Phys.org news

Phys.org / Neutron bone imaging brings T. rex to life

A broken rib from Scotty, the largest T. rex skeleton discovered, is helping scientists uncover new information about life on Earth 66 million years ago. Scotty's rib preserves something rarely seen in the fossil record: ...

Sep 3, 2026
Phys.org / Iron helped scientists trace Earth's oxygen. Now it's telling a bigger story

For decades, scientists have studied iron preserved in ancient rocks to reconstruct how Earth's oceans and atmosphere became rich in oxygen. A new study suggests iron has recorded other major transformations too.

Sep 3, 2026
Phys.org / How an unassuming wildflower thrives in salt-laden air that kills other plants

On the windswept coasts of Oregon and California lives an unassuming little plant that can withstand salty blasts that kill its inland counterparts. It's called the yellow monkeyflower. Now, researchers are beginning to understand ...

Sep 3, 2026
Phys.org / Newly discovered 1666 manuscript may trace four-lens telescope experiments to Galileo

A potentially history-altering finding by a University of Limerick researcher may provide the most detailed technical analysis of a telescope demonstrably made by the famous astronomer and scientist Galileo Galilei.

Sep 3, 2026
Phys.org / Soft nanoscale confinement prevents ice, exposing water's liquid-to-glass transition

An international collaboration of researchers has used ANSTO's facilities to uncover new properties of one of the most fundamental everyday materials, water, and answer an important scientific question. The findings, published ...

Sep 3, 2026
Phys.org / Early mammals weren't all loners—some may have lived in pairs alongside the dinosaurs

About 200 million years ago, furry, little egg-laying creatures evolved the ability to feed their offspring with a secretion from special glands: milk. Their evolutionary journey continued, and by about 160 million years ...

Sep 3, 2026
Phys.org / Quantum-optical spin glass could improve how AI remembers and learns

A new study has demonstrated that it is possible to make a network of atoms and photons that could improve how artificial intelligence stores and recalls memories. This network, called a quantum-optical spin glass, works ...

Sep 3, 2026
Phys.org / Ig Nobel Prize winners reveal why babies smell better than teenagers

Babies smell wonderful—at least to their parents. An international research team of Ilona Croy, Tomasz Frackowiak, Thomas Hummel and Agnieszka Sorokowska investigated why teenagers lose this special olfactory advantage and ...

Sep 3, 2026
Phys.org / Warming seas could shrink most mollusks by 2100, but some may grow

Research led by scientists at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette challenges a long-held assumption about the effects of climate change on marine life: Warmer oceans won't simply make animals smaller.

Sep 3, 2026
Phys.org / From peas to potatoes, AI identifies nearly 800 promising plant proteins for food and cosmetics

Scientists from Leeds' School of Food Science and Nutrition have developed an advanced AI process that can rapidly identify plant proteins capable of acting as emulsifiers from tens of millions of initial candidates. To date, ...

Sep 3, 2026
Phys.org / Hot subdwarfs come into focus as AI scans thousands of stars in Gaia data

There are myriad ways of "being a star," and scientists spend years trying to uncover and understand them. One unusual type is the so-called hot subdwarf—small stars that burn mysteriously hot for their size. Scientists from ...

Sep 3, 2026
Phys.org / Satellites spot forest stress two years before bark beetle die-offs become apparent

Satellite measurements detected declining photosynthetic activity in Western U.S. forests two years before bark beetle mortality appeared in aerial detection surveys, according to new University of Utah-led research.

Sep 3, 2026