Phys.org news

Imagine opening a difficult book in a quiet room. The first page is dense. You read one paragraph, then reread it. Nothing "clicks" yet. Your brain is doing what learning often requires: spending effort before the reward ...

Prescribed fires are vital for reducing wildfire risk and sustaining forest biodiversity. But they also contribute significantly to air pollution and smoke exposure, according to new research from the University of Georgia. ...

Relationships are all about compromise. From deciding on where to eat dinner with a friend to negotiating chore lists at home, we often experience situations that require some flexibility. But what happens when we must work ...

Nearly 660 kilometers (410 miles) beneath Earth's surface lies one of the planet's most important internal boundaries. Known as the 660-km seismic discontinuity, it separates the mantle transition zone from the lower mantle ...

Quantum properties of light are extremely delicate. When researchers attempt to measure them, even small losses on the way to a detector can make them invisible, limiting their use outside carefully controlled environments. ...

Astrophysicists working to tackle the growing impact of satellite constellations have pioneered a new ultra-black coating as one possible way to mitigate the problem.

Embedded in the boundary between the inside and outside of each cell are membrane proteins. They act as first responders by sensing signals, regulating which molecules enter and leave the cell, and enabling cells to quickly ...

Vision shapes how many animals find food, avoid danger and navigate their world. In animals with two eyes, eye placement is often linked to lifestyle: predators such as lions tend to have forward-facing eyes that help them ...

The more people expand into previously natural areas, the more wildlife and humans step on each other's toes, leading to more interactions that may result in conflict. This includes national parks, where people flock to recuperate ...

Due to their high porosity, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are regarded as promising materials for innovative applications, which is why the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded in 2025 for their discovery. They are used, ...

For more than a decade, residents of Austin's Colony, a neighborhood in an unincorporated area of southeast Austin outside the city service area, have voiced concern about their tap water's intermittent discoloration and ...

Inside every cell are lipid molecules that make up cellular membranes, helping organelles communicate and respond to stress. Researchers have struggled to observe lipids in action because current detection tools lack sufficient ...