Ethiopian official says plane crash report due this week

A preliminary report on a March 10 Ethiopian Airlines crash that killed 157 people will be made public soon, but it may take months to finish the final report, a spokesman for the country's transport ministry said. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Can China keep it's climate promises?

China can easily meet its Paris climate pledge to peak its greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, but sourcing 20 percent of its energy needs from renewables and nuclear power by that date may be considerably harder, researchers said Tuesday. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Apple tries to take a bite out of credit card industry

Apple is rolling out a credit card that it says is designed to do things no other card can. So how does it actually stack up? | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

UPS launches package delivery by drone

American delivery giant UPS on Tuesday launched the first authorized use of unmanned drones to transport packages to recipients. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

US judge recommends partial ban on iPhone imports to US

A US trade judge ruled Tuesday that Apple had violated a Qualcomm chipmaker patent and said she would recommend banning imports of some iPhones. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Scientists to dig Jurassic site in Wyoming this summer

Scientists from the U.S. and Europe hope to learn more about a promising new dinosaur site in northern Wyoming this summer. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Research identifies new e-reader pricing strategy

From Alexa to iTunes to Google Home, for the past few years, tech heavy hitters such as Amazon, Apple, and Google have been building strategic product combinations designed to lure in customers and lock down their loyalty. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

In the Tree of Life, youth has its advantages

It's a question that has captivated naturalists for centuries: Why have some groups of organisms enjoyed incredibly diversity—like fish, birds, insects—while others have contained only a few species—like humans. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Substituting HPS with light-emitting diodes for supplemental lighting in greenhouses

In Canada, as in other higher latitudes, there is not enough natural light for production of many greenhouse commodities during the darker months of the year. In these regions, it is necessary for growers of year-round commodities to augment their naturally occurring lighting def … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Genetic tagging may help conserve the world's wildlife

Tracking animals using DNA signatures are ideally suited to answer the pressing questions required to conserve the world's wildlife, providing benefits over invasive methods such as ear tags and collars, according to a new study by University of Alberta biologists. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Face off—Cyclists not human enough for drivers: study

A new Australian study has found that more than half of car drivers think cyclists are not completely human, with a link between the dehumanisation of bike riders and acts of deliberate aggression towards them on the road. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Not all carrot germplasm is the same—in terms of salinity tolerance

Salinity stress is considered one of the most important abiotic factors that limits the productivity of crop plants, and the estimated global cost due to salinity is more than $12 billion annually. This is due to the extensive use of irrigation and high rates of evapotranspiratio … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

The tremendous supply of apple cultivars in Wyoming

A study out of the University of Wyoming sought to identify heritage apple cultivars planted in the state's homesteads, orchards, and nurseries from as early as 1870. Using microsatellite markers, surviving apple trees identified across Wyoming's rugged landscape provide future s … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Air quality agencies can breathe easier about current emissions regulations

As air quality improves, the invisible chemistry happening in the air around us is changing. Skies should clear up as emissions drop, but recent results suggested that declining nitrogen oxides can create an environment where airborne carbon-containing compounds more easily conve … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Building starch backbones for lab-grown meat using Lego pieces

A new technique to spin starch fibers using Lego pieces could have future applications for lab-grown "clean" meat, according to a team of food scientists from Penn State and the University of Alabama. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Microgels let medical implants fight off bacteria

Joint replacements are among the most common elective surgeries—but around one in 100 patients suffer post-surgical infections, turning a routine procedure into an expensive and dangerous ordeal. Now, researchers at Stevens Institute of Technology have developed a "self-defensive … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Layered liquids arrange nanoparticles into useful configurations

Materials scientists at Duke University have theorized a new "oil-and-vinegar" approach to engineering self-assembling materials of unusual architectures made out of spherical nanoparticles. The resulting structures could prove useful to applications in optics, plasmonics, electr … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Droughts could hit aging power plants hard

Older power plants with once-through cooling systems generate about a third of all U.S. electricity, but their future generating capacity will be undercut by droughts and rising water temperatures linked to climate change. These impacts would be exacerbated by environmental regul … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Study finds that income inequality is driving growing income gap between different regions

There's an old saying about a rising tide lifting all boats—and for more than a century, as the gap between the richest and poorest parts of the United States shrank, it seemed as though, in America at least, it might be true. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Venus flytrap 'teeth' form a 'horrid prison' for medium-sized prey

In "Testing Darwin's Hypothesis about the Wonderful Venus Flytrap: Marginal Spikes Form a 'Horrid Prison' for Moderate-Sized Insect Prey," Alexander L. Davis investigates the importance of marginal spikes, the "teeth" lining the outer edge of the plant's snap traps, in successful … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Two new planets discovered using artificial intelligence

Astronomers at The University of Texas at Austin, in partnership with Google, have used artificial intelligence (AI) to uncover two more hidden planets in the Kepler space telescope archive. The technique shows promise for identifying many additional planets that traditional meth … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

US wants astronauts back on the Moon in five years: Pence

Vice President Mike Pence announced Tuesday that the United States aims to send astronauts back to the Moon in five years, with a woman first in line to set foot on it again. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Boeing holds test flights for 737 MAX fix: sources

Boeing has flown test flights of its 737 MAX to evaluate a fix for the system targeted as a potential cause of two deadly plane crashes, two sources familiar with the matter said Tuesday. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

New tool maps a key food source for grizzly bears: huckleberries

Grizzly bears depend on huckleberries as a critical food source to fatten up before winter hibernation. When berries reach peak ripeness in mid-July, they make up about half of the diet for the hundreds of grizzly bears that live in and around Montana's Glacier National Park. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Infertility's roots in DNA packaging

Pathological infertility is a condition affecting roughly 7 percent of human males, and among those afflicted, 10 to 15 percent are thought to have a genetic cause. However, pinpointing the precise genes responsible for the condition has been difficult due to the extensive number … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Facebook is free, but should it count toward GDP anyway?

