Phys.org news

Trade routes and ports have shaped the history of human civilization, with the Mediterranean network among the most prominent and influential. Yet our understanding of its past is shaped largely by what remains visible on ...

One of the oldest known 3D fossils of an animal has been discovered in a sheep field in the Norwegian Arctic, the first new major site of its kind anywhere in Europe in decades.

A new study finds that two early-universe objects thought to be faint quasars are actually extraordinarily luminous galaxies powered by bursts of star formation. James Webb Space Telescope observations of the galaxies, seen ...

New research has revealed that ancient builders deliberately transported enormous 25-tonne stones across at least 18 kilometers (11 miles) to build Britain's tallest surviving prehistoric stone row—the iconic Devil's Arrows.

Packaged food usually sits in plastic-lined bags designed to keep air, moisture and contaminants out. That same protection can also increase the chances of chemicals from the packaging seeping into the food. When a chemical ...

For the first time, scientists used the combined power of NASA's Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes to study some of the most far-flung bodies in our solar system, trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs). Some are the smallest ...

Helium—the lightest atom that can be laser-cooled and controlled—powers a new design for high-powered, stable quantum computers.

An international team of astronomers has discovered the most distant progenitor to a galaxy supercluster ever. The discovery supports existing theories of how galaxy clusters evolve and reveals how they are connected to the ...

Every cell relies on ribosomes, the molecular machines that read genetic instructions and use them to assemble proteins. A cell needs thousands of types of proteins at any one time, so ribosomes must be generalists, capable ...

There are nearly 1 million pieces of debris larger than 1 centimeter (0.4 inch) in near-Earth orbit. As we continue launching spacecraft and telescopes to explore the universe, this debris poses a significant threat of high-speed ...

Bacteria can survive antibiotics in several ways, including by pumping the drugs out of their cells before they can take effect. Researchers at the University of Osaka have discovered a previously unknown mechanism that allows ...

A new study suggests that a period of intense fires and landscape upheaval in the ancient southern Levant may have helped create the conditions that led Neolithic communities to discover how fire could transform clay.