Phys.org news
Phys.org / Four new chameleon species found on Mozambique's mountaintop 'sky islands'
Tropical rainforest patches perched on isolated granite mountains in northern Mozambique have yielded four new species of sylvan chameleons, according to a new study by Prof. Krystal A. Tolley and Dr. Werner Conradie, recently ...
Phys.org / Astronomers map a magnetic 'skeleton' funneling gas into a stellar nursery
Stars form when vast clouds of cold gas in space collapse under their own gravity. But not all gas collapses, and not all clouds form stars equally efficiently. A longstanding puzzle in astrophysics is what controls this ...
Phys.org / Using less, living better: Demand-side climate action wins public support
Climate strategies are still judged largely across two dimensions: how much they cost and how many tons of CO2 they save. A new study published in Communications Sustainability argues that this narrow lens overlooks much ...
Phys.org / Arctic shipping alters cloud formation, study finds
A study led by the EPFL suggests that shipping emissions influence climate-relevant cloud formation and may affect regional climate processes far beyond the polar region.
Phys.org / What made prehistoric communities resilient? Ancient social networks may hold the answer
A new study led by Dr. Ariel Malinsky-Buller of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem challenges long-held assumptions about how prehistoric hunter-gatherers survived in the Southern Caucasus between 57,000 and 27,000 years ...
Phys.org / Bow-and-arrow-shaped radio galaxy discovered by citizen scientist
Astronomers have discovered a "remarkable" bow-and-arrow-shaped radio galaxy with an enormous arc-like structure extending nearly 1.8 million light-years across. The newly identified system, detailed in a new paper published ...
Phys.org / How thousands of nature's longest sperm squeeze into a tiny fruit fly
When Jasmin Imran Alsous peered down her microscope lens, she expected to see chaos—a mishmash of tangled cells. She was viewing the inside of a male fruit fly's sperm storage organ, using a powerful microscope at the CCBScope ...
Phys.org / How AI-generated cartoons reshaped Taiwan's 2024 protests
In spring 2024, more than 100,000 people protested in Taiwan's streets. On Threads, a parallel fight was underway.
Phys.org / Crashing insect populations lead to smaller tree swallows that reproduce less
Since the 1970s, the number of insects at Canada's Long Point Bird Observatory has dropped by more than 60%, according to a new study led by the University of Michigan. Because of this, today's birds are smaller and facing ...
Phys.org / Molecular 'Velcro' gel removes PFAS from water without fluorinated materials
A new gel-based material developed by University of Florida chemical engineers filters PFAS forever chemicals from water more efficiently than many widely used commercial options. The advance offers a potential new path to ...
Phys.org / Primordial halo simulations reveal how cosmic storms shaped the universe's first stars
Just a few hundred million years after the Big Bang, the universe was a dark and simple place. There were no galaxies like the Milky Way, no planets, and no heavy elements such as carbon or oxygen. Instead, vast clouds of ...
Phys.org / High-severity fires burn 30 times more acreage than 40 years ago, researchers find
Forest fires now burn 10 times more acreage annually than in 1985, while wildfire severity has gotten even worse. In California, 30 times more acreage burned from high-severity, forest-killing fires, according to new UCLA ...