For several decades, gross domestic product (GDP), a sum of the value of purchased goods, has been a ubiquitous yardstick of economic activity. More recently, some observers have suggested that GDP falls short because it doesn't include the value of free online goods such as soci … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Researchers unlock the biomechanics of how the Ebola virus attaches to its host cell

It was recently reported that the number of Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo has surpassed 1,000, making it the second-worst outbreak in history after the 2014 outbreak in West Africa in which 29,000 people were infected and more than 11,000 died. This latest miles … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

The solid Earth breathes

The solid Earth breathes as volcanoes "exhale" gases like carbon dioxide (CO2)—which are essential in regulating global climate—while carbon ultimately from CO2 returns into the deep Earth when oceanic tectonic plates are forced to descend into the mantle at subduction zones. How … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Satellite finds Tropical Cyclone Veronica's stripped center along Australia coast

Early on March 26, Tropical Cyclone Veronica continued to move along the coast of Western Australia and NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite provided a visible image of the storm that showed the storm was stripped of strong thunderstorm development around the center. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Ancient Caribbean children helped with grocery shopping in AD 400

Researchers have long thought that snail and clam shells found at Caribbean archaeological sites were evidence of "starvation food" eaten in times when other resources were lacking. Now, a University of Florida study suggests these shells may be evidence of children helping with … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

C. elegans roundworms 'harvest' an essential coenzyme from the bacteria they consume

A study conducted in C. elegans nematode roundworms may lead to improved treatment of a rare human genetic disorder that causes severe neurological symptoms leading to death in early childhood. In their report published in Nature Chemical Biology, two Massachusetts General Hospit … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

NASA sees Tropical Cyclone Joaninha affecting Mauritius

Visible imagery from NASA's Terra satellite showed Tropical Cyclone Joaninha as it moved through the Southern Indian Ocean triggering warnings in the island nation of Mauritius. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Pioneering medical drone program takes off in North Carolina

A pioneering use of drones to fly blood samples across a North Carolina hospital campus launched Tuesday in the latest move to expand their roles in business and health care. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Stranded dolphins have amyloid plaques in their brains

Dolphins stranded on the beaches of Florida and Massachusetts show in their brains amyloid plaques, a hallmark in human beings of Alzheimer's disease, together with an environmental toxin produced by cyanobacterial blooms. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Smartphone test spots poisoned water risk to millions of lives

A smartphone device could help millions of people avoid drinking water contaminated by arsenic. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

The sense of water—and nitrogen: Studies uncover genome-wide responses that limit crop growth

A team of researchers has tested how each gene within the genome of rice—one of the world's most important staple crops—senses and responds to combinations of water and nutrients. Its findings, published in the journal Nature Communications, potentially point to ways to engineer … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Technique uses well-known dye to watch amyloid plaques in the brain

While amyloid plaques have long been closely associated with mechanisms driving Alzheimer's disease, visualizing how amyloid proteins assemble continues to prove difficult. The nanometer-sized amyloid fibrils are only a fraction of the size that the best light microscopes are abl … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Widespread losses of pollinating insects in Britain

Many insect pollinator species are disappearing from areas of Great Britain, a new study has found. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Scientists shine new light on how cells coordinate eye growth in fish

New insight on how cells work together to control growth in the eyes of fish has been published today in eLife. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Egypt discovers ancient port used by temple builders

Egypt says archaeologists have found a 3,000-year-old port where stones were transported to be used in the building of temples and obelisks. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

EU ignores US calls to ban Huawei in 5G cyber blueprint

The European Commission has ignored U.S. calls to ban Chinese tech supplier Huawei as it announced a series of new cybersecurity recommendations for next-generation mobile networks. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Germany records hottest year in a century

Germany recorded its warmest year in 2018, a period also marked by a drought lasting months, the country's DWD weather service said Tuesday. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Probiotic bacteria evolve inside mice's GI tracts

Probiotics—which are living bacteria taken to promote digestive health—can evolve once inside the body and have the potential to become less effective and sometimes even harmful, according to a new study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

'Aneurysm Number' may help surgeons make treatment decisions

Aneurysms form as abnormal bulges or balloonings over an artery, and, if ruptured, can lead to serious health complications or even death. Some aneurysms can exist for a long time without rupturing, and the surgery involved in treating aneurysms can be quite risky, so a parameter … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Function decoded: Protein influences growth processes and hormonal signalling

The working group under Junior Professor Dr. Mathias Beller from the University of Düsseldorf has analyzed the function of a lipid droplet-associated protein. They used fruit flies to demonstrate that the protein has a major impact on growth processes and the fly's adaptation to … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

The 'invisible catalyst' that can supercharge chemical reactions

New findings could revolutionise the way we create chemicals. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Metal nanoclusters can be used as semiconductors: Key properties observed for first time

Tiny nanoclusters of metal atoms—such as gold and silver—have properties which mean they can be used as semiconductors, a joint Swansea-Hamburg research team has discovered. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

'Scuba-diving' lizard can stay underwater for 16 minutes

A Costa-Rican lizard species may have evolved scuba-diving qualities allowing it to stay underwater for 16 minutes, according to faculty at Binghamton University, State University of New York. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago