Phys.org news

Phys.org / Oldest example of preserved tube feet reveals clues about the lives of 452-million-year-old sea lilies

Echinoderms, such as starfish, sea urchins and sea lilies, use small, flexible, tubular projections called "tube feet" for locomotion, feeding, respiration and sensory perception. Crinoids, a subgroup of echinoderms, are ...

Jun 24, 2026
Phys.org / Language-based screeners may miss kids who struggle to read due to visual-processing issues

Reading difficulties, like dyslexia, are common and often affect achievement and outcomes during school and later in life. A new study, published in Current Biology, reports that current methods used to test for reading disabilities ...

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 / Sugar-coated nanoparticles show promise for treating most aggressive form of brain cancer

Researchers at Oregon State University have potentially found a new way to treat the most aggressive form of brain cancer, glioblastoma, whose two-year survival rate is less than 30%.

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 / Laser experiments push helium to record shock pressures

Deep inside gas giants like Jupiter and Saturn, hydrogen and helium coexist under pressures millions of times greater than Earth's atmosphere. Under those conditions, helium may separate from hydrogen and influence a planet's ...

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 / 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 / Human DNA can survive on cave walls for thousands of years, opening new window into prehistory

For the first time, scientists have shown that ancient human DNA can survive for thousands of years on cave walls, opening new ways to study prehistoric human activity. This interdisciplinary study was conducted within the ...

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 / 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 / Euclid mission view of Milky Way's heart previews upcoming survey by NASA's Roman

A new look at the heart of our Milky Way galaxy by Euclid, an ESA (European Space Agency) mission with NASA contributions, overlaps with a region scientists will observe with NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, launching ...

Jun 24, 2026