Food scraps to become dairy and meat substitutes

Finicky eating habits and wasteful processes have led to a system that discards millions of tonnes of food each year, but new approaches are salvaging the scraps we never see to make products that people will want to eat. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Sierra Leone's chimpanzees pay price of human expansion

They have their hands full at the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary, where record numbers of orphaned chimps are being delivered to their care, victims of the relentless expansion of human activity. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Nature pushed to the brink by 'runaway consumption'

Unbridled consumption has decimated global wildlife, triggered a mass extinction and exhausted Earth's capacity to accommodate humanity's expanding appetites, the conservation group WWF warned Tuesday. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Nature under assault: key indicators

The World Wildlife Fund and partners have tracked population changes in Earth's animal species for decades. News from the latest "Living Planet" report, released Tuesday, is more grim than ever. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

A 'deal for nature' to rescue wildlife: WWF chief

The global population of fish, birds, amphibians, reptiles and mammals has declined 60 percent since 1970, according to the WWF's "Living Planet" report released Tuesday. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Sony nearly doubles first-half net profits, upgrades forecast

Sony on Tuesday announced its six-month net profit had nearly doubled from last year to a new record, and upgraded its annual forecasts, with games and movies leading the way. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Apple Watch supplier under fire over China student labour

Apple is investigating a factory in southwest China after a labour rights group said the tech giant's supplier forced student workers to work "like robots" to assemble its popular Apple Watch. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

From streaming TV to Gmail, it's all about the cloud

Whether you're watching your favorite show on Netflix or backing up all-important cat photos to Google Drive, the "cloud" has become an essential part of our digital lives. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Crouching tigers, hidden cameras: Nepal counts its big cats

Chayan Kumar Chaudhary flicked through photographs captured on a hidden camera in the jungle, hoping his favourite big cat—dubbed "selfie tiger" for its love of the limelight—had made another appearance. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Volkswagen profits soar as diesel scandal costs fade

German car giant Volkswagen reported soaring profits Thursday for a third quarter free of massive payouts for diesel emissions cheating but the results were still weighed down by new pollution tests. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Spy chief wanted ban on China telecoms from Australian 5G

Australia's critical infrastructure including electricity grids, water supplies and hospitals could not have been adequately safeguarded if Chinese-owned telecommunications giants Huawei and ZTE Corp. were allowed to help roll out the nation's 5G network, a spy chief said. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Apple expected to unveil new iPads, Mac in New York

New iPads and Mac computers are expected Tuesday as part of an Apple event in New York. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Honda raises forecasts on solid motorbike sales

Japan's Honda Motor said Tuesday it was raising annual forecasts after first-half profits rose over 19 percent on brisk sales of motorcycles in Asia. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Increasing frequency of ocean storms could alter kelp forest ecosystems

A large-scale, long-term experiment on kelp forests off Southern California brings new insight to how the biodiversity of coastal ecosystems could be impacted over time as a changing climate potentially increases the frequency of ocean storms. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Study uncovers high levels of previously unsuspected pollutant in homes, environment

Scientists at Indiana University found high levels of a previously unsuspected pollutant in homes, in an electronic waste recycling facility and in the natural environment. People are likely to be exposed to this pollutant by breathing contaminated dust or through skin contact. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Researchers use the Large Millimeter Telescope to observe a powerful molecular wind in an active spiral galaxy

An international team of astrophysicists using the Large Millimeter Telescope (LMT) in central Mexico has detected an unexpected and powerful outflow of molecular gas in a distant active galaxy similar to the Milky Way. The galaxy is 800 million light years from Earth. The findin … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Google to give away $25 million to fund humane AI projects

Google will give away $25 million to projects that propose ways to use the artificial intelligence of computers to help create a more humane society. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

IBM's $34B Red Hat deal is risky bid to boost cloud business

IBM's plan to buy Red Hat is both the biggest acquisition in IBM's century-long history and a risky effort to position itself as a major player in cloud computing. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

NASA spacecraft sets record for closest approach to sun

NASA's Parker Solar Probe is now closer to the sun than any spacecraft has ever gotten. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Mountain birds on 'escalator to extinction' as planet warms

A meticulous re-creation of a 3-decade-old study of birds on a mountainside in Peru has given scientists a rare chance to prove how the changing climate is pushing species out of the places they are best adapted to. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Most Americans underestimate minorities' environmental concerns—even minorities

A new study shows most Americans underestimate just how concerned minorities and lower-income people are about environmental threats, including members of those groups. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Animal species becoming extinct in Haiti as deforestation nearly complete

Species of reptiles, amphibians and other vertebrates are becoming extinct in Haiti as deforestation has claimed more than 99 percent of the country's original wooded areas. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Alterations to seabed raise fears for future

The ocean floor as we know it is dissolving rapidly as a result of human activity. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Beyond 1984: Narrow focus on wildfire trends underestimates future risks to water security

Dramatic increases in wildfire over the last few decades have garnered considerable media attention. Numerous headlines have claimed that the amount of wildfire in the western U.S. is unprecedented. However, in a recent issue of Earth's Future, published by the American Geophysic … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Atlantic's Hurricane Oscar's water vapor measured by NASA's Terra Satellite

When NASA's Terra satellite passed over the Central Atlantic Ocean on Oct. 16 the MODIS instrument aboard analyzed water vapor within Hurricane Oscar. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Hidden costs of disease to greater Yellowstone elk

For decades researchers have known that a bacterial disease in elk, bison and cattle in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem causes periodic abortions in these animals and chronic illness in humans drinking infected cow's milk. The disease, called brucellosis, poses a financial conc … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Threatening Typhoon Yutu probed by GPM Satellite

Typhoon Yutu, known as Rosita in the Philippines, is now threatening the Philippine Island of Luzon. The Global Precipitation Measurement mission or GPM core satellite provided a look at the heavy rainfall the storm is packing. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Zebrafish make waves in our understanding of a common craniofacial birth defect

Children are not as hard-headed as adults—in a very literal sense. Babies are born with soft spots and flexible joints called sutures at the junctions where various sections of their skull bones meet. If these sutures fuse prematurely, the skull cannot expand to accommodate the c … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Novel quantum dots enhance cell imaging

A team of researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Mayo Clinic have engineered a new type of molecular probe that can measure and count RNA in cells and tissue without organic dyes. The probe is based on the conventional fluorescence in situ hybridizati … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

New platform based on biology and nanotechnology carries mRNA directly to target cells

Delivering an effective therapeutic payload to specific target cells with few adverse effects is considered by many to be the holy grail of medical research. A new Tel Aviv University study explores a biological approach to directing nanocarriers loaded with protein "game changer … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Study sheds light on why a warmer world may equal a wetter Arctic

The Arctic is warming faster than the rest of the globe, and as it does, it's predicted to get wetter. But why? What mechanisms might drive these changes? | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Deconstructing the superfood that determines honeybee hierarchy

All bee larvae eat royal jelly when they're new, but only future queens continue to eat it. To figure out why, researchers in Austria are taking a close look at the molecular ingredients of the fancy fare. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Study reconciles persistent gap in natural gas methane emissions measurements

A new study offers answers to questions that have puzzled policymakers, researchers and regulatory agencies through decades of inquiry and evolving science: How much total methane, a greenhouse gas, is being emitted from natural gas operations across the U.S.? And why have differ … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Interior northwest Indians used tobacco long before European contact

Washington State University researchers have determined that Nez Perce Indians grew and smoked tobacco at least 1,200 years ago, long before the arrival of traders and settlers from the eastern United States. Their finding upends a long-held view that indigenous people in this ar … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Study reveals how soil bacteria are primed to consume greenhouse gas

New research has revealed that some soil bacteria are primed ready to consume the potent greenhouse gas nitrous oxide when they experience life without oxygen in the environment. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Genetic search reveals key to resistance in global cotton pest

In the most recent battle in the unending war between farmers and bugs, the bugs are biting back by adapting to crops genetically engineered to kill them. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Stunning new species of sea slugs discovered

A small team of scientists at The University of Western Australia, the Western Australian Museum, and the California Academy of Sciences has identified 18 new species of sea slugs, including some only found in WA. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Bitcoin can push global warming above 2 C in a couple decades

A new study published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Climate Change finds that if Bitcoin is implemented at similar rates at which other technologies have been incorporated, it alone could produce enough emissions to raise global temperatures by 2°C as soon as 2033. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Big quake in Romania could topple many schools, buildings

Romanian authorities say 170 schools and some 350 apartment buildings in the capital of Bucharest would not withstand a major earthquake. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Plant-based 'road salt' good for highways but not for insects

Beet juice deicer, a natural alternative to road salt that is considered to be an eco-friendlier winter road management solution, may not be ecologically friendly to nearby aquatic species. The findings—the first to explore the physiological effects of beet juice deicer in freshw … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

China permits limited trade of rhino, tiger goods

China on Monday announced it was authorising the trade of rhinoceros and tiger parts for scientific, medical and cultural purposes, a move wildlife conservationists fear could have "devastating consequences" globally. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Study provides whole-system view of plant cold stress

When temperatures drop, plants can't bundle up. Stuck outside, exposed, plants instead undergo a series of biochemical changes that protect cells from damage. Scientists have described these changes and identified some of the genes controlling them, but it's not clear how all the … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Team improves structural health monitoring with magnetostrictive transducer

A new, more powerful generation of a patented Southwest Research Institute magnetostrictive sensor withstands extreme temperatures, automatically adjusts frequencies and incorporates a stronger magnet. The compact magnetostrictive transducer (MsT) more accurately detects potentia … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Scientists to explore new sites in Puerto Rico, USVI waters

Scientists will explore new sites in deep waters surrounding Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands to learn more about coral and fish habitats as part of a 22-day mission led by the U.S. government. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Hubble Space Telescope working again after 3-week shutdown

The Hubble Space Telescope is studying the cosmos once again after a three-week shutdown. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Researchers create scalable platform for on-chip quantum emitters

Household lightbulbs give off a chaotic torrent of energy, as trillions of miniscule light particles—called photons—reflect and scatter in all directions. Quantum light sources, on the other hand, are like light guns that fire single photons one by one, each time they are trigger … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Biologists discover source for boosting tumor cell drug sensitivity

DNA-damaging agents, or "DDAs," make up the most widely used group of cancer drugs. Yet their therapeutic success has been curtailed by drug resistance—either present in cancer cells from the disease onset or arising during treatment. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago

Our microbes are starving, and that's a good thing

Each of us is only half human. The other half is microbial. Trillions of viruses, fungi, bacteria and other microscopic organisms coat our skin and line our vital organs. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 6 years ago