Can multiple carnivores coexist in cities?

As growth makes neighborhoods more crowded for humans, it's also concentrating carnivores like bobcats and coyotes into the remaining green spaces, leading them to interact with each other more frequently than they do in wild areas, according to research in Raleigh, North Carolin … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

The high price endangered animals pay for charisma

"Wanted: beautiful, intelligent companion well-versed in the art of conversation." It's a familiar story, but don't expect a fairy-tale ending. In this instance, we're talking about a transaction that condemns one of the protagonists to life imprisonment in a cage – or an untimel … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Boeing crashes and Uber collision show passenger safety relies on corporate promises, not regulators' tests

Advanced technologies deliver benefits every day. But, sometimes interactions with technology can go awry and lead to disaster. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Malaysia arrests Vietnam poachers, seizes tiger, bear parts

Malaysian authorities have arrested two suspected poachers from Vietnam and seized body parts from tigers and bears, a minister said Tuesday, as the country clamps down on rampant wildlife trafficking. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Maths shows the nature of 'tipping points' for climate and eco crises

Humans need to be wary of breaching a 'point of no return' that leads to ecological disaster such as loss of rainforests or irreversible climate change, according to the most detailed study of its kind. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

The new plan for destroying invasive pythons

Male pythons surgically implanted with inch-long radio transmitters that are then tracked by plane every two weeks. The hope is the male will lead to a female. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

New method to create ultrafast 3-D images of nanostructures

Lensless microscopy with X-rays, or coherent diffractive imaging, is a promising approach. It allows researchers to analyse complex three-dimensional structures, which frequently exist in nature, from a dynamic perspective. Whilst two-dimensional images can already be generated q … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Sequencing of snailfish from Mariana Trench reveals clues on how it adapted to live in such deep water

A large team of researchers affiliated with several institutions in China has learned more about a type of snailfish that lives in the deepest parts of the ocean. In their paper published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, the researchers describe sequencing the genome … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Amid intense drought, deadly rains lash Afghanistan

Torrential rainstorms have lashed drought-stricken Afghanistan in recent days, bringing widespread flooding that has killed at least five people and washed away homes including in the capital Kabul, officials said Tuesday. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Corals in the Red Sea offer long-term view of south Asian summer monsoon

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@phys.org | 5 years ago

Why climate change will dull autumn leaf displays

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@phys.org | 5 years ago

Former NASA astronaut Owen Garriott dies

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@phys.org | 5 years ago

The first direct search for inelastic boosted dark matter with a terrestrial detector

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@phys.org | 5 years ago

Mysterious star 21 Comae reinvestigated with MOST satellite

Astronomers have employed the Microvariability and Oscillations of Stars (MOST) space telescope to conduct a new investigation of the enigmatic variable star 21 Comae whose nature is still widely debated. Results of the new study, presented in a paper published April 9, could hel … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Aphid soldiers found to sacrifice themselves to protect their colony from predators

A team of researchers affiliated with several institutions in Japan has found that soldier aphids willingly sacrifice their own lives when they attempt to protect their colony from predators. In their paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the group o … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Long-term study shows gender-based abortions lead to skewed gender population numbers

A team of researchers from Singapore, the United Nations Population Division, and the U.S. has found that abortions based on gender lead to larger-than-thought distortions in gender ratios. In their paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the group des … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Homeschooled children are far more socially engaged than you might think

2011 and 2017, the number of children homeschooled in Australia grew by more than 80%. In Queensland, it nearly quadrupled during this period. This suggests one in 200 Australian students were home educated in 2017. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Microplastics have even been blown into a remote corner of the Pyrenees

Microplastics have been discovered in a remote area of the French Pyrenees mountains. The particles travelled through the atmosphere and were blown into the once pristine region by the wind, according to a new study published in Nature Geoscience. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Unlocking earth's climate past: A new tracer identifies weathering intensity over time

Researchers at Columbia's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and Nanjing University have developed a more accurate way to study the global carbon cycle—specifically, one of the most important ways CO2 is removed from the atmosphere. The study, published today in Proceedings of the … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Spinning new targets for accelerators

Bob Zwaska, a scientist at the U.S. Department of Energy's Fermilab, was watching a contestant on the cooking show Chopped spin sugar for their dessert when he realized the same principle might be applicable to accelerator targets. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Cute jumping spider named for children's author

A spider expert at the Manchester Museum has confirmed a new species of jumping spider discovered in a park in Hong Kong. The unique spider bears a striking resemblance to a caterpillar leading it to be named Uroballus Carlei, after author of the ubiquitous children's book The Ve … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

No evidence 'hardened' schools are safe from gun violence

Hardening of schools seems to be a questionable endeavor, given the dearth of evidence regarding effectiveness, says a Ball State University researcher. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

How jackdaws remember what they did where and when

Corvids are capable of cognitive feats that almost resemble those of humans. Neuroscientists at Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) intend to find out how their brain manages to fulfill such complex tasks – although its structure is completely different than that of the human brain. Fo … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

How autonomous ships can lead to safer waterways

Even radar, navigation systems, GPS tracking and radio communications don't prevent ships from colliding. In 2017, collisions and groundings made up nearly 40% of all marine accidents, and over half of the total casualties. These incidents were primarily caused by human error. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Shocking economics

