Phys.org news
Phys.org / Amazonian cocoa has a new edge: Two standout cultivars could change how growers fight witches' broom
Witches' broom disease, caused by the fungus Moniliophthora perniciosa, decimated cocoa crops in southern Bahia state, Brazil, in the 1990s. It was even the subject of a local soap opera and continues to plague the chocolate ...
Phys.org / Intrepid tails—fluke photos confirm humpback whales mount 14,000 km open ocean crossing to breeding grounds
An international team of scientists have documented, for the first time, humpback whales traveling between breeding grounds in eastern Australia and Brazil, crossing more than 14,000 kilometers of open ocean. The findings ...
Phys.org / Birds clap in the dark to flirt: Nightjars reveal a hidden language of sound
Some birds sing to attract a mate. Others dance or display colorful feathers. But in the moonlit forests and shrublands of northern Argentina, one bird courts romance by snapping its wrists together, producing a sharp clapping ...
Phys.org / How a 4,000-year-old city defied history's 'rules' by becoming more equal as it became more successful
For decades, historians have generally agreed that the progress of small villages as they evolved into cities came at the price of widening inequality. A small group of leaders, kings and priests, would inevitably seize control ...
Phys.org / Rare seals hide in underwater bubble caves to escape tourists
The uninhabited islet of Formicula in Greece's Inner Ionian archipelago is a popular tourist draw for its clear waters, swimming spots, and marine diversity. A major attraction is the Mediterranean monk seal, one of the world's ...
Phys.org / Less low cloud cover lets in more heat from the sun—and may lock in centuries of sea level rise
According to NOAA, the global average sea level has risen 8–9 inches (21–24 centimeters) since 1880. The rate at which the sea level is rising is increasing, threatening coastal cities and ecosystems around the world.
Phys.org / Consistency check casts doubt on evolving dark energy
Cosmologists have long struggled to determine whether the universe's accelerating expansion is being driven by a simple cosmological constant, or whether dark energy's influence is evolving over time. In a new analysis published ...
Phys.org / Tritium-infused graphene could sharpen the hunt for neutrino mass
While neutrinos are some of the most abundant particles in the universe, they remain among the least understood. One of the biggest puzzles is their mass: although experiments have shown that neutrinos must have some mass, ...
Phys.org / Climate catch-22: Cleaning up air pollution could speed key Atlantic current decline
It may sound counterintuitive, but new research suggests that cleaning up air pollution could contribute to a weakening of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). This is the ocean current system that acts ...
Phys.org / A de-extinction company has hatched live chicks from an artificial eggshell
A biotech company that aims to resurrect lost creatures said Tuesday it has hatched live chicks in an artificial environment—a development that was met with mixed reviews from scientists and critics of its de-extinction mission.
Phys.org / MeerKAT discovers 15 new millisecond pulsars in a well known globular cluster
Using the MeerKAT radio telescope, an international team of astronomers has discovered 15 new millisecond pulsars in 47 Tucanae—one of the closest and best studied globular clusters. The finding is reported in the latest ...
Phys.org / Chemists use sea sponge bacteria to create new molecules for drug discovery
Florida State University chemists have synthesized new molecules derived from bacteria found in a Pacific Ocean sea sponge, a breakthrough for the future of drug development, particularly for rare forms of cancer.
