Phys.org news
Phys.org / AI reveals hidden San Andreas Fault movements
When people think about geological faults, they usually think about earthquakes. Yet faults do not move only during earthquakes. Sometimes they slip silently, without generating noticeable shaking, releasing stress over hours ...
Phys.org / Fossils found decades ago reveal extinct 3.5 million-year-old giant salamander species
In the late 1990s in the Ajimu region of Japan's Oita Prefecture, researchers discovered three fossilized vertebrae belonging to the Cryptobranchidae family of giant salamanders. These were embedded in the Tsubusugawa Formation, ...
Phys.org / AI identifies new particle models that may explain neutrinos' tiny mass
Physicists at the University of California, Irvine, have developed an artificial intelligence system that can autonomously design theoretical physics models, a task traditionally carried out by human theorists. The approach ...
Phys.org / Ancient rocks reveal Earth's past warm periods were cooler than thought
Earth's temperature has been much cooler in the past than previously thought, meaning it could be moving toward the warmest it's ever been.
Phys.org / Carbon–bismuth bonds reveal that relativity blurs the textbook line between sigma and pi bonds
Brown University chemists have provided direct evidence that upends the textbook explanation of how triple chemical bonds work in heavy elements. In a study published in Science, the researchers show evidence that when atomic ...
Phys.org / Programmable light simulates quantum matter across 300 processes without bigger circuits
A team of researchers at the University of Ottawa and its Nexus for Quantum Technologies Institute, in collaboration with researchers from Federico II University in Italy, has developed a programmable quantum simulator that ...
Phys.org / The real Moana story: Why the Polynesians suddenly sailed east
Major drought forced people to migrate across the Pacific beyond Samoa and Tonga and toward the Americas, scientists have discovered. With the new live-action "Moana" film hitting cinemas, a team of geographers and climate ...
Phys.org / Shackleton's final ship is no longer just a sonar shadow
An expedition led by the Royal Canadian Geographical Society in partnership with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution has obtained the first close-up images of the wreck of Quest, the last ship of famed Antarctic explorer ...
Phys.org / Quantum optics may turn this rare visual phenomenon into an eye test
Modern life depends on quantum physics. It makes technologies such as GPS navigation, MRI scanners and computer chips possible. Now, the same science may also lead to a new way to test the health of our eyes. A University ...
Phys.org / Krill buildup could slow fin whale filter-feeding unless baleen stays 15% clear
Usually there's safety in numbers, but it doesn't always work that way. Fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus) filter-feed on immense shoals of krill, engulfing colossal mouthfuls of water containing up to 144 kg of the crustaceans. ...
Phys.org / Observing oscillations, flares and tornados on the sun
For six and a half days in July 2024, the balloon-borne solar observatory Sunrise III kept its gaze fixed on the sun. The stratospheric flight, which stretched from the northernmost tip of Sweden to Canada's Northwest Territories, ...
Phys.org / Medieval Islamic societies considered lovesickness a distinct mental illness, research shows
Lovesickness was taken seriously as a distinct mental illness by physicians in the medieval Islamic world, new research shows. Islamic scholars considered lovesickness, which they called ʿishq, to be different from melancholy—unlike ...