Modern macroeconomics has failed to produce an understanding of economies in times of crisis. Modern macroeconomics are still based on the assumption of equilibria, but a shock pushes economies out of a state of equilibrium. . This model therefore fails when dealing with economie … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Indian scientists make deepest radio images of the sun

The sun is the brightest object in the sky, and probably the most studied celestial object. Surprisingly, it still hosts mysteries that scientists have been trying to unravel for decades, for example, the origin of coronal mass ejections which can potentially affect the Earth. Le … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

NEOWISE celebrates five years of asteroid data

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@phys.org | 5 years ago

Researchers explore energy-saving catalysts that operate at room temperature

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@phys.org | 5 years ago

Getting a smart tattoo without a needle

A tattoo that is warning you for too many hours of sunlight exposure, or is alerting you for taking your medication? Next to their cosmetic role, tattoos could get new functionality using intelligent ink. That would require more precise and less invasive injection technique. Rese … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Flying cars: Automating the skies means playing with our lives

Recent research suggests that flying cars could eventually be a sustainable way to free up roads. The first models are set to hit our skies in 2019 as personal playthings, while industry sees them as taxis and commuter vehicles of the future. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Farms create lots of data, but farmers don't control where it ends up and who can use it

Most of us are familiar with cases of data being used in ways that go beyond consumer expectations – just think of the Facebook Cambridge Analytica scandal. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

A biosynthetic dual-core cell computer

ETH researchers have integrated two CRISPR-Cas9-based core processors into human cells. This represents a huge step towards creating powerful biocomputers. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Variations in the 'fogginess' of the universe identify a milestone in cosmic history

Large differences in the 'fogginess' of the early universe were caused by islands of cold gas left behind when the universe heated up after the big bang, according to an international team of astronomers. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Cassini reveals surprises with Titan's lakes

On its final flyby of Saturn's largest moon in 2017, NASA's Cassini spacecraft gathered radar data revealing that the small liquid lakes in Titan's northern hemisphere are surprisingly deep, perched atop hills and filled with methane. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Solar evaporator offers a fresh route to fresh water

About a billion people around the world lack access to safe drinking water. Desalinating salty water into drinkable water can help to fill this dangerous gap. But traditional desalination systems are far too expensive to install and operate in many locations, especially in low-in … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Graphene gives a tremendous boost to future terahertz cameras

In a recent study, researchers developed a novel graphene-enabled photodetector that operates at room temperature, is highly sensitive, fast, has a wide dynamic range, and covers a broad range of THz frequencies. The researchers have achieved a solid understanding of how the PTE … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

China, India economic development key to achieving MDG for safe drinking water

From 2000 to 2015, the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) produced mixed and debatable results. But there was at least one clear MDG victory: safe drinking water. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

New method of studying sediment could predict climate change impact

Sedimentary deposits tell a story about how the Earth responded to a changing climate in the past and are an important tool for predicting what climate change will mean for the future. A new study by a University of Arkansas researcher focuses on the origins of sediment, an appr … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Employing 3-D coral reef remote sensing to predict fish biomass

Coral reefs offer many tropical fish a vibrantly encrusted locale of refuge – a respite from the intense pressures of the sea – providing an opportunity for protection, nutrition and even reproduction. At the mercy of a warming ocean due to climate change, reefs are experiencing … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Lufthansa hits Q1 turbulence from rising fuel costs

Shares in Lufthansa tumbled as markets opened Tuesday before rebounding, after Europe's largest airline group blamed a steep first-quarter operating loss on rising fuel prices. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

China seizes nearly 2,750 elephant tusks in huge bust

Chinese authorities have seized 7.5 tonnes of ivory—2,748 elephant tusks—in one of the biggest busts in recent years as the country cracks down on the sale of illegal wildlife products. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

New discovery makes fast-charging, better performing lithium-ion batteries possible

Creating a lithium-ion battery that can charge in a matter of minutes but still operate at a high capacity is possible, according to research from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute just published in Nature Communications. This development has the potential to improve battery perfo … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Seals, caviar and oil: Caspian Sea faces pollution threat

Seals waddling along the waterfront were once a common sight in Baku Bay, the Caspian Sea home of Azerbaijan's capital. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Ecuador says hit by 40 million cyber attacks since Assange arrest

Ecuador said on Monday it has suffered 40 million cyber attacks on the webpages of public institutions since stripping Wikileaks founder Julian Assange of political asylum. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Three things to know as Germany opens massive ocean wind park

German Chancellor Angela Merkel will be joined by French and Norwegian ministers Tuesday to officially open a massive wind farm in the Baltic Sea, a key project for her country's "energy transition". | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Papa roach: Chinese farmer breeds bugs for the table

As farmer Li Bingcai opened the door to his cockroach farm in southwest China, an insect the size of a dart flew into his face. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

YouTube accidentally links Notre-Dame fire to 9/11 attacks

A YouTube fact-check feature which is meant to tackle misinformation accidentally tagged live broadcasts of a fire engulfing Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris with details about the 9/11 terror attacks. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Foxconn head says he's stepping back from daily operations

The head of Foxconn Technology Group says he is planning to step away from day-to-day operations at the world's largest electronics provider but will continue to guide the company's "major direction." | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago