Phys.org news

Phys.org / How did inbred brown tree snakes take over the island of Guam?

If you look up invasive species in a textbook, there's a good chance you'll find a picture of a brown tree snake. Native to Australia and the South Pacific, the brown tree snake arrived on Guam sometime after World War II, ...

Jul 24, 2026
Phys.org / Oxygen collisions at the LHC show new indications of extreme state of matter

All four main LHC experiments have found new signs that oxygen and neon collisions may create the extreme state of matter that existed during the first microseconds after the Big Bang.

Jul 24, 2026
Phys.org / Why Europa's hidden ocean may be more difficult to reach than scientists thought

Europa, one of Jupiter's icy moons, has long fascinated scientists because of what may lie beneath its frozen shell: a global ocean of liquid water. That hidden ocean has made Europa one of the most compelling places in the ...

Jul 24, 2026
Phys.org / Quantum Zeno effect could freeze computations as qubit systems scale up

The promise of quantum computing is to solve complex problems faster and more energy-efficiently than today's supercomputers—from optimizing logistics to simulating molecules. This goal is coming within reach as the number ...

Jul 24, 2026
Phys.org / Unraveling the climate behind the collapse of Bronze Age civilizations

The most severe droughts in the ancient Eastern Mediterranean arose when multiple natural climate cycles coincided, according to a new study from Stockholm University published in Science Advances. The findings shed new light ...

Jul 24, 2026
Phys.org / Fossilized wood reveals 300 million years of Earth's history

Many people are familiar with fossilized wood as a decorative item from a museum shop. However, the fact that it can preserve the geological history of entire regions spanning millions of years is a new discovery. A research ...

Jul 24, 2026
Phys.org / Physicists turn to the universe's 'piano notes' to detect hidden particles

It's been said that a finely tuned ear knows the size and shape of a piano by merely listening to the instrument's notes. An international team of physicists has now devised an analogous approach to detect the universe's ...

Jul 24, 2026
Phys.org / Quantum dots reveal hidden light waves on metal surfaces

Photographs can reveal things that are otherwise impossible for the naked eye to see, be they distant galaxies or microscopic cells. Researchers at Osaka Metropolitan University have developed a practical and versatile imaging ...

Jul 24, 2026
Phys.org / Scientists turn modern biobanks into a new window on human evolution

For more than a century, scientists have sought to reconstruct human evolution using diverse lines of evidence, including fossils, genetic variation across populations and ancient DNA. Building on these approaches, researchers ...

Jul 24, 2026
Phys.org / Rocks from unexplored far side of the moon help rewrite lunar history

Ancient samples from the moon's far side are helping scientists uncover how asteroid impacts shaped the early solar system. The findings challenge decades of thinking about when those impacts occurred and offer new insights ...

Jul 24, 2026
Phys.org / Algorithms create foundry-ready photonic circuits

Photonic microchips can process data at extremely high speeds and are embedded in a wide variety of today's technologies. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light (MPL) and Harvard University have ...

Jul 24, 2026
Phys.org / Magnetic clues inside atomic nuclei help explain how elements form in stars

A scientific team led by Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, or FRIB, has identified the origin of a mysterious excess of low-energy gamma rays emitted by the nucleus zinc-70. They found that the excess is caused by magnetic ...

Jul 24, 2026