Phys.org news

Phys.org / Nanoscale hairs may help gecko skin trap moisture and slow evaporation

In a dry shrubland, a gecko sprints toward shelter. Its greatest danger is not a predator, although hawks circle overhead and sand cats wait in ambush. Rather, its most pressing concern is dehydration. Its skin is paper-thin; ...

Aug 25, 2026
Phys.org / Chatbots are making our writing more similar but losing the identity and personality behind it

Large language models (LLMs) are making writing styles more similar without changing the overall meaning, according to an analysis of more than 880,000 texts across different writing types published in Nature Human Behaviour. ...

Aug 25, 2026
Phys.org / The hidden chemistry behind glow-in-the-dark art

Some of the world's brightest colors don't just reflect light; they create it. Scientists and museum conservators are now uncovering why these luminous pigments fade and how to preserve them for future generations. The findings ...

Aug 25, 2026
Phys.org / AI financial advice can improve decisions or steer investors wrong, experiment finds

To what extent can AI improve our financial decisions or steer us in the wrong direction? Researchers at the University of Bayreuth investigated this question in a new study involving 3,700 participants and fictional investment ...

Aug 25, 2026
Phys.org / Tides can vary by almost a meter across a single bay, four decades of satellite images reveal

Tide levels can vary by almost a meter across a single bay, according to a new study that uses decades of satellite images to measure tides at the scale of individual beaches.

Aug 25, 2026
Phys.org / Engineered yeasts help turn PET plastic and crop waste into protein-rich cookies

Plastic might be the last ingredient you would ever add to a cookie recipe. But a team of researchers is looking to change that. They've programmed yeasts to turn plastic and agricultural waste into edible proteins and flavoring ...

Aug 24, 2026
Phys.org / How the sun's galactic journey and superflare-filled youth shaped Earth's climate

At the center of our solar system, the sun influences every planet that orbits it. In two recent studies, scientists uncovered how ancient events in the sun's history may have helped create Earth's unique climate and driven ...

Aug 24, 2026
Phys.org / Cowpea plants create underground defense system for the next generation after insect attacks

Plants might seem helpless when it comes to insect attacks, but they are known to employ various techniques to deter pests. One of these techniques involves sending out signals to recruit parasitoid wasps, and a new study, ...

Aug 24, 2026
Phys.org / Mapping thorium's preferred sites could pave the way for nuclear clocks

For decades, physicists have used a technique called Mössbauer spectroscopy to peer inside solid materials, revealing fine details of their surroundings by studying how their atomic nuclei absorb and re-emit gamma rays.

Aug 24, 2026
Phys.org / A 4-star system caught eclipsing itself in a way never seen before

Astronomers have found a four-star system doing something that has never been confirmed before. The system, TIC 433545934, has two close pairs of stars orbiting each other. While each pair eclipses its own two stars, as usual, ...

Aug 24, 2026
Phys.org / Marker words suggest sharp rise in AI-assisted biomedical writing after ChatGPT

Up until two years ago, using large language models was still considered a special skill that everyone was encouraged to learn. Now, it is ubiquitous, especially in writing research papers that eventually become part of the ...

Aug 24, 2026
Phys.org / Mystery statue unearthed at Sardis archaeological dig

Researchers with the long-running Harvard–Cornell Archaeological Exploration of Sardis have unearthed a larger-than-life statue estimated to be nearly 2,500 years old.

Aug 24, 2026