Phys.org news

Scientists have discovered a giant black hole that they believe may have been formed in the first few microseconds after the Big Bang. The black hole is so huge that it may change our understanding of how these cosmic giants ...

Using the upgraded Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (uGMRT), astronomers have performed radio observations of the Ophiuchus galaxy cluster. Results of the observations, published August 26 in The Astrophysical Journal, deliver ...

Methane (CH₄), the colorless and odorless gas that makes up most natural gas on Earth, has so far been converted into useful fuels and chemicals via energy-intensive processes that need to be carried out at high temperatures. ...

Astronomers from Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea, and elsewhere report the discovery of a new isolated early-type dwarf galaxy, which appears to have run away from the group environment. The finding is detailed in ...

Materials scientists from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) have invented the world's first pollen-based sunscreen derived from Camellia flowers.

Researchers from the University of California San Diego Sanford Stem Cell Institute have discovered that spaceflight accelerates the aging of human hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs), which are vital for blood ...

Male "ghost sharks"—eerie deep-sea fish known as chimaeras that are related to sharks and rays—have a strange rod jutting from their foreheads, studded with sharp, retractable teeth. New research appearing in Proceedings ...

For over a hundred years, schoolchildren around the world have learned that ice melts when pressure and friction are applied. When you step out onto an icy pavement in winter, you can slip up because of the pressure exerted ...

When a baby babbles and their parents respond, these back-and-forth exchanges are more than adorable-if-incoherent chatter—they help to build a baby's emerging language skills.

The ability to detect vocal sounds, and the more specialized skill of recognizing calls from one's own species, is supported by evolutionarily ancient brain mechanisms, according to a new study from the ELTE Department of ...

When we think of pollinating insects, bees, butterflies, or flies usually come to mind—but rarely true bugs. Yet it seems that in the past, they also played an important role in plant pollination. A Hungarian research group ...

Burning, blisters, pain: More than 40 million people worldwide are infected with the herpes virus every year. The virus can pose a serious threat to newborns and people with weakened immune systems. Researchers in Hamburg ...