Phys.org news
Phys.org / Bare supercontinent may have tipped ancient Earth into 'Snowball' phase
About a billion years ago, Earth started to come into its own. It was past the awkwardness of its younger years full of growing pains and turmoil: comet strikes and slimy water, including the Great Oxidation Event that flipped ...
Phys.org / The generation of massive Schrödinger cat states using ultracold atoms
Quantum mechanics is a physics framework that describes how matter and energy behave at an extremely small scale, specifically at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles. An effect predicted by the laws of quantum mechanics ...
Phys.org / Hailstorms could grow more dangerous and damaging with climate change
Hailstorms can be incredibly dangerous, posing risks to life and property. Then there's the economic damage to cars, crops, and infrastructure caused by large balls of ice falling at high speed from the sky. And the problems ...
Phys.org / Ripples in fire-ant collectives suggest motions are driven by neighbor alignments
Researchers in Spain have discovered that in collectives of moving fire ants, rippling "waves" of density and activity are likely triggered by local regions where ants collectively travel in the same direction as their neighbors.
Phys.org / Introduced wild pigs linked to fewer invasive plants, while native deer show the opposite pattern
Wild pigs are generally considered among the world's most problematic invasive mammals. But a major new study from Aarhus Universitet shows that the introduced animals may actually have beneficial effects in North American ...
Phys.org / Neanderthal ancestry may lower defenses against common DNA viruses in people today
Researchers have found surprising links that show that Neanderthal ancestry influences our immune system today in ways more nuanced than previously recognized. Their work is published in the journal Genome Biology and Evolution.
Phys.org / Arctic Ocean food chain is disrupted as a key tipping point has now been passed
An irreversible shift in the chemical makeup of the Arctic Ocean driven by climate change is disrupting the region's food chain, a study suggests. Widespread loss of Arctic sea ice has led to a sharp fall in levels of a key ...
Phys.org / Quantum vibronics research points to future energy and computing technologies
Scientists at the University of California, Riverside are making breakthroughs in understanding how quantum wave functions move across ultra-thin materials—research that could eventually improve solar energy technologies ...
Phys.org / Think DEET keeps mosquitoes away? They may be learning to love it
Every summer, millions of people spray themselves with DEET to keep mosquitoes away. But new research suggests mosquitoes may be able to learn to associate the repellent with food—and even become attracted to it.
Phys.org / Deep beneath Utah, rare mantle earthquakes reshape seismic hazard questions
Nearly 50 years ago, a puzzling earthquake beneath northern Utah jolted scientists' understanding of how Earth works. Now, research from the University of Utah confirms that the mysterious event was real, and part of a rare ...
Phys.org / Biologists improve biomass mapping tools to better track carbon storage
In the far north regions of Earth, where forests stretch across Alaska and Canada, climate change is unfolding at an accelerated pace. Arctic and boreal regions are warming two to four times faster than the global average, ...
Phys.org / Electromagnetic noise can send migrating bats off course, with effects lasting hours
New research has unearthed new insights into the disruptive and detrimental effects that human-produced electromagnetic noise can have on the ability of bats to migrate effectively. The study, published in the journal Science, ...
