Phys.org news
Phys.org / Weighing in on the mystery of the gravitational constant
The time had come to open the envelope, but Stephan Schlamminger, a physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), wasn't sure he wanted to know the secret number that lay inside. For the past 10 ...
Phys.org / Navigating the past with ancient stone compass needles
Magnetic rocks with iron oxide concentrations act as natural chroniclers of Earth's past continental movements. Using small samples of rocks, scientists can isolate magnetic grains that were frozen in orientation as the rock ...
Phys.org / Monumental ship burial beneath ancient Norwegian mound predates the Viking Age
Monumental ship burials in Scandinavia may have started around a century earlier than previously thought, according to a paper published in the journal Antiquity. It reports the discovery of the remains of a 1,300-year-old ...
Phys.org / Looking deep inside quarks: CMS test probes to 10⁻²⁰ meters and finds no inner structure
According to our current understanding of the universe, quarks are fundamental, point-like particles: basic building blocks that are not made up of smaller particles. A recent paper from the CMS Collaboration describes how ...
Phys.org / Baby Neanderthals may have had a rapid growth spurt compared to modern babies
Baby Neanderthals may have been much larger and grown much more quickly than their modern Homo sapiens counterparts, according to a new study of the most intact Neanderthal infant skeleton. Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) ...
Phys.org / Titan's lakes may spawn 10-foot waves in gentle winds, new model suggests
On a calm day, a light breeze might barely ripple the surface of a lake on Earth. But on Saturn's largest moon, Titan, a similar mild wind would kick up 10-foot-tall waves. This otherworldly behavior is one prediction from ...
Phys.org / Laser-plasma accelerator drives free-electron laser for record 8 hours
For the first time, researchers have demonstrated that a laser-plasma accelerator can reliably drive a free-electron laser for more than eight hours. Published in Physical Review Accelerators and Beams, the result was achieved ...
Phys.org / Atlantic current system could be weakening faster than expected
The Atlantic current system, or more formally the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), is more likely to weaken than previously thought. That's the conclusion of a new study published in the journal Science ...
Phys.org / Monkeys navigate a virtual forest with thought alone, pushing brain-computer interfaces beyond the lab
As a part of a study testing out a new type of implanted brain-computer interface (BCI), three rhesus monkeys controlled movements in a virtual reality (VR) world using only brain signals. The study, published in Science ...
Phys.org / Methane emerges from interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS as it exits the solar system
Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS is now on its way out of our solar system, never to return. The comet was only the third-ever detected object to originate from outside our solar system. Traveling at high speeds, it looped around ...
Phys.org / A newly recognized pollutant is widely present in the atmosphere
A new study shows that a specific type of silicone, the so-called methylsiloxanes, is widely present in the atmosphere across diverse environments. Also, concentrations appear to be much higher than expected. According to ...
Phys.org / Webb's Little Red Dots may reveal how giant black holes formed soon after the Big Bang
The launch of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) in 2021 pushed the horizon of seeing the early universe, unveiling cosmic events just a few hundred million years after the Big Bang. Among the most striking discoveries ...
