When you look up, how far back in time do you see?

Our senses are stuck in the past. There's a flash of lightning, and then seconds pass until we hear the rumble of distant thunder. We hear the past. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Fail-safe, reconfigurable chips

Researchers at the Telecommunications and Multimedia Applications Institute (iTEAM) of Valencia's Polytechnic University (UPV) have taken a step toward creating an infallible chip. They have developed an advanced method for the analysis and à la cart configuration of photonic cir … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Scientists model Mercury's glaciers

The processes that led to glaciation at the cratered poles of Mercury, the planet closest to the sun, have been modeled by a University of Maine-led research team. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Lidar accelerates hurricane recovery in the Carolinas

Hurricane Florence's slow trot over North and South Carolina in September led to inundating rain, record storm surges, and another major disaster for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to contend with. Facing damage over hundreds of square miles, FEMA again called upo … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

New epigenetic study: Guinea pig fathers pass on adaptive responses to environmental changes

Adaptations to environmental change are the most important asset for the persistence of any plant or animal species. This is usually achieved through genetic mutation and selection, a slow process driven by chance. Faster and more targeted are so called epigenetic modifications w … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Distinguishing between students who guess and those who know

Measuring the knowledge of students in online courses poses a number of challenges. Researchers from the Higher School of Economics and the University of Leuven made improvements to the model for assessing academic achievements and published their results in the journal Heliyon. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Producers of white colonies on kimchi surface, mistaken as molds, have been identified

The World Institute of Kimch (WiKim) has reported that the white colonies on the surface of kimchi are not formed by molds but by yeasts. The researchers also acquired genomic data regarding the hygienic safety of the yeast strains. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

New hydraulic actuator will make robots tougher

Researchers at the Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech) have developed a hydraulic actuator that will allow tough robots to operate in disaster sites and other harsh environments. The Tokyo Tech Venture H-MUSCLE Corporation was established to pursue applications for the act … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Self-sorting through molecular geometries

Researchers at Kanazawa University report in Communications Chemistry that certain pentagonal and hexagonal organic molecules exhibit self-sorting. The effect can be used to grow multilayered tubular structures that preserve the geometry of the initial cavities. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Historic UK music retailer HMV collapses due to digital surge

British music retailer HMV, which was launched by English composer Edward Elgar in 1921 and helped propel the Beatles to fame, collapsed into administration on Friday as consumers switch to digital streaming in droves. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

These nine measures reveal how forests are controlled by climate

Instead of blood pressure, temperature, and heart rate, the vital signs for a forest are captured in key traits such as the amount of nitrogen in a tree's leaves, the leaf area, or the density of the wood. These "functional traits" can impact how trees grow—and therefore how fore … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

The development of a hybrid micro mixer for biological and chemical experiments

An international team of scientists including an employee of I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University (MSMU) has developed a device for mixing chemical and biological reaction feeds. The team managed to increase the mixing efficiency up to 90 percent. The new device wi … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Don't waste your dog's poo – compost it

Australia has one of the highest rates of pet ownership in the world, with 38% of Australian households owning dogs. Dogs improve the quality of our lives, and studies show that exposure to dogs can even improve our immune system. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

AI, robotics, automation: The fourth industrial revolution is here

For Chinese guests at Marriott International hotels, the check-in process will soon get easier. The hotel giant announced last summer that it's developing facial recognition systems that will allow guests to check in at a kiosk in less than a minute via a quick scan of their faci … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Discovery of topological LC circuits transporting EM waves without backscattering

NIMS has succeeded in fabricating topological LC circuits arranged in a honeycomb pattern where electromagnetic (EM) waves can propagate without backscattering, even when pathways turn sharply. These circuits may be suitable for use as high-frequency electromagnetic waveguides, w … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Earliest records of three plant groups uncovered in the Permian of Jordan

A "hidden cradle of plant evolution" has been uncovered in Jordan. In Permian sedimentary rocks exposed along the east coast of the Dead Sea, a team led by palaeobotanists from the University of Münster discovered well-preserved fossils of plant groups bearing characteristics typ … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Who is vulnerable to the impacts of tropical cyclones and why?

Tropical cyclones, and the torrential rains and strong winds these storms bring along with them, threaten coastal communities around the world and are expected to increase in intensity due to climate change. But not every tropical cyclone becomes a natural disaster and not every … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Children's well-being not negatively affected by living in single-parent households, study shows

The experience of single parenthood is more common than typically reported – and children's well-being is not negatively affected by living in single-parent households – according to a study led by the University of Sheffield. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Record for decoding the longest DNA sequence is impressive – here's what to expect next

Like other professionals, scientists like to be the best at what they do, but they also like to have fun in their job. And in 2018, my colleagues managed just that in claiming a record for decoding the world's longest DNA sequence. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Our universe: An expanding bubble in an extra dimension

Uppsala University researchers have devised a new model for the universe – one that may solve the enigma of dark energy. Their new article, published in Physical Review Letters, proposes a new structural concept, including dark energy, for a universe that rides on an expanding bu … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Clouds with a chance of warming

Researchers from Argonne's Environmental Science division participated in one of the largest collaborative atmospheric measurement campaigns in Antarctica in recent decades. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Researchers link realism to blockchain's promise

Depending on who you ask, blockchain technology is poised to revolutionize the world—from creating a universal currency to building a free and truly private internet. Or, the new technology, built with a combination of encryption and transparency, is a solution in search of a pro … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Researchers develop 128Mb STT-MRAM with world's fastest write speed for embedded memory

