Phys.org news

Phys.org / Archaeological digs in Amazon provide clues about Indigenous inhabitants before colonization

Paving roads in the Amazon rainforest has long brought deforestation that threatens the people who live there. The same roadwork, however, has also allowed archaeologists to get glimpses of the region's past long before Europeans ...

Apr 23, 2026
Phys.org / Brazil unearths a bizarre beaked reptile with a trans-Atlantic prehistoric link

Paleontologists from the Federal University of Santa Maria (UFSM) have published a new study in the scientific journal Royal Society Open Science, in which they describe a new species based on a fossil skull approximately ...

Apr 23, 2026
Phys.org / A huge tectonic boundary shook the ground where dinosaurs once stood

Scientists have discovered a Jurassic tectonic plate boundary that could help to predict what the planet might look like millions of years into the future. Dr. Jordan Phethean, Senior Lecturer in Earth Sciences at the University ...

Apr 23, 2026
Phys.org / AI automates quantum dot voltage tuning for scaling up quantum computing

Semiconductor spin qubits are a promising candidate for the building blocks of next-generation quantum computers due to their high potential for integration and compatibility with existing semiconductor technologies. Qubits—like ...

Apr 23, 2026
Phys.org / Tiny songbird crosses Sahara by flying night after night

Every year a small songbird, no heavier than a letter, crosses the Sahara Desert, the Mediterranean and the Arabian Desert on its migration. New research from Lund University in Sweden now reveals how the tiny bird manages ...

Apr 23, 2026
Phys.org / Honeybees pass their math test, upending an animal intelligence debate

We've run the numbers and the verdict is in: Honeybees do have the ability to process numerical information. New research led by Monash University has now addressed recent international debate over whether bees are truly ...

Apr 23, 2026
Phys.org / These 'good' viruses hold up a booming industry—AI just found a faster way to track them

Researchers have developed a new methodology that uses artificial intelligence tools to identify and count target viruses more efficiently than previous techniques. The new approach can be used in applications such as pharmaceutical ...

Apr 23, 2026
Phys.org / What wild honey from the Philippine jungle reveals about biodiversity

In the Philippines, Indigenous communities have been harvesting wild honey for centuries. A new chemical analysis of this honey now provides insights into the biodiversity of the region. "And an additional reason to protect ...

Apr 23, 2026
Phys.org / What's that swirly pattern? It's a moiré, and it has potential power

Just as wave-like patterns can appear on a computer screen when pixels do not align, new research led by Flinders University is investigating atomic-scale "moiré patterns" in the promising field of ferroelectricity. The new ...

Apr 23, 2026
Phys.org / How earthquakes stop: Near-fault records uncover overlooked phase

While analyzing strong-motion data close to fault lines, a group of researchers at Kyoto University noticed something unexpected: a negative phase in the waveforms, a pattern that did not conform to the existing interpretations ...

Apr 23, 2026
Phys.org / In Eastern Africa, the cradle of humankind is tearing apart

Eastern Africa's Turkana Rift is both a hotbed for fossil discoveries of our earliest ancestors and a literal hotbed of volcanic activity caused by shifting tectonic plates. Now researchers have found that Earth's underlying ...

Apr 23, 2026
Phys.org / How an Atlantic island narrowly escaped 'stealthy' eruption

Thousands of earthquakes affecting Portugal's São Jorge Island in the Azores in March 2022 were triggered by a vast sheet of magma (molten rock) rising from more than 20km below Earth's surface and stalling just 1.6km beneath ...

Apr 23, 2026