Hotspot discovery proves Canadian astrophysicist's black hole theory

The recent detection of flares circling black holes has proven a decade-old theory co-developed by a Canadian physicist about how black holes grow and consume matter. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Timelapse shows twenty-five years in the life of one the most studied objects in astronomy: Supernova 1987a

Since it first appeared in the southern night sky on February 24th 1987, Supernova 1987A has been one of the most studied objects in the history of astronomy. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

New report finds tropical disease causing heart problems in dogs assisting with homeland security duties

More than 100 working dogs employed by the federal government across the United States have been infected with the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, the cause of Chagas disease, which may lead to heart problems, according to a new study presented today at the American Society for Tropi … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

High-end solutions to extreme climate change in a new online resource

With climate change becoming an increasingly hot topic globally, the EU-funded project IMPRESSIONS launches a new online resource to provide a scientifically robust and policy-relevant understanding of the nature and scale of more extreme and long-term consequences of climate and … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Physical and human capital rather than military spending key for economic growth in Russia: study

Investment in education, healthcare, sports, road infrastructure and transportation, rather than national defense and, to a lesser extent, national security and law enforcement, is what drives economic growth rates and GDP level upwards in Russia, suggests a recent analysis of go … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Why polarized politicians can represent citizens best

Do ideologically extreme politicians deemed "polarized" misrepresent a more moderate populace? According to the article "The Delegate Paradox: Why Polarized Politicians Can Represent Citizens Best" published in the October 2018 issue The Journal of Politics by Douglas J. Ahler an … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

The science of studying the effects of extraordinary beliefs on consumer behavior

The study of superstition and other extraordinary beliefs in the marketplace brings challenges and opportunities for the enhancement of consumer well-being. In "Superstition, Ethics, and Transformative Consumer Research," published in the October issue of the Journal of the Assoc … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Venice is flooded, but other cities are in much greater danger

Venice has flooded. But while worry about the worst floods in a decade and warnings about the impacts of climate change and sea level rise dominate most of the media coverage, there's a more complex story to be told. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Scary giant blue stars may unlock mysteries of stellar evolution

Imagine a single star more luminous than a million suns, erupting every few decades in a massive flare that shines as bright as a supernova. But the blast, as ferocious as it is, does not obliterate the tumultuous star. It remains, its surface roiling with violence as spasms rock … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

E-cigarettes: The new hazardous waste

Single-use plastic straws, bags and coffee pods have captured the attention of the public and legislatures looking to ban products that wind up littering the landscape. But at the same time, e-cigarettes have begun to show up on streets and shores, catching officials off-guard an … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

How a team of biologists is taking on an infestation and saving a species from extinction

Eggs hatching. Larvae burrowing under the skin and feeding on surrounding tissue. It's like a scene from a horror movie. Only this isn't a movie—it's happening in real life to an extremely endangered bird species, the Ridgway's hawk. The culprit is a botfly in the genus Philornis … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Image: Simulating the darkness of space

A Halloween view inside one of the darker recesses of ESA's technical heart. Shaded to resemble the blackness of deep space, the GNC Rendezvous, Approach and Landing Simulator, or GRALS, is seen being used to test vision-based navigation algorithms under development for the propo … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Better cocoa crops for better livelihoods

Chocolate may be one of life's little pleasures, but in Ghana, for many, it is the very means of life. Around 800,000 households, smallholdings effectively, make their way by cultivating cocoa, and many more are involved in the supply chains that bring it to our supermarket shelv … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Google puts up $25 million for AI research

Google is creating a $25 million fund for artificial intelligence research around the world to address social and economic problems. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Russia blames rocket failure on technical malfunction

Russia's space agency says an investigation has found that a rocket carrying a crew to the International Space Station failed recently because of a technical malfunction of a sensor. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

How a small change will reduce distortion in measuring innovation

When your child is diabetic, a few minutes can make a big difference, and it pays to have real-time access to their blood sugar numbers. But what if no one sells a product that can do that? You build one, like the open-source community that developed the wireless blood sugar moni … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Can bacteria colonies be good neighbours?

