Phys.org news
Phys.org / Subtle twist in materials prompts surprising electromagnetic behavior
Materials react differently to electric and magnetic fields, and these reactions are known as electromagnetic responses. In many solid materials, unusual electromagnetic responses have been known to only emerge when specific ...
Phys.org / Active thermal metasurfaces amplify heat signatures by a factor of nine
Light undergoes a unique phenomenon called superscattering, an optical illusion where a very small object scatters far more light than expected. This happens when multiple scattering modes overlap and interact, allowing tiny ...
Phys.org / Sourdough starters: How flour choice shapes microbial communities
Sourdough starter, a fermented mix of flour and water, is a staple for bakers. It's also a rich experimental testing ground for microbiologists. The bread's chewy texture and tangy taste arise from the mix of microbes that ...
Phys.org / Conventional entanglement can have thousands of hidden topologies in high dimensions
Researchers from the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, in collaboration with Huzhou University, discovered that the entanglement workhorse of most quantum optics laboratories can have hidden topologies, reporting ...
Phys.org / Prehistoric elephant footprints documented for first time in Murcia's fossil dunes
An international team, involving researchers from the University of Seville, the Andalusian Institute of Earth Sciences in Granada and the University of Huelva, has identified the first fossilized vertebrate footprints from ...
Phys.org / Perseverance Mars rover ready to roll for miles in years ahead
After nearly five years on Mars, NASA's Perseverance rover has traveled almost 25 miles (40 kilometers), and the mission team has been busy testing the rover's durability and gathering new science findings on the way to a ...
Phys.org / An 'origami' airless wheel to explore lunar caves
A joint research team from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and the Unmanned Exploration Laboratory (UEL) has developed a transformative wheel capable of navigating the moon's most extreme terrains, ...
Phys.org / One and done is not enough: Study challenges traditional evolutionary research
Every living being must cope with a changing world—summer gives way to winter, one year it floods and the next is a drought. It's obvious that populations of plants and animals must constantly face new challenges, says ...
Phys.org / Shortest light pulse ever created captures ultrafast electron dynamics
Electrons determine everything: how chemical reactions unfold, how materials conduct electricity, how biological molecules transfer energy, and how quantum technologies operate. But electron dynamics happens on attosecond ...
Phys.org / Rate of US coastal sea level rise doubled in the past century, study finds
A July 2025 report from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) claims that U.S. tide gauge measurements "in aggregate show no obvious acceleration in sea level rise beyond the historical average rate." However, a new study by ...
Phys.org / Soil molecular diversity spikes as microbes decompose plants, researchers discover
Globally, soils contain three times as much carbon as exists in the atmosphere and all plants, combined. Which means that understanding how soil microbes recycle organic materials—sometimes sending CO2 back into the atmosphere, ...
Phys.org / Q&A: Climate shifts drove carnivores' evolution from mongoose-like ancestors to diverse forms
The ancestors of our furry cats and dogs once looked similar to today's modern mongoose, a mammal with a long body and small, round ears. In fact, all members of the order Carnivora, which includes a variety of mammalian ...
