Phys.org news

Phys.org / Shackleton's final ship is no longer just a sonar shadow

An expedition led by the Royal Canadian Geographical Society in partnership with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution has obtained the first close-up images of the wreck of Quest, the last ship of famed Antarctic explorer ...

Jul 9, 2026
Phys.org / Ancient rocks reveal Earth's past warm periods were cooler than thought

Earth's temperature has been much cooler in the past than previously thought, meaning it could be moving toward the warmest it's ever been.

Jul 9, 2026
Phys.org / The real Moana story: Why the Polynesians suddenly sailed east

Major drought forced people to migrate across the Pacific beyond Samoa and Tonga and toward the Americas, scientists have discovered. With the new live-action "Moana" film hitting cinemas, a team of geographers and climate ...

Jul 9, 2026
Phys.org / Carbon–bismuth bonds reveal that relativity blurs the textbook line between sigma and pi bonds

Brown University chemists have provided direct evidence that upends the textbook explanation of how triple chemical bonds work in heavy elements. In a study published in Science, the researchers show evidence that when atomic ...

Jul 9, 2026
Phys.org / Programmable light simulates quantum matter across 300 processes without bigger circuits

A team of researchers at the University of Ottawa and its Nexus for Quantum Technologies Institute, in collaboration with researchers from Federico II University in Italy, has developed a programmable quantum simulator that ...

Jul 9, 2026
Phys.org / Ancient fossil may reveal animal kingdom's earliest right-handedness at 550 million years old

Scientists have uncovered what may be the earliest evidence of "right-handedness" in the animal kingdom, dating back more than half a billion years. The discovery comes from the fossil record of Spriggina floundersi, an organism ...

Jul 9, 2026
Phys.org / Quantum optics may turn this rare visual phenomenon into an eye test

Modern life depends on quantum physics. It makes technologies such as GPS navigation, MRI scanners and computer chips possible. Now, the same science may also lead to a new way to test the health of our eyes. A University ...

Jul 9, 2026
Phys.org / Observing oscillations, flares and tornados on the sun

For six and a half days in July 2024, the balloon-borne solar observatory Sunrise III kept its gaze fixed on the sun. The stratospheric flight, which stretched from the northernmost tip of Sweden to Canada's Northwest Territories, ...

Jul 9, 2026
Phys.org / Ancient 100-kilometer Himalayan glacier once reached lower than many of India's famous hill stations

A new study published in Quaternary Science Reviews dates the dramatic collapse of one of the largest glaciers ever documented in the Himalayas. The findings overturn a long-held assumption about what sustains wet-climate ...

Jul 9, 2026
Phys.org / Medieval Islamic societies considered lovesickness a distinct mental illness, research shows

Lovesickness was taken seriously as a distinct mental illness by physicians in the medieval Islamic world, new research shows. Islamic scholars considered lovesickness, which they called ʿishq, to be different from melancholy—unlike ...

Jul 9, 2026
Phys.org / New physics-based machine-learning method speeds search for 2D quantum materials

Researchers at The University of Manchester have developed a new computational approach to help identify two-dimensional materials that may host unusual quantum behavior. The work, published in Science Advances, focuses on ...

Jul 9, 2026
Phys.org / Krill buildup could slow fin whale filter-feeding unless baleen stays 15% clear

Usually there's safety in numbers, but it doesn't always work that way. Fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus) filter-feed on immense shoals of krill, engulfing colossal mouthfuls of water containing up to 144 kg of the crustaceans. ...

Jul 9, 2026