Phys.org news

Phys.org / Euclid captures 60 million stars in sharpest broad view of Milky Way's core

For just one day, our dark universe detective, Euclid, turned its gaze toward the light: the extremely bright inner region of our Milky Way galaxy, known as the galactic bulge. This special request came from astronomers who ...

Jun 24, 2026
Phys.org / Mathematicians unleash multifold speed boost for supercomputer simulations of molecules

More than 20% of the workload on the world's 500 fastest supercomputers is spent simulating how atoms and molecules move—with applications ranging from material design to identifying drug interactions to understanding protein ...

Jun 24, 2026
Phys.org / First complete map of world's seagrass offers warnings and hope for conservation

It's time we gave seagrass the credit it's due. This hero of a plant protects coastlines, stores vast amounts of carbon and supports ecosystems that people and wildlife depend on. But we don't often hear about it when it ...

Jun 24, 2026
Phys.org / Surprising diversity found among Europe's last Neanderthals

A new study published in Nature provides the most detailed picture to date of Neanderthal diversity in Western Europe shortly before their extinction.

Jun 24, 2026
Phys.org / From virtue to vice: How the morality of popular music lyrics has changed since the 1960s

Popular music may be reflecting a growing culture of vices, according to new research from the Center for Digital Music at Queen Mary University of London. The analysis of musical evolution found that song lyrics have become ...

Jun 24, 2026
Phys.org / Introducing Weather Jiu-Jitsu, a new approach to avert catastrophic weather events

In a new perspective paper, Qin Huang of Arizona State University and colleagues propose that the worst damage from extreme weather events could be prevented through Weather Jiu-Jitsu, a theory-based approach to "nudge" weather ...

Jun 24, 2026
Phys.org / 'Collapsible scissored surfaces' complete trilogy of metamaterial design principles

Over the past decade, Professor L. Mahadevan's Soft Math Lab at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) has helped establish how the ancient Japanese paper arts of folding or cutting ...

Jun 24, 2026
Phys.org / Sicily remained a medieval melting pot despite major political and religious upheavals, ancient DNA reveals

Sicilian populations have been genetically diverse for many centuries, and they have remained that way even through major regime changes and religious transitions, according to a study published in PLOS One by Aurore Monnereau ...

Jun 24, 2026
Phys.org / Fiber-optic cables detect silent whales off Svalbard by tracking pressure waves

A 100-year-old equation and a fiber-optic cable off the coast of Svalbard led researchers to discover they could detect swimming whales—even if they were completely silent. The discovery broadens the tools biologists could ...

Jun 24, 2026
Phys.org / Scientists catch classical space-time crystals moving like Majorana quasiparticles

A research team from Hiroshima University, the University of Colorado, and other collaborators have demonstrated that space-time crystals—exotic structures that, under external drive, loop endlessly through both space and ...

Jun 24, 2026
Phys.org / Machine learning rediscovers equations governing ocean biogeochemistry

Climate and ocean models use a series of equations to represent complex natural processes. However, the equations used in these models are often derived from limited observations and a series of assumptions.

Jun 24, 2026
Phys.org / By making key signaling molecules called β-arrestins into druggable targets, scientists crack long-standing challenge

To function normally, nearly every cell in the human body relies on G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) to receive and send signals. That's why GPCRs are targeted by roughly one-third of all FDA-approved drugs.

Jun 24, 2026