Phys.org news

A new study challenges the idea that language stems from a single evolutionary root. Instead, it proposes that our ability to communicate evolved through the interaction of biology and culture, and involves multiple capacities, ...

The inside of giant planets can reach pressures more than one million times the Earth's atmosphere. As a result of that intense pressure, materials can adopt unexpected structures and properties. Understanding matter in this ...

A recent study led by scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California and the nonprofit Aerospace Corporation shows how high-resolution maps of ground-level ammonia plumes can be generated with airborne ...

Only two weeks after fertilization, the first sign of the formation of the three axes of the human body (head/tail, ventral/dorsal, and right/left) begins to appear. At this stage, known as gastrulation, a flat and featureless ...

Personalized learning is a very effective teaching method, but its potential is limited due to resource constraints. In a small, in-person class, instructors can walk around, engage with students individually, adjust lessons ...

In most narratives, the story of evolution is the story of organisms emerging from the ocean and eventually populating the land. But for some species, that evolution also involved a return trip. Dozens of major mammal and ...

A team of researchers has confirmed stars ring loud and clear in a "key" that will harmonize well with the science goals and capabilities of NASA's upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope.

Cornell researchers have discovered a previously unknown way plants regulate water that is so fundamental it may change plant biology textbooks—and open the door to breeding more drought-tolerant crops.

After fertilization, embryos race through rapid cell divisions before slowing down to build specialized cells that will carry out distinct functions in the developing body—but the signals that trigger this shift have remained ...

In a discovery shaped by more than a decade of steady, incremental effort rather than a dramatic breakthrough, scientists from the National University of Singapore (NUS) and their collaborators demonstrated that great ideas ...

A mysterious swarm of earthquakes that occurred near the Greek island of Santorini in early 2025 was caused by rebounding sheets of magma slicing through Earth's crust, according to a new study by an international team involving ...

For decades, pharmaceutical companies have been using bacteria found in soil and water to chemically convert steroids into effective treatments for human diseases. One example is cortisol, which is used to treat asthma and ...