Phys.org news

Phys.org / Evolutionary home advantage: Field experiment reveals adaptation to be surprisingly local

A research team from the University of Bern has shown in a large-scale field experiment that populations of the same fish species can be much more fine-tuned to their local environments than previously thought. Habitats that ...

8 hours ago
Phys.org / Snail shells are surprise weather time capsules

Snails carry weather records on their backs that could be used to map prehistoric cyclones, a University of Queensland study has shown. The project led by School of the Environment researchers examined the rings on the shell ...

9 hours ago
Phys.org / Pollinators keep a later calendar in human-modified landscapes, study finds

Human development may be changing more than where pollinators live—it may also be changing when they are active. University of Florida researchers at the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) have found that ...

9 hours ago
Phys.org / Tiny 'whirlpools' discovered in atom-thin semiconductor

Monash University-led researchers have directly imaged tiny swirling structures inside an atomically thin semiconductor, opening new possibilities for future low-energy electronic technologies. Published in Science Advances, ...

10 hours ago
Phys.org / RNA 'delivery tags' guide key messages to distant neuron branches

Much like a courier reading an address on a package, neurons must deliver RNA to the precise locations where it is needed. A KAIST research team has discovered how a small chemical modification on RNA acts as a "delivery ...

10 hours ago
Phys.org / Improved climate forecasts alone won't protect Africa's poorest farmers

As Africa prepares for the arrival of a powerful El Niño weather event, an international team of researchers led by the University of Sydney and Imperial College London has found that access to improved forecasts alone will ...

14 hours ago
Phys.org / No cities on the moon—there isn't enough water, scientists say

The discovery of water in dark craters at the moon's poles has sparked a "moon rush" to establish bases there, followed by villages, cities and heavy industry. How sustainable is this rush?

19 hours ago
Phys.org / Luminescence dating pushes age of South Dakota's Mammoth Site back by more than 100,000 years

Deep within an ancient sinkhole lie the remains of dozens of mammoths, prehistoric wanderers who waded into the warm springs to their deaths. These deaths had long been accepted as having occurred roughly 26,000 years ago, ...

Sep 13, 2026
Phys.org / Gravitational-wave analysis narrows the search for black hole impostors

Black holes are regions of spacetime where gravity is so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape. When two black holes orbit each other and merge, they produce gravitational waves (i.e., ripples in spacetime) that ...

Sep 13, 2026
Phys.org / AI helps microscopes find the most informative nanoscale features in a sample

Researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have developed an artificial intelligence framework that helps researchers use atomic force microscopes to identify important nanoscale features ...

Sep 13, 2026
Phys.org / Researchers pinpoint key early-universe measurement with record precision

An international team, including researchers from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, has reached a major milestone in "precision cosmology" by measuring the amount of helium created in the universe's first five minutes ...

Sep 13, 2026
Phys.org / AI automates 3D membrane mapping, matching manual results in a fraction of time

Cell membranes and the proteins within them control many vital processes and play a key role in health and disease. But studying them in 3D images of cells has so far meant slow, manual work. A team from Helmholtz Munich, ...

Sep 13, 2026