Phys.org news
Phys.org / Wolves around the world have evolved different skull shapes—humans are also shaping their evolution
A new international study led by researchers at the University of Oulu, Finland, shows that wolves living in different parts of the world are not anatomically identical. Their skulls differ in shape and size according to ...
Phys.org / AI faces trusted more than faces of real people, warn researchers
Images of faces created by artificial intelligence (AI) are seen as more trustworthy than images of genuine faces, researchers say, warning of the risks of online fraud and other harms. This is the first study to examine ...
Phys.org / Evidence of elusive high-energy gravitons in quantum Hall systems
Electrons, negatively charged particles, sometimes coordinate their movements in ways that produce certain collective excitations referred to as quasiparticles. One case in which this occurs is the quantum Hall effect, a ...
Phys.org / Metallic rutile oxides break the rules of cooling
Physicists have long puzzled over a strange contradiction inside a family of minerals called rutile oxides. These materials all share the same crystal structure—but while some of them, like titanium dioxide, are firmly insulating, ...
Phys.org / JWST finds the most distant barred galaxy candidate in the early universe
Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have identified what may be the most distant barred spiral galaxy ever discovered, dating to a time less than 1.2 billion years after the Big Bang. The paper outlining its ...
Phys.org / 'Cosmic wallflowers' may hold the key to the origin of globular clusters
Astronomers using computer simulations have investigated whether a class of star clusters nicknamed "cosmic wallflowers" could be the long-sought ancestors of the globular clusters we see orbiting galaxies today. Their paper, ...
Phys.org / Scientists just measured the smallest possible contacts for future computer chips
The rise of AI has created an almost insatiable appetite for computing power. Training and running AI systems requires vast numbers of transistors, and engineers are now racing to pack more of them onto every chip. With their ...
Phys.org / Researchers break a fundamental rule to create a new concept: Heat that can be directed and 'programmed'
Normally, a material absorbs and emits heat in a linked way: A surface that absorbs heat well at a certain wavelength and direction will also emit heat in the same way. This fundamental relationship, known as reciprocity, ...
Phys.org / Scientists enable DNA synthesis using only temperature instead of chemical reagents
"Complex chemical processes are essential for making DNA." This long-held assumption in the field of biotechnology has been overturned by a Korean research team. A KAIST research team has developed the world's first foundational ...
Phys.org / Massive calving episode in Greenland may foreshadow more rapid ice sheet loss
In November 2025, a study led by Adrien Wehrlé, a researcher in the Department of Geography at the University of Zürich, Switzerland, looked at the massive calving response of one of West Greenland's active glaciers, Sermeq ...
Phys.org / Ancient rocks reveal how water reshaped Earth's interior 3.1 billion years ago
Geologists studying some of the planet's oldest volcanic rocks have uncovered new evidence that water was playing a major role in shaping Earth's interior and driving volcanic activity more than 3 billion years ago.
Phys.org / Watching how molecules change shape in slow motion could inform future molecular machines
Researchers at the Nano Life Science Institute (WPI-NanoLSI) at Kanazawa University, the Institute for Molecular Science and SOKENDAI have uncovered the hidden mechanism behind a molecular switch—a molecule that can change ...