Phys.org news

Phys.org / Interviewing with AI? Try not to let the robot affect your behavior

A firm handshake used to be all a job candidate needed to make a good first impression, but today a growing number of firms are relying on artificial intelligence to screen applicants.

18 hours ago
Phys.org / Bringing hidden optical imperfections to light

Tiny manufacturing imperfections in optical components normally go unnoticed. Yet they can alter light in surprisingly significant ways. An international research team led by TU Darmstadt has shown that such imperfections ...

17 hours ago
Phys.org / Chinese cave traces Denisovan hunting and adaptation across 120,000 years

An ancient cave in southwestern China has revealed new evidence about how Denisovans—an ancient human relative—lived, survived and adapted over more than 100,000 years.

20 hours ago
Phys.org / Sun's largest sunspots may have potential to trigger superflares

The sun is capable of great things. In massive eruptions, it repeatedly hurls particles and radiation into space. This solar bombardment can be dangerous for technical infrastructure on Earth: For example, satellites and ...

19 hours ago
Phys.org / 'Peculiar' new species of Jurassic squid found in Wyoming

A "peculiar" new species of Jurassic squid-like animal has been unearthed in Wyoming, U.S., following the discovery of two exceptionally rare fossils dating to around 160 million years ago.

22 hours ago
Phys.org / Northern map turtles leave Lake Erie before algal blooms peak, tracking finds

Harmful algal blooms pose serious threats to people, animals and the environment. The University of Toledo's Dr. Jeanine Refsnider counts it as a positive discovery that northern map turtles tend to steer clear, as she and ...

18 hours ago
Phys.org / 'White graphene' reshaped at the atomic scale with tailor-made nanopores

A research team at the University of Vienna led by physicist Jani Kotakoski demonstrates how the shape of nanopores in hexagonal boron nitride—the electrically insulating counterpart to graphene, also known as "white graphene"—can ...

18 hours ago
Phys.org / Scientists want to 3D print houses on Mars with the help of yeast

Mars is a terrible place to build a house. It's bitterly cold, blasted by radiation and a near vacuum. Not to mention that the building materials, even for a modest shelter, could spend months hurtling through space before ...

19 hours ago
Phys.org / BepiColombo measures Mercury's particle bombardment up close

The joint BepiColombo mission of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is settling into orbit around Mercury after an eight-year journey. In early September, BepiColombo's two orbiters, ...

20 hours ago
Phys.org / Dangerous heat days are expanding beyond summer, with regional spring-fall shifts

Extreme heat has become more common—both research and lived experience document this—but when it arrives is a different question. A new study finds that, rather than occurring only during warm seasons, extreme heat events ...

19 hours ago
Phys.org / Mercury is shrinking more than we thought

Mercury's surface is riddled with wrinkles, evidence of a once-larger planet that has shrunk over time. A new study finds that Mercury may have contracted 10% to 30% more than previously thought—a loss of nearly 12 miles ...

21 hours ago
Phys.org / 'Fingerprints' inside the sun could reveal if it once swallowed a planet

It is thought the sun may have engulfed a super-Earth-sized planet early in its history. Now, a new study has gone a step further, suggesting that such an event may have left behind detectable clues inside the sun that could ...

21 hours ago