Phys.org news

Phys.org / Wind patterns play surprising role in tropical rainfall trends

Changes in wind patterns play the leading role in influencing often devastating tropical rainfall changes, rather than simply the warming atmosphere holding more moisture, according to new research.

15 hours ago
Phys.org / Listening to political opponents who share common values can ease polarization

Listening to someone who disagrees with you on a controversial topic, but shares basic values, might not change your mind—but it could moderate an extreme position, reducing polarization, new Cornell economics research finds.

13 hours ago
Phys.org / Water-based nanoprinting moves metal films onto delicate 3D surfaces without damage

A new technology allows metal circuits floating on water to be transferred directly onto any desired surface. A South Korean research team has introduced a novel technique capable of transferring ultra-fine nanocircuits onto ...

16 hours ago
Phys.org / Chemists reveal one-step 'alkyl swap' that rewrites key amines for drug discovery

For more than a century, chemists have been building complex molecules step by step—bond by bond, atom by atom. But what if, instead of painstakingly reassembling molecules, they could be directly "rewritten"? This is exactly ...

15 hours ago
Phys.org / Some bees cannot escape rising heat, and their tiny homes make crisis even harder

Bee species that nest in plant stems appear to be at the greatest short-term risk from increasing temperatures due to climate change, while those that nest in the ground are better able to evade extreme heat, according to ...

22 hours ago
Phys.org / Burned as waste for years, this overlooked plant material is poised to reshape how nylon gets made

Most people have seen nylon listed as a material on their clothing tags, but nylon is used in an array of other products, too, including automotive parts, wire insulation and medical supplies. Unfortunately, one of the building ...

Jun 14, 2026
Phys.org / Rare 500-year-old freeze-dried potatoes unearthed at Inca coastal site

Archaeologists digging at an Inca site on the arid coast of southern Peru have unearthed two rare, roughly 500-year-old freeze-dried potatoes. The potatoes are among the only ones found in more than a century and would have ...

Jun 14, 2026
Phys.org / Is 'gender gating' the secret to success in online dating?

Digital matching platforms—from professional networking to ride-sharing and accommodation services—add value by bringing supply and demand into balance. But deep-seated asymmetries can prove difficult to expunge, causing ...

Jun 14, 2026
Phys.org / Plant diversity may explain why some caterpillars are fussy about their food

Many insects will eat almost anything in their sight, such as certain beetles, grasshoppers and locusts, while others are remarkably picky eaters. For example, numerous insect herbivores will feed only on a single plant family ...

Jun 14, 2026
Phys.org / Devoted dads and citizen science: The evolution of parental care in harvestmen spiders is uncovered

Citizen science data from the popular platform iNaturalist has helped uncover the evolution of parental guarding behavior in harvestmen spiders, as shown in research published in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.

Jun 14, 2026
Dialog / When less is more: Scaling law explains why ultrathin materials get stronger as they get thinner

One of the most fascinating aspects of physics is that nature often behaves in ways that seem completely counterintuitive. A good example comes from ultrathin materials. If I take a sheet of material and make it thinner ...

Jun 14, 2026
Phys.org / Interpretable AI in materials discovery: Uncovering how models make predictions

A method to interpret artificial intelligence (AI) models used in materials discovery by analyzing their learned features has been developed by researchers from Japan. The method extracts key features from an AI model trained ...

Jun 14, 2026