Phys.org news

Phys.org / Monkey friendships with dogs, deer and even pigs offer clues to the evolutionary origins of pet-keeping

Why do humans keep pets? A new international study suggests that some of the behavioral foundations of human-animal companionship may have much deeper evolutionary roots than previously thought.

Jul 29, 2026
Phys.org / 2D quantum memory device reaches single-electron limit of information storage

Most electronic memory storage devices require the ability to trap large numbers of electrons for each bit of memory. In an ideal world, however, it would take only one electron. This would reduce space requirements and power ...

Jul 29, 2026
Phys.org / Bringing complex field physics to the tabletop: A photonic stage for non-Abelian gauge fields

For most theories in physics, the order of operations has little impact on the result. When setting a dial to a certain position, for example, it doesn't matter whether it's turned clockwise or counterclockwise—the result ...

Jul 29, 2026
Phys.org / Non-monogamy may reduce jealousy overall, but feeling less desirable can still strain relationships

Comparing yourself with your partner is more common than you'd think. Psychologists even have a term for it: mate value discrepancy (MVD), which is the gap between how attractive, smart or successful each partner feels compared ...

Jul 29, 2026
Phys.org / Curiosity Mars rover discovers field of honeycomb textures

As NASA's Curiosity rover recently began climbing a Martian valley nicknamed "Valle Grande," it sent back images that were a familiar sight to mission scientists: honeycomb-like textures called polygonal fractures, each about ...

Jul 29, 2026
Phys.org / The oceans near Australia may be the best places to fertilize for removing carbon dioxide

Deploying ocean iron fertilization—a strategy for carbon dioxide capture—in higher latitudes rather than near the equator could reduce environmental impacts while still achieving removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, ...

Jul 29, 2026
Phys.org / Rare-earth ions could enable telecom-ready control of interacting qubits

Quantum technologies are devices and systems that exploit the laws of quantum mechanics and could perform tasks that are difficult or impossible to tackle using their classical counterparts. These technologies process and ...

Jul 29, 2026
Phys.org / Little red dots may mark temporary black hole phase

Since their discovery by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope in 2022, little red dots (LRDs) have been the subject of great interest to astronomers. Understanding the nature of these extremely distant, compact red sources has ...

Jul 29, 2026
Phys.org / Early Cambrian fossil uncovers key buoyancy structure at the dawn of cephalopod evolution

Extant and ancient cephalopods—including octopuses, squids, extinct ammonites, cuttlefish and nautiluses—have all had to solve the problem of buoyancy, whether they have hard external shells or not.

Jul 29, 2026
Phys.org / An entire world of fungi nearly a third of a mile underground could affect carbon storage estimates

Hundreds of feet below Earth's surface, rocks and water teem with fungi and support complex ecosystems of tiny organisms, according to a University of Michigan study that finds fungi are far more abundant deep underground ...

Jul 29, 2026
Phys.org / A step closer to artificial organs: UV light shapes arteriole-scale hydrogel vessels

The creation of fully artificial organs is a sci-fi dream, and researchers in Japan may have brought it one step closer to reality by developing a new photofabrication technique (i.e., a light-controlled synthetic method) ...

Jul 29, 2026
Phys.org / Black hole 'blast' reaches 300,000 light-years

A team of researchers has discovered that winds generated by supermassive black holes are 100 times more powerful than previously thought, carrying energy across distances of approximately 300,000 light-years. The discovery ...

Jul 29, 2026