Phys.org, Author at Spotlight Magazine

First close pair of supermassive black holes detected

Supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies are one of the most active fields of research in astronomy. In order to accumulate their enormous masses, they must merge with each other. A research team […]

How Jupiter cultivated more large moons than Saturn

The two largest planets in our solar system, Jupiter and Saturn, also have the largest satellite systems, or the most moons. At present, Jupiter’s reported moon count stands at more than 100 moons, and along […]

Green skepticism indirectly reduces intention to purchase sustainable products, says study

Skepticism about claims regarding sustainability reduces consumers’ intentions to purchase sustainable products by weakening two important drivers of green consumption: people’s willingness to look for trustworthy environmental information and their anticipated guilt about making less […]

Why we’re skeptical of the emotions we see on our screens

If you’ve poured your heart out on social media about a political issue, it might have felt cathartic—but likely was not persuasive, Cornell research finds. Americans are skeptical of emotional comments they see in their […]

Do you see faces in the clouds? Researchers examine pareidolia

Humans are masters of seeing faces in any old thing—a handbag, TV static, toasted white bread. Scientists want to know why. A few years ago, as the category 5 Hurricane Milton bore down on the […]

Astronomers discover Andromeda XXXVI, an ultra-faint dwarf satellite galaxy

By analyzing the data from the Pan-Andromeda Archaeological Survey (PandAS), European astronomers have discovered a new satellite of the Andromeda galaxy. The newfound object, which received the designation Andromeda XXXVI, appears to be an ultra-faint […]

Natural disasters trigger 69% surge in public protests across Latin America, research finds

When a natural disaster strikes a Latin American community, the damage doesn’t stop at downed power lines and flooded streets. A new study finds that disasters trigger a 69% spike in public protests in affected […]

How an eye physician who translated classical Greek medicine into Arabic helped form Western medical thought

A medieval ophthalmologist who translated Greek works by Galen, Hippocrates, and Plato into Arabic played a pivotal role in shaping Western medical scholarship, according to a study published in the journal Cogent Arts and Humanities.This […]

By age 7, most children quickly spot individuals’ social biases toward social groups, study finds

Most elementary school-aged children have a surprising cognitive ability: they can detect—nearly as well as adults—when someone treats people from one social group differently than another. The study, “Children’s and adults’ detection of social biases,” […]

Analysis finds geometric thinking may come from wandering, not a human-only math module

Debates over how geometry is understood and learned date back at least to the days of Plato, with more recent scholars concluding that only humans possess the foundations of this understanding. However, a new analysis […]