Google's top trending searches in 2018: World Cup, Hurricane Florence, Mac Miller, Kate Spade

So much happened in 2018. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Why deep oceans gave life to the first big, complex organisms

In the beginning, life was small. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Unlocking the secrets of how cells communicate offers insights into treating diseases

Portland State University researchers have made a significant breakthrough by developing the 3-D structure of proteins from inside the eye lens that control how cells communicate with each other, which could open the door to treating diseases such as cataracts, stroke and cancer. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Rice plants that grow as clones from seed

Plant biologists at the University of California, Davis have discovered a way to make crop plants replicate through seeds as clones. The discovery, long sought by plant breeders and geneticists, could make it easier to propagate high-yielding, disease-resistant or climate-toleran … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

New 'Doom' levels to come in Feb. 2019 from game designer John Romero

For a 25-year-old game, "Doom" is showing plenty of life. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Governments, researchers underestimate impact of inefficient land-use on climate change

Policymakers and researchers have underestimated the effect that changes in land management and people's diets would have on limiting greenhouse gas emissions and countering the effects of climate change, according to a study led by Princeton University. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Clearest view ever of cell membrane yields unexpected structure, research possibilities

Working with a Nobel Prize-winning biophysicist, a team of researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University has gained the clearest view yet of a patch of cell membrane and its components, revealing unexpected structures and opening up new possibilities for pharmaceutical research … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Scientists identify new minerals for carbon capture

Research confirms new minerals are capturing and storing carbon in a new paper by University of Alberta geologists and their collaborators. The minerals, members of the hydrotalcite group, are the first outside of the carbonate family to naturally capture atmospheric CO2 in mine … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

NASA examines reborn Tropical Cyclone Owen's temperatures

An infrared look by NASA's Aqua satellite found intense storms around the center of the recently revived Tropical Cyclone Owen. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

A Miami 'unicorn' is born—parking startup worth more than $1 billion after funding

Miami is now officially home to its first unicorn. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Pew study: Artificial intelligence will mostly make us better off by 2030 but fears remain

The year is 2030, and artificial intelligence has changed practically everything. Is it a change for the better or has AI threatened what it means to be human, to be productive and to exercise free will? | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Juno mission halfway to Jupiter science

On Dec. 21, at 8:49:48 a.m. PST (11:49:48 a.m. EST) NASA's Juno spacecraft will be 3,140 miles (5,053 kilometers) above Jupiter's cloud tops and hurtling by at a healthy clip of 128,802 mph (207,287 kilometers per hour). This will be the 16th science pass of the gas giant and wil … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Climate talks must be rescued from failure, warns UN chief

"Key political issues" deadlocking UN climate talks "remain unresolved", UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned Wednesday after an unscheduled stop at the troubled negotiations in Poland. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

#BlackGirlMagic: Black women in STEM are driving forward—educators need to catch up

The need for more scientists and engineers is a persistent issue plaguing industries throughout the United States. Several initiatives created to prioritize science, technology, engineering and mathematics in schools are helping educators prepare more diverse students and workers … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Rethinking school suspensions: School climate offers a clue

A 2012 study by the Everyone Graduates Center at John Hopkins University found that when a high school freshman receives a single suspension, their chances of dropping out of school can increase by a third. Furthermore, only 49 percent of students with three or more suspensions g … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Students around the globe collect quality, eye-opening research data on mammals

Children all over the world are learning science by collecting data and running experiments in their classroom. But what if the data they collected during their school day could be used to help scientists? Turns out, it can. Researchers at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sci … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

New research questions the 'Glass Cliff' and corroborates the persistent 'Glass Ceiling'

Are women more likely to be appointed to leadership positions in crisis situations when companies are struggling with declining profits? The term "glass cliff" was coined by researchers Ryan and Haslam in the early 2000s to describe a phenomenon in which women are more likely tha … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Seeing small-molecule interactions inside cells

Like people in a large company, proteins in cells constantly interact with each other to perform various jobs. To develop new disease therapies, researchers are trying to control these interactions with small-molecule drugs that cause specific proteins to associate more or less w … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Astronomers find that dark matter dominates across cosmic time

In findings published today in The Astrophysical Journal, University of Texas at Austin astronomers report that they have stumbled on an extraordinary galaxy that may corroborate a recently contested theory about dark matter. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

For retailers, the smartphone is future of store experience

Retailers are taking back some control of the store experience with smartphone app features that let customers do things like scan and pay, as well as download digital maps. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Air France gets new CEO

Air France on Wednesday appointed a new chief executive, who will have the difficult task of piloting the airline out of difficult relations with its unions that have hobbled its performance. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Verizon takes $4.6B charge on internet ventures

Shares of Verizon slipped before the opening bell Wednesday with the company taking a $4.6 billion hit on what's become an expensive internet foray that's never panned out. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Airbus says improper settings played role in Mali helicopter crash

European aircraft manufacturer Airbus said Wednesday that an investigation had found improper settings to have been one factor behind the deadly 2017 crash of a German military helicopter in a UN operation in Mali. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

European network of protected areas has not yet been able to stop the decline of butterflies in Germany

The Natura 2000 network of protected areas runs across the EU as a conservation network for biodiversity. However, only a few studies have so far analysed whether these refuges actually have a positive effect on species diversity. Studies have predominately focussed on birds and … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Declining snowpack over western US mapped at a finer scale

Researchers have now mapped exactly where in the Western U.S. snow mass has declined since 1982. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Researchers reverse engineer way pine trees produce green chemicals worth billions

Washington State University researchers have reverse engineered the way a pine tree produces a resin, which could serve as an environmentally friendly alternative to a range of fossil-fuel based products worth billions of dollars. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

UFZ model in the fight against African swine fever

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has published a new scientific report on the current status of the spread of African swine fever (ASF) within the EU. The report describes, among other things, which management measures EU member states should take if an isolated outbreak … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

How stereo was first sold to a skeptical public

When we hear the word "stereo" today, we might simply think of a sound system, as in "turn on the stereo." | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Cheap oil is blocking progress on climate change

The relationship between supply and demand, a fundamental economic concept, holds that when the price of something rises, people use less of it. Similarly, when prices fall, they use more. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

'Eavesdropping' on groupers' mating calls key to survival

Eavesdropping on groupers mating in their natural habitats isn't creepy. In fact, it's imperative to ensuring their survival. For years, scientists have used passive acoustic monitoring techniques to study the behavior of fishes. A particular application of this technique is used … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Research unlocks secrets of iron storage in algae

New research shows that phytoplankton iron storage strategies may determine which species thrive in changing oceans and impact marine food webs, according to a recent paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The research examined two primary methods of iron s … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Your drinking water could be saltier than you think (even if you live in a capital)

As the drought drags on, small communities in eastern Australia are turning to emergency water supplies. Often, this means bore water, which has prompted health fears over its high salt content. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

More heatwave summers will affect animals

Heatwaves similar to those experienced in Europe in 2018 can have a very negative impact on animals. A new study from