Phys.org news

Phys.org / Western US is fending off more fires before they start—and still getting hit by its biggest blazes yet

The number of wildfires burning in the Western United States each year dropped roughly 28% over the past three decades, even as annual burned area and damage from wildfires have soared. A decline in fires accidentally sparked ...

13 hours ago
Phys.org / Snow cover on Greek mountains has more than halved in four decades, study finds

Snow cover in the mountains of Greece—an important water source for communities, agriculture and natural ecosystems during the dry summer months—has more than halved over the past four decades, a study has found.

19 hours ago
Phys.org / Tokamak regime sustains stable fusion plasma for one minute while easing heat loads

For the first time, a research team has demonstrated, in a metal-wall environment, a plasma regime that simultaneously achieves partial divertor detachment, an edge-localized-mode (ELM)-free high-confinement mode (H-mode), ...

Apr 29, 2026
Phys.org / Western music is getting simpler and more repetitive by the day and data prove it

Ever had that moment when a song comes on and it feels strangely familiar, like it reminds you of another song that came out just a few months ago? If you feel this phenomenon has become more frequent, then you are not imagining ...

Apr 29, 2026
Phys.org / NASA connects little red dots with Chandra and Webb

A newly discovered object may be a key to unlocking the true nature of a mysterious class of sources that astronomers have found in the early universe in recent years. A "X-ray dot" found by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory ...

Apr 29, 2026
Phys.org / A flower-like pattern exposes chiral superconductivity's long-sought fingerprint

With a carefully designed experiment and a handful of tin atoms, University of Tennessee, Knoxville's physicists have found a long-sought form of superconductivity, taking one more step toward creating custom quantum materials.

Apr 29, 2026
Phys.org / Physicists reveal universal speed limit on quantum information scrambling

Theoretical physicists in the US have discovered a "speed limit" on the time taken for quantum information to spread through larger systems. Publishing their results in Physical Review Letters, Amit Vikram and colleagues ...

Apr 29, 2026
Phys.org / Where was your backyard millions of years ago?

An international team of Earth scientists led by Utrecht professor Douwe van Hinsbergen has developed an online tool that allows you to see, for any given location on Earth, what latitude it occupied in the distant past, ...

Apr 29, 2026
Phys.org / Levitated nano-ferromagnet confirms a 160-year-old physical prediction

Ferromagnets, such as iron, cobalt, and nickel, are materials with a strong, spontaneous, and permanent magnetic field. Over 150 years ago, the physicist and mathematician James Clerk Maxwell speculated that under specific ...

Apr 29, 2026
Phys.org / Roman cup unearthed in Spain may have been a keepsake representing a soldier's time at the Hadrian Wall

Archaeologists recently analyzed a broken, decorative cup found unexpectedly on a Spanish farm. The cup appears to represent Hadrian's Wall—a place 2,000 miles away—and a time period almost 2,000 years ago. The new study, ...

Apr 29, 2026
Phys.org / The 'tail' of the shrinking dog brain: Study reveals they began getting smaller 5,000 years ago

Dogs have long been known to have smaller brains than the wolves they descended from. But when they started to shrink has been a matter of some debate. New research published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, which ...

Apr 29, 2026
Phys.org / New genome editing method could swap entire genes and correct 1000 mutations at once

New technology enables the insertion of a large segment of DNA into a genome, potentially expanding gene therapy treatment from cancellation of disease-causing mutations to replacement of an entire gene, scientists say.

Apr 29, 2026