Phys.org news

Phys.org / 3,000-year-old Irish Bronze Age site may be one of Europe's earliest 'town-like' settlements

A major prehistoric center in Ireland was among the first large, organized settlements to develop in Western Europe more than 3,000 years ago, new research reveals. The study, published today in Antiquity, identifies Haughey's ...

Jun 30, 2026
Phys.org / An iconic spear-throwing device likely wasn't used by prehistoric hunters until around 10,000 years ago

Archaeologists have long pictured prehistoric hunters taking down mammoths and other megafauna using the atlatl, a handheld spear-throwing device that uses leverage to achieve greater velocity and force when throwing darts. ...

Jun 30, 2026
Phys.org / Open cluster NGC 6134 in Norma is 1.38 billion years old and hosts a core, tidal tail and diffuse halo

Indonesian astronomers have conducted a comprehensive study of an open cluster in the constellation Norma, known as NGC 6134. Results of the new study, available in a research paper published June 23 on the preprint server ...

Jun 30, 2026
Phys.org / Nearby 'Super Earth' may be a better candidate for life than previously thought

Using the Hobby-Eberly Telescope at McDonald Observatory, astronomers have taken a closer look at a nearby exoplanet and discovered it may be more Earth-like than previously thought. The planet, known as GJ 3378b, orbits ...

Jun 30, 2026
Phys.org / One of the most distant 'leaky' galaxies ever found may reveal how the universe reionized

Astronomers have identified one of the most distant candidate galaxies known to leak ionizing radiation—the same kind of radiation thought to have transformed the early universe during the epoch of reionization.

Jun 30, 2026
Phys.org / Abundant catalyst converts methane into valuable liquid chemicals

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory and their collaborators have demonstrated a promising new approach for converting methane—the primary component of natural gas—into liquid ...

Jun 30, 2026
Phys.org / Cosmic eruption caught in the act by submillimeter array's new fastest response system

On Jan. 26, 2026, the Submillimeter Array (SMA) on Maunakea crossed an important threshold for time-domain astronomy. For the first time, scientists from the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA) demonstrated ...

Jun 30, 2026
Phys.org / Astronomers find an enigmatic source that is most likely a Little Red Dot in formation

Astronomers have, for the first time, found a source in the process of becoming a Little Red Dot, using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Little Red Dots are likely early galaxies and some of the most intriguing objects ...

Jun 30, 2026
Phys.org / Scientists teach human cells to compute like tiny computers

Researchers have developed a way to program human cells to perform calculations and make autonomous decisions, similar to how computer chips work.

Jun 30, 2026
Phys.org / Super-deep diamond discovery may rewrite Earth's role in preserving the building blocks of life

Two diamonds formed 700 kilometers below the Earth's surface reveal a life-giving synchronicity between shifting continents and the cycling of phosphorus, a vital building block of DNA and cell membranes.

Jun 30, 2026
Phys.org / Newly discovered corn trait may help improve crop drought tolerance

Researchers report some corn plants are genetically predisposed to develop longer, less constricted water-conducting tissues and deeper roots, which helps them deal with drought. That's the conclusion of a team led by Penn ...

Jun 30, 2026
Phys.org / Medici brothers' remains reveal Renaissance-era malaria strains, closing the book on a murder mystery

In 1562, Cardinal Giovanni de Medici, a scion of the dynastic family that dominated politics and banking in Tuscany during the Renaissance, died of malaria. Twenty-five years later, his older brother, Grand Duke Francesco ...

Jun 30, 2026