A research team, led by Professor Tetsuo Endoh at Tohoku University, has successfully developed 128Mb-density spin-transfer torque magnetoresistive random access memory (STT-MRAM) with a write speed of 14 ns for use in embedded memory applications, such as cache in IoT and AI. Th … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Scientists learn how to predict space radiation levels

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@phys.org | 5 years ago

New research reveals how galaxies stay hot and bothered

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@phys.org | 5 years ago

Vietnam court orders ride-hailing app to compensate taxi firm

A Vietnam court Friday ordered ride-hailing app Grab to pay a cab company more than $200,000 for losses incurred due to competition—a judgement blasted by the firm as "a giant step backwards" for the country's tech community. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Rings make Saturn shadier, bluer and less hazy in winter

On Saturn, changing seasons can mean changes in the haziness—and color—of the skies. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Plants have a plan for all seasons

Many plants need to avoid flowering in the autumn – even if conditions are favourable – otherwise they would perish in winter. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

India to send three-person crew on landmark space mission

India will send a three-member team into orbit for up to a week when it launches its first manned space mission expected in 2022, the government announced Friday. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Researchers investigate molecular gas emission from the galaxy NGC 3557

Using Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), researchers have conducted interferometric observations of the elliptical galaxy NGC 3557 to investigate molecular gas emission from this source. Results of these observations, available in a paper published December 13 o … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Tesla names Oracle's Ellison to board in SEC settlement

Tesla is naming Oracle's Larry Ellison and an executive from Walgreens to its board as part of a settlement with U.S. regulators who demanded more oversight of CEO Elon Musk. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Indonesia tsunami raises fears for endangered Javan rhino

Indonesia's tsunami has raised fears that another deadly wave could wipe out the few dozen Javan rhinos still living in the wild, conservation authorities said Friday. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

A virtual reality experience of being inside an exploded star

Cassiopeia A, the youngest known supernova remnant in the Milky Way, is the remains of a star that exploded almost 400 years ago. The star was approximately 15 to 20 times the mass of our sun and sat in the Cassiopeia constellation, almost 11,000 light-years from earth. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Hybrid qubits solve key hurdle to quantum computing

Spin-based quantum computers have the potential to tackle difficult mathematical problems that cannot be solved using ordinary computers, but many problems remain in making these machines scalable. Now, an international group of researchers led by the RIKEN Center for Emergent Ma … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Reactive optical matter: Light-induced motion

Newton's third law dictates that forces between interacting particles are equal and opposite for closed systems. In a non-equilibrium environment, the third law can be defied, giving rise to "nonreciprocal" forces. Theoretically, this was shown when dissimilar, optically trapped … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Electronics of the future: A new energy-efficient mechanism using the Rashba effect

Scientists at Tokyo Institute of Technology proposed new quasi-1-D materials for potential spintronic applications, an upcoming technology that exploits the spin of electrons. They performed simulations to demonstrate the spin properties of these materials and explained the mecha … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Laser diode detects counterfeit olive oil

Researchers at the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) and the Scintillon Institute in the U.S. have designed a sensor that can detect counterfeit olive oil labeled as extra virgin or protected designation of origin. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

ESA sets clock by distant spinning stars

ESA's technical centre in the Netherlands has begun running a pulsar-based clock. The "PulChron' system measures the passing of time using millisecond-frequency radio pulses from multiple fast-spinning neutron stars. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Mission accomplished for ESA's butane-propelled CubeSat

The cereal-box sized GomX-4B – ESA's biggest small CubeSat yet flown – has completed its mission for the Agency, testing out new miniaturised technologies including: intersatellite link communication with its GomX-4A twin, a hyperspectral imager, star tracker and butane-based pro … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Huge reserves of iron in Western Siberia might originate from under an ancient sea

The world's largest Bakchar iron ore deposit is located in an ancient sea in West Siberia, Russia. Its proven reserves are over 28 billion tons. Scientists seek to explain the accumulation of such a huge amount of iron. Now, they have proposed the upward migration of a mixture of … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Description of rotating molecules made easy

Feynman diagrams are applied in condensed matter physics. By turning highly complex equations into sets of simple diagrams, the method has established itself as one of the sharpest tools in a theoretical physicist's toolbox. Giacomo Bighin, a postdoc in the group of Mikhail Lemes … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Looking at molecules from two sides with table-top femtosecond soft-X-rays

X-ray spectroscopy provides direct access into the nature of chemical bonds, from which the outcome of chemical reactions can be understood. Thus, researchers are exploring both X-ray source development and the implementation of new measurement methods. Researchers at the Max Bor … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Weather hampers efforts to inspect Indonesia tsunami volcano

Bad weather hampered efforts to assess whether Indonesia's Anak Krakatau volcano island could trigger another deadly tsunami as authorities said the search for victims in the worst-affected province will continue into January. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Reliable tropical weather pattern to change in a warming climate

Every month or two, a massive pulse of clouds, rainfall and wind moves eastward around the Earth near the equator, providing the tropics their famous thunderstorms. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Australia swelters in record-breaking heatwave

Australia's vast continent is sizzling through extreme heatwave conditions this week, with temperatures reaching record highs and emergency services on high alert for bushfires. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Army looks for a few good robots, sparks industry battle

The Army is looking for a few good robots. Not to fight—not yet, at least—but to help the men and women who do. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

'All lives matter': Indonesia saves tsunami-stranded turtles

Searching a debris-strewn beach for victims of Indonesia's deadly tsunami, a rescue team happened upon a giant sea turtle trapped in a pile of marine trash. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Nancy Grace Roman, involved with Hubble telescope, dies

Nancy Grace Roman, the first woman to hold an executive position at NASA and who helped with development of the Hubble Space Telescope, has died. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago