Scientific Discoveries

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Fast radio bursts could help disentangle galactic feedback from dark matter effects
Science News

Fast radio bursts could help disentangle galactic feedback from dark matter effects

Intense, brief flashes of radio light called fast radio bursts (FRBs) travel across billions of light-years to reach Earth, passing through a fog of matter along the way. The bursts' origins are unclear but may originate from highly magnetized dead stars called magnetars. The denser the fog through which FRBs travel, the more dispersed their signals become—similar to the way a prism splits white light into a rainbow of colors.

📅 2026-09-08 20:00:10    •    Phys.org
From classrooms to careers, Black women describe lasting effects of racialized bias
Science News

From classrooms to careers, Black women describe lasting effects of racialized bias

As a child, Nefatari excelled at advanced mathematics. But a teacher questioned her academic success in this area because the teacher believed Black girls were not good at math. Years later, as a research participant, Nefatari said the teacher's influence steered her away from her preferred field.

📅 2026-09-08 20:00:01    •    Phys.org
Giant impacts may strip small icy moons of subsurface oceans
Science News

Giant impacts may strip small icy moons of subsurface oceans

Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) scientists used simulations to understand the role disruptive impacts play on icy moons with subsurface oceans in our solar system. A recent paper published in the journal Nature Astronomy concludes that disruptive impacts can affect the presence and persistence of subsurface oceans in these moons but do not seem to create new oceans.

📅 2026-09-08 19:40:10    •    Phys.org
The future of malaria control is … more mosquitoes?
Science News

The future of malaria control is … more mosquitoes?

South Africa's malaria elimination teams could soon have backup from millions of decoy mosquitoes specially bred at Africa's first mosquito factory. These insects are part of South Africa's pioneering Sterile Insect Technique (SIT), developed through a joint partnership between the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) and Wits University.

📅 2026-09-08 19:20:05    •    Phys.org
Quebec wildfire smoke left forest moths with deformed wings, research finds
Science News

Quebec wildfire smoke left forest moths with deformed wings, research finds

Over the course of the summer of 2023, Quebec experienced its worst wildfire season on record. By its end, some 4.5 million hectares (11.1 million acres) of the province's boreal forest had burned. While the effects of the toxic smoke on humans have been thoroughly studied, our knowledge of the impact on local fauna—including insects—is lacking.

📅 2026-09-08 19:00:13    •    Phys.org
Star-fingered toads use fingertip lobules to detect prey in murky water
Science News

Star-fingered toads use fingertip lobules to detect prey in murky water

Surinam toads (Pipa pipa) are strange, flat frogs with minuscule eyes that live in the murky waters of the Amazon basin and carry their eggs on their backs. The way they catch prey is even weirder. They lie in wait with outstretched forelimbs until a small fish approaches, then snap open their jaws to create enough suction to draw the fish into their tongueless mouths and swallow it whole, all in a few hundredths of a second. But how do these frogs hunt in low visibility with poor vision?

📅 2026-09-08 19:00:09    •    Phys.org
New molecular magnet design boosts performance for ultrahigh-density data storage
Science News

New molecular magnet design boosts performance for ultrahigh-density data storage

Researchers at The University of Manchester and the Australian National University have developed a new class of molecular magnets that combines the most successful features of previous designs, resulting in some of the strongest magnetic memory properties reported to date.

📅 2026-09-08 18:40:09    •    Phys.org
New iron-bearing compounds could store water near Earth's core
Science News

New iron-bearing compounds could store water near Earth's core

Geochemical studies of volcanic rocks from Baffin Island, Canada, and Iceland suggest that some of the water dating back to Earth's formation may still be preserved deep within the planet. However, it has remained unclear which minerals could store such quantities of water under the extreme conditions of Earth's interior.

📅 2026-09-08 18:20:04    •    Phys.org