Phys.org news

Phys.org / Australian cave discovery shows grass was burned for magic, cures and curses for 25,000 years

The GunaiKurnai, an Australian Aboriginal nation, are the acknowledged traditional custodians of Gippsland and the southern Victorian Alps. Within their territory are caves known from 19th-century ethnographic reports and ...

Jul 22, 2026
Phys.org / From quantum error correction to emergent gravity: Probing holographic universes at QLab

One of the deepest ambitions in modern physics is understanding how the fabric of space and time could emerge from fundamental quantum degrees of freedom to establish a quantum theory of gravity.

Jul 21, 2026
Phys.org / Tapeworm hijacks worker ants, giving them queen-like metabolism and longer lives

A tapeworm fundamentally changes the lives of ants: Workers of the species Temnothorax nylanderi infected with the tapeworm Anomotaenia brevis live several times longer than their uninfected nestmates. They are also less ...

Jul 21, 2026
Phys.org / When a SpaceX rocket crashes into the moon, scientists will be watching

On Aug. 5, 2026, an abandoned piece of space junk is predicted to crash into the moon near a spot called Einstein Crater. Astronomers will be watching because the collision and aftermath may be visible from Earth.

Jul 21, 2026
Phys.org / Astronomers catch a recurring black hole eruption in real time

For the third time in 35 years, the black hole at the center of the galaxy IC 3599 has erupted, and this time, astronomers were watching it closely. IC 3599, a galaxy roughly 280 million light-years away, has flared this ...

Jul 21, 2026
Phys.org / Low cloud-cover has helped mute warming for the last 47 years, but models predict this will change

A recent study, published in Geophysical Research Letters, combines historical satellite observations with atmospheric reanalysis data to construct a multidecade record of low-cloud cover in the hope of improving current ...

Jul 21, 2026
Phys.org / Frozen fiber couples light and sound 1,000 times more strongly than standard glass fibers

Researchers have developed a new type of optical fiber by freezing a glass capillary filled with liquid. It guides light and sound waves simultaneously and enables highly efficient coupling between them. The high coupling ...

Jul 21, 2026
Phys.org / AI agent helps prepare synchrotron X-ray experimental measurements, paving the way for autonomous operation

Artificial intelligence (AI) models are now used daily by many people worldwide, both for professional and personal purposes. Over the past decades, scientists specialized in various disciplines have also started using these ...

Jul 21, 2026
Phys.org / Jellyfish nebula may be the scene of two stars going supernova

The star that formed the Jellyfish nebula may have had a partner star that exploded 100,000 years earlier, according to international researchers, who say that this may be the first known discovery of a binary star system ...

Jul 21, 2026
Phys.org / New technique enables LIGO to peer farther into the distant universe

Scientists at the University of California, Riverside, have developed a new way to help gravitational-wave observatories see farther into the universe by solving one of their biggest challenges: tiny heat-induced distortions ...

Jul 21, 2026
Phys.org / Two-color lasers aim electron currents through semiconductor with no electric field

Researchers at the University of Michigan have created a device that enables them to control the flow of electrons through a semiconductor using only laser light—no electrical power source required. The device was built to ...

Jul 21, 2026
Phys.org / Mysterious gas 'bullets' race from Milky Way's only known helium nova at up to 20 million mph

Mysterious high-speed "bullets"—clumps of possibly oxygen-rich gas traveling at up to 20 million miles per hour—have been discovered shooting out of the rarest stellar explosion in our galaxy.

Jul 21, 2026