, a new study suggests. The identification of six lost pages of a medieval bestseller—illicitly ...

5 hours ago
Phys.org / Spring-like porous crystals could enable chemically responsive microscale materials

Crystals are usually imagined as rigid objects with flat faces and straight edges. A research team led by the University of Osaka has recently created a porous crystal that grows into a spring-like helix. The team also found ...

12 hours ago
Phys.org / Insect remains reveal Indigenous burial practices in the Canary Islands

Archaeologists have analyzed insect remains preserved in the 7th to 9th centuries AD funerary cave of Cruz de la Esquina, Gran Canaria, and found that it was used by the island's Indigenous people for food storage before ...

5 hours ago
Phys.org / New species of egg-eating snake discovered in Ethiopia's Harenna Forest

A new species of snake that feeds exclusively on birds' eggs has been discovered in the Harenna Forest in Ethiopia, one of the last substantial tracts of natural forest left in the Horn of Africa.

14 hours ago
Phys.org / Half-billion-year-old fossils rewrite the origin story of starfish

Scientists have discovered several 518-million-year-old fossils that reshape understanding of the origins of the animal group containing starfish. The fossils show that these animals ate using tentacles rather than passively ...

13 hours ago
Phys.org / Global database reveals hidden diversity and potential of deep-sea microbes

The ocean's aphotic zone—the dark, high-pressure region below the surface, where sunlight cannot reach—is home to a vast wealth of microbial life. Yet scientists know relatively little about the genetic makeup, growth and ...

5 hours ago
Phys.org / 3D scans reveal how lichen fungi grip algae across cell walls

Lichens colonize trees and rocks all over the world. They are symbiotic communities between fungi and photosynthetically active green algae or cyanobacteria, in which both partners benefit from each other: The fungal partner ...

12 hours ago
Phys.org / Brazilian sedge reproduces sexually but without DNA reshuffling, producing genetic clones

Sexual reproduction usually reshuffles genetic information, creating offspring that differ from their parents. But one small plant takes an unexpected route. In a new study published in Nature, an international team led by ...

5 hours ago
Phys.org / A 16-minute train delay shows how a solar storm disrupted Victorian technology

A 178-year-old mystery surrounding one of the earliest recorded examples of space weather affecting technology has been solved by an international team led by Lancaster University.

15 hours ago
Phys.org / Heat-related lost labor emerges as a major cost of carbon emissions

As the climate warms, people are more exposed to heat stress, which depresses productivity and the global economy. A study from the University of California, Davis, quantifies the cost of heat stress on global labor.

13 hours ago