Phys.org news

Phys.org / Haven or trap? Study finds sinkholes protect endangered tree at evolutionary cost

Are giant sinkholes in China's karst mountains havens or traps for the rare plants that inhabit them? A new study finds they are both—offering refuge from heat and drought while gradually eroding the evolutionary potential ...

Jul 14, 2026
Phys.org / With an eye toward exploration, researchers map moon's regolith thickness

New research by lunar scientists from Brown University provides critical new insights into the thickness of the moon's regolith, the layer of loose dust and rock that drapes the entire lunar surface.

Jul 14, 2026
Phys.org / Hidden muscle machinery reveals 50 new gene subfamilies across vertebrates

Within every muscle of every living species with a backbone, a protein called myosin tugs on a partner protein to generate a muscle contraction. This function, discovered in mammals a century ago, has been presumed by scientists ...

Jul 14, 2026
Phys.org / 'Uncanny valley' effect observed in macaques through 3D animated monkey avatars

A new tool that allows researchers to create realistic full-body animations of monkeys has provided the first evidence that nonhuman primates experience the "uncanny valley" phenomenon for body avatars, according to a study ...

Jul 14, 2026
Phys.org / Roman telescope will spot distant black holes that shred stars

How do black holes at the centers of galaxies form and grow over time? To answer this question, scientists need to detect and study supermassive black holes at great distances that existed much earlier in the universe's history. ...

Jul 14, 2026
Phys.org / How supermassive black holes feed themselves

Astronomers are closer to solving the mystery of how supermassive black holes feed themselves thanks to new images from the James Webb Space Telescope, or JWST. The images provide the clearest view ever seen of gaseous filaments ...

Jul 14, 2026
Phys.org / New atomic trap boosts quantum performance by using surface forces

Researchers at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin have developed a new method for trapping and controlling atoms near an ultrathin glass fiber. This has significantly improved the atoms' ability to store quantum information—an ...

Jul 14, 2026
Phys.org / Honey bees' sense of smell changes from larval to adult life stages, study finds

Honey bee larvae lack the sophisticated olfactory capabilities of adult honey bees, a new study finds. Scientists point to this temporary loss of function as a side effect of the nurse bees' heroic level of brood care, calling ...

Jul 14, 2026
Phys.org / How tides and river water combine to amplify floods

Ocean tides push upstream along coastal rivers, in some cases reaching hundreds of kilometers (hundreds of miles) inland. These inland stretches are known as tidal rivers, and they're the scene of complex interactions between ...

Jul 14, 2026
Phys.org / Magnetic fingerprint of a cosmic explosion detected for the first time

Astronomers have made a series of landmark observations of one of the universe's most violent events. Using the U.S. National Science Foundation Very Large Array (NSF VLA) radio telescope, which is operated by the U.S. National ...

Jul 14, 2026
Phys.org / Study reveals Hawaiian hotspot is getting hotter

Contrary to conventional geological thinking, the Hawaiian mantle plume has gotten hotter by about 250°C (480°F) over the past 47 million years. This discovery, led by Earth scientists at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, ...

Jul 14, 2026
Phys.org / Researchers define new frontier in quantum materials

Researchers at City College of New York physicist Vinod M. Menon's Laboratory for Nano and Micro Photonics (LaNMP) have outlined an emerging frontier in quantum materials: atomically thin systems in which light, magnetism ...

Jul 14, 2026