Phys.org news

Phys.org / Sourdough starters: How flour choice shapes microbial communities

Sourdough starter, a fermented mix of flour and water, is a staple for bakers. It's also a rich experimental testing ground for microbiologists. The bread's chewy texture and tangy taste arise from the mix of microbes that ...

Dec 17, 2025 in Biology
Phys.org / Conventional entanglement can have thousands of hidden topologies in high dimensions

Researchers from the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, in collaboration with Huzhou University, discovered that the entanglement workhorse of most quantum optics laboratories can have hidden topologies, reporting ...

Dec 17, 2025 in Physics
Phys.org / Prehistoric elephant footprints documented for first time in Murcia's fossil dunes

An international team, involving researchers from the University of Seville, the Andalusian Institute of Earth Sciences in Granada and the University of Huelva, has identified the first fossilized vertebrate footprints from ...

Dec 17, 2025 in Biology
Phys.org / One and done is not enough: Study challenges traditional evolutionary research

Every living being must cope with a changing world—summer gives way to winter, one year it floods and the next is a drought. It's obvious that populations of plants and animals must constantly face new challenges, says ...

Dec 17, 2025 in Biology
Phys.org / An 'origami' airless wheel to explore lunar caves

A joint research team from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and the Unmanned Exploration Laboratory (UEL) has developed a transformative wheel capable of navigating the moon's most extreme terrains, ...

Dec 17, 2025 in Astronomy & Space
Phys.org / Perseverance Mars rover ready to roll for miles in years ahead

After nearly five years on Mars, NASA's Perseverance rover has traveled almost 25 miles (40 kilometers), and the mission team has been busy testing the rover's durability and gathering new science findings on the way to a ...

Dec 17, 2025 in Astronomy & Space
Phys.org / Shortest light pulse ever created captures ultrafast electron dynamics

Electrons determine everything: how chemical reactions unfold, how materials conduct electricity, how biological molecules transfer energy, and how quantum technologies operate. But electron dynamics happens on attosecond ...

Dec 17, 2025 in Physics
Phys.org / Soil molecular diversity spikes as microbes decompose plants, researchers discover

Globally, soils contain three times as much carbon as exists in the atmosphere and all plants, combined. Which means that understanding how soil microbes recycle organic materials—sometimes sending CO2 back into the atmosphere, ...

Dec 17, 2025 in Earth
Phys.org / Saturn's biggest moon might not have an ocean after all

Careful reanalysis of data from more than a decade ago indicates that Saturn's biggest moon, Titan, does not have a vast ocean beneath its icy surface, as suggested previously. Instead, a journey below the frozen exterior ...

Dec 17, 2025 in Astronomy & Space
Phys.org / The perfect polymer? Plant-based plastic is fully saltwater degradable and leaves behind zero microplastics

Researchers led by Takuzo Aida at the RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science (CEMS) in Japan have one-upped themselves in their quest to solve our microplastic problem.

Dec 17, 2025 in Chemistry
Phys.org / Rate of US coastal sea level rise doubled in the past century, study finds

A July 2025 report from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) claims that U.S. tide gauge measurements "in aggregate show no obvious acceleration in sea level rise beyond the historical average rate." However, a new study by ...

Dec 17, 2025 in Earth
Phys.org / Overlooked hydrogen emissions are heating Earth and supercharging methane, research finds

Rising global emissions of hydrogen over the past three decades have added to the planet's warming temperatures and amplified the impact of methane, one of the most potent greenhouse gases, according to new research published ...

Dec 17, 2025 in Earth