A team of German scientists have gained new insights into the way bacteria colonies interact. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Updating high-resolution MRI

How can you make a high-frequency MRI machine more precise? By taking an electrical engineering approach to creating a better, uniform magnetic field. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Can organic production be the driving force for development in Africa?

In Africa, the development of organic agriculture is facing specific challenges because of the need to achieve food security for a rapidly expanding population and the persistent low chemical input use for producing food for home consumption. We are familiar with the export of ce … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Math describes how bubbles pop

Understanding the dynamics of bursting bubbles can provide critical insights for a range of fields from oceanography to atmospheric science, but the mechanisms that drive the final pop are complex and difficult to describe. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Asia coal plants worrying for climate targets: IEA

Coal-fired power plants operating and under construction in Asia pose a threat to achieving the goal of halting global warming, the head of the International Energy Agency told the Financial Times on Wednesday. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Fujitsu develops technology to predict biochemical reactions, clarifying the mechanisms of genetic disorders

Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd., the Insight Centre for Data Analytics, a data analytics research institution based in Ireland, and Fujitsu (Ireland) Limited today announced the development of a technology that makes it possible to predict large volumes of unknown chemical reactions, a … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Using AI to deduce bias in social media and news

"I'm feeling sick." "This video game is SICK!" To a computer, the word "sick" may have the same meaning in these two sentences. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Study finds most likely route of first humans into Australia

A new study from ANU indicates the most likely route the ancestors of Aboriginal people took to enter Australia for the first time tens of thousands of years ago. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Balloon measurements reveal dust particle properties in free troposphere over desert

The Taklamakan Desert, one of the major sources of Asian dust, is situated in the Tarim Basin, with the Tianshan Mountains in the north, Pamir Plateau in the west, Kunlun Mountains in the south, and Dunhuang in the east. The area is significant for studying the initial state of A … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Researchers assemble the Eurasian perch genome

In a study published recently in the scientific journal G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics, researchers from Estonian University of Life Sciences, in collaboration with colleagues from University of Turku, assembled the Eurasian perch genome. It is three times smaller than the human ge … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

NASA's mission to Jupiter's Trojans given the green light for development

NASA's mission to perform the first reconnaissance of the Trojans, a population of primitive asteroids orbiting in tandem with Jupiter, passed a critical milestone today. NASA has given approval for the implementation and 2021 launch of the Lucy spacecraft. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Deep learning for glaucoma detection

Glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness in the world, impacting approximately 2.7 million people in the U.S alone. It is a complex set of diseases and, if left untreated, can lead to blindness. It's a particularly large issue in Australia, where only 50 percent of all p … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

One hundred and ten liters of urban stormwater cleaned every second

Dirty runoff sweeps urban streets, pollutes groundwater and pressures sewage systems. A University of Copenhagen researcher has invented a treatment method that is now being used at a large, new wastewater facility in Copenhagen, Denmark. At the facility, stormwater runoff is tur … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Sailing towards a fully electric ferry

The Danish island of Aeroe, located in the Baltic Sea, is one of the few islands not connected to the mainland by a bridge. As a result, it is dependent on car ferries. Aeroe also has another distinction: it aims to become 100% carbon neutral by 2025. Although it has already made … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Monitoring antibiotic resistance

Antibiotic resistance is a complex problem in animal husbandry. Antibiotics are essential for both veterinary and human healthcare, but their usage can lead to antimicrobial resistance. Dik Mevius, an expert in the use of antibiotics for livestock management, gives here an overvi … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Scientists obtain new results in the study of inorganic pigments with apatite structure

Compounds with the apatite structure differ from most classes by the variety of their chemical compositions. To create such substances, most chemical elements can be used, while the characteristics of the crystalline structure of apatite will be preserved. The resulting variety o … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

A new pharmacological molecule improves the safety of canine sedation and anaesthesia

A drug discovery made at the University of Helsinki's Faculty of Veterinary Medicine will increase the safety of animal sedation and anaesthesia. Vatinoxan, the pharmacological molecule discovered in the study, reduced the adverse effects of other drugs on the cardiovascular syst … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Cell behavior, once shrouded in mystery, is revealed in new light

A cell's behavior is as mysterious as a teenager's mood swings. However, University of Missouri researchers are one step closer to understanding cell behavior, with the help of a specialized microscope. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

New model is a leap forward in understanding plant organ growth

Cells are the building blocks of life that grow and divide to create all living things. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

First comprehensive study of chemosensory organ physiology in an annelid

A team of researchers from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Germany and the University of Exeter in the U.K. has conducted the first comprehensive study of the head chemosensory organ physiology in an annelid. In their paper published in the journal Royal Society Open … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

What any country can and can't do in Antarctica, in the name of science

Antarctica is owned by no one, but there are plenty of countries interested in this frozen island continent at the bottom of the Earth. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

New research recovers nutrients from seafood process water

Process waters from the seafood industry contain valuable nutrients, that could be used in food or aquaculture feed. But currently, these process waters are treated as waste. Now, a research project from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, shows the potential of recycling … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

NASA retires Kepler Space Telescope

After nine years in deep space collecting data that indicate our sky to be filled with billions of hidden planets—more planets even than stars—NASA's Kepler space telescope has run out of fuel needed for further science operations. NASA has decided to retire the spacecraft within … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

'Folded' optical devices manipulate light in a new way

The next generation of electronic devices, ranging from personal health monitors and augmented reality headsets to sensitive scientific instruments that would only be found in a laboratory, will likely incorporate components that use metasurface optics, according to Andrei Faraon … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

The when, where and what of air pollutant exposure

Scientists have linked air pollution with many health conditions including asthma, heart disease, lung cancer and premature death. Among air pollutants, fine particulate matter is especially harmful because the tiny particles (diameter of 2.5 μm or less) can penetrate deep within … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Cost-effective marketing campaigns on social media

Social media is the new equivalent of "word of mouth" advertising, and in the United States alone, corporate social media spending is projected to exceed $17 billion by 2019. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Nature matters—and it is sending us an SOS that we can no longer ignore

Planet earth, nature and us. We are all linked in such a subtle and clever way that we don't even know how lucky we are—until it changes. Yesterday we relied on nature, today we rely on nature, and tomorrow we will still rely on nature. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

'Zombie' stars return from the dead

Black holes are among the most elusive objects in the universe, but research out of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) suggests the remnant cores of burned-out stars could be the key to making the first observation of the most elusive class of black holes. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Sifting through 50 million phone calls for patterns to aid refugees

When refugees use their mobile phones they leave clues about how well they are integrating (or not) into their host country. Clio Andris, assistant professor of geography in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, is analyzing a year's worth of phone calls to find the clues to … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Popular meal-kit companies may be creating low-wage, dead-end jobs, study finds

Meal kits make cooking easier for millions of busy families and time-starved professionals. But a new study by the Center for Labor Research and Education (Labor Center) at UC Berkeley suggests that the workers filling boxes with pre-portioned ingredients and recipe cards are str … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Inspiring new drug discovery by pseudo natural products

Almost a third of available pharmaceuticals are based on natural products. The discovery of new natural products-inspired drugs, however, is slow due to their limited chemical diversity, their high chemical complexity and the resulting low yields. The group of Herbert Waldmann ha … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Goodbye Europe, hello Moon: European Module ships soon

The European Service Module that will power and propel the Orion spacecraft on its first mission around the moon will ship early next week from Bremen to the United States. It will take off in an Antonov An-124 aircraft in the early hours of 5 November and arrive at Kennedy Space … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago