When apple trees blossom, worker bees rock

In an apple orchard outside Paris, a constant hum among the blossoming trees bears witness to thousands of worker bees pollinating millions of flowers in just three weeks. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Hulu reports growing user base, new shows, with Disney in control

Hulu announced Wednesday that its user base has grown to some 28 million as the streaming video platform now controlled by Walt Disney gears up to take on Netflix. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

780,000 evacuated in India ahead of major cyclone

Nearly 800,000 people in India's eastern coastal districts have been evacuated ahead of the expected arrival of a major cyclone packing winds of up to 200 kilometres (125 miles) per hour, officials said Thursday. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Judge rules Lyft must follow New York rules for driver minimum wage

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@phys.org | 5 years ago

SpaceX capsule was destroyed in 'anomaly': lawmaker

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@phys.org | 5 years ago

UK climate panel sets big goals: less meat, drive electric

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@phys.org | 5 years ago

As car-sharing picks up in US, so do legislative battles

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@phys.org | 5 years ago

Putin signs controversial internet law

President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday signed into law a "sovereign internet" bill which will allow Russian authorities to isolate the country's internet, a move decried by rights groups. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Maine becomes first state to ban single-use foam containers

Maine has banned single-use food and drink containers made from polystyrene foam, commonly known as Styrofoam, becoming the first state to do so. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

New scat study provides clues to puzzling existence of Humboldt martens in Oregon Dunes

With a new scat study, researchers are chipping away at solving a biological mystery on the central Oregon coast: the existence of an isolated population of a small but fierce forest predator that makes its home in the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Chemical records in teeth confirm elusive Alaska lake seals are one of a kind

Hundreds of harbor seals live in Iliamna Lake, the largest body of freshwater in Alaska and one of the most productive systems for sockeye salmon in the Bristol Bay region. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

New study highlights exaggerated physical differences between male and female superheroes

Superheroes like Thor and Black Widow may have what it takes to save the world in movies like Avengers: Endgame, but neither of their comic book depictions has a healthy body mass index (BMI). New research from Binghamton University and SUNY Oswego found that, within the pages of … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Wearable sensors could leverage biotechnology to monitor personal, environmental data

In an effort to enhance Soldier lethality, Army researchers are developing biorecognition receptors capable of consistent performance in multi-domain environments with the ability to collect real-time assessments of Soldier health and performance. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Diving deep into water and energy trade-offs

Two papers by Michigan State University (MSU) scientists begin challenging a more simplistic, input/output view of natural resources in favor of a way that better reflected how the world really works. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Research sparks new insights on laser welding

On its surface, the work is deceptively simple: Shoot a high-power laser beam onto a piece of metal for a fraction of a second and see what happens. But researchers say the physics of laser welding is surprisingly complex. A better understanding of the interaction between laser a … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Peanut genome sequenced with unprecedented accuracy

Improved pest resistance and drought tolerance are among potential benefits of an international effort in which Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists and their collaborators have produced the clearest picture yet of the complex genomic history of the cultivated peanut. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

NASA satellites track Tropical Cyclone Fani along Eastern India's coastline

NASA's Aqua and Terra satellites have been providing infrared, microwave and visible imagery of Tropical Cyclone Fani as it continued to move northward along the eastern coast of India. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Improved risk management for geothermal systems

Enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) are considered a promising source of energy that is clean, provides a sustainable baseload for heat and electricity, and is an emerging key technology in the long-term transition to a fossil fuel-free future. However, developing a geothermal rese … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Wolves more prosocial than pack dogs in touchscreen experiment

In a touchscreen-based task that allowed individual animals to provide food to others, wolves behaved more prosocially toward their fellow pack members than did pack dogs. Rachel Dale of the Wolf Science Center in Vienna, Austria, and colleagues present these findings in the open … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Hippos, the animal silicon pumps

The excrement of hippos plays an important role in the ecosystem of African lakes and rivers. Because there are fewer and fewer hippos, this ecosystem is in danger. In the long term, this could lead to food shortages at Lake Victoria, for example. These are some of the results of … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Resolving the 'invisible' gold puzzle

The Carlin-type gold deposits in Nevada, U.S., are the origin of five percent of the global production and 75 percent of the U.S. production of gold. In these deposits, gold does not occur in the form of nuggets or veins, but is hidden—together with arsenic—in pyrite, also known … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Researchers find water in samples from asteroid Itokawa

Two cosmochemists at Arizona State University have made the first-ever measurements of water contained in samples from the surface of an asteroid. The samples came from asteroid Itokawa and were collected by the Japanese space probe Hayabusa. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

First examples of Iberian prehistoric 'imitation amber' beads at gravesites

Prehistoric Iberians created "imitation amber" by repeatedly coating bead cores with tree resins, according to a study published May 1, 2019 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Carlos Odriozola from Universidad de Sevilla, Spain, and colleagues. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

US wildlife officials propose downlisting endangered beetle

U.S. wildlife officials say an endangered carnivorous beetle is making a comeback and should be downlisted to threatened. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Bald eagle died of lead poisoning in Montana's Glacier Park

A bald eagle found dead in Montana's Glacier National Park died of lead poisoning. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

San Francisco billionaire gives $30M to study homelessness

A San Francisco billionaire is donating $30 million to the University of California, San Francisco, to research root causes of homelessness and potential solutions. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Parasites help beetle hosts function more effectively

A common woodland beetle that plays an important role in the decomposition of fallen trees may be getting a boost from a surprising source: parasites. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

First hominins on the Tibetan Plateau were Denisovans

So far, Denisovans were only known from a small collection of fossil fragments from Denisova Cave in Siberia. A research team now describes a 160,000-year-old hominin mandible from Xiahe in China. Using ancient protein analysis, the researchers found that the mandible's owner bel … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Scientists see fingerprint of warming climate on droughts going back to 1900

In an unusual new study, scientists say they have detected the fingerprint of human-driven global warming on patterns of drought and moisture across the world as far back as 1900. Rising temperatures are well documented back at least that far, but this is the first time researche … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Nuclear 'magic numbers' collapse beyond the doubly magic nickel 78

Scientists from the RIKEN Nishina Center for Accelerator-Based Research and collaborators have used the center's heavy ion accelerator, the RI Beam Factory, to demonstrate that nickel-78, a neutron-rich "doubly magic" isotope of nickel with 28 protons and 50 neutrons, still maint … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

AI research offers more eyes and ears to search and rescue missions

Rescue teams descended on the destruction left by Hurricane Michael in October, frantically searching for survivors. But a week later, more than 1,000 people were still accounted for, leaving families to wait and hope. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Forget sperm and eggs, researchers have created embryo stem cells from skin cells

A new, groundbreaking study by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HU) found a way to transform skin cells into the three major stem cell types that comprise early-stage embryos. This work has significant implications for modelling embryonic disease and placental dysfunctions, a … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Rethink peak-season pricing in the presence of sharing economy

As hotels experience increased pressure from the growth of hosting sites such as Airbnb, new research from the Tepper School of Business proposes strategies for hotels to cope with the competition while suggesting that government regulation is limited in its ability to control in … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Cranberry oligosaccharides might help prevent UTIs

Many people have heard that drinking cranberry juice can help prevent urinary tract infections (UTIs). Although clinical trials of this popular folk remedy have produced mixed results, some studies have shown that drinking cranberry juice can keep bacteria that cause UTIs from st … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Transforming waste heat into clean energy

Do you feel the warmth coming off your computer or cell phone? That's wasted energy radiating from the device. With automobiles, it is estimated that 60% of fuel efficiency is lost due to waste heat. Is it possible to capture this energy and convert it into electricity? | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

New inspection process freezes parts in ice

"How on Earth did they make that?" asks Francesco Simonetti, commenting on an ice sculpture of a swan. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Drug companies warm up to continuous manufacturing

For decades, most industries, from petrochemicals to paper, have embraced continuous manufacturing processes. In contrast, the ultraconservative pharmaceutical industry has remained committed to batch operations. But recently, the demands of chemically complex and targeted drugs … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Narwhals have endured a million years with low genetic diversity, and they're thriving

Danish researchers have sequenced the genome of a narwhal, the Arctic whale famous for the horn-like tusk protruding from its forehead. Their work, appearing May 1 in the journal iScience, finds that compared to other Arctic marine mammals, narwhals have low genetic diversity, wh … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Scientists track giant ocean vortex from space

Researchers have found a new way to use satellites to monitor the Great Whirl, a massive whirlpool the size of Colorado that forms each year off the coast of East Africa, they report in a new study. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Palm oil's potential to alleviate poverty depends on where it's grown

Expansion of oil palm production in remote forest areas requires careful planning and evaluation if the communities are to benefit, according to a report by researchers at the University of Kent. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Diagnosing urban air pollution exposure with new precision

A new review of studies on levels of urban exposure to airborne pollutants and their effects on human health suggests that advanced instrumentation and information technology will soon allow researchers and policymakers to gauge the health risks of air pollution on an individual … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Researchers grow cells in 'paper organs'

Long before scientists test new medicines in animals or people, they study the effects of the substances on cells growing in Petri dishes. However, a 2-D layer of cells is a poor substitute for the much more complex 3-D structure of tissues in organs. Now, researchers reporting i … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Australian blue tongue lizard ancestor was round-in-the-tooth

Reconstruction of the most complete fossil lizard found in Australia, a 15 million year old relative of our modern blue tongues and social skinks named Egernia gillespieae, reveals the creature was equipped with a robust crushing jaw and was remarkably similar to modern lizards. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

New research may be used to treat cancer, heal combat wounds

Army research is the first to develop computational models using a microbiology procedure that may be used to improve novel cancer treatments and treat combat wounds. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Tourists and fishers key to future of rare manta nursery

Two manta ray hotspots in waters near Bali identified in new research as vital habitats for the threatened species, could be at risk from unregulated tourism and small scale/ artisanal fishing. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Do additives help the soil?

A UBC researcher is using her latest study to question whether soil additives are worth their salt. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Shrink films get a grip

Many people fondly remember playing with toys known as Shrinky Dinks—sheets of polystyrene plastic with shapes that kids can color, cut out and heat in an oven, where they shrink into thicker pieces of plastic. Now, researchers have repurposed shrink films for an unexpected use: … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Why do birds typically live longer than mammals?

Why do birds typically live longer than mammals? A new paper offers a hint, albeit not a conclusive answer. Assistant Professors of Biology Cynthia Downs and Ana Jimenez at Hamilton College and Colgate University respectively have co-authored a paper with nine students, "Does cel … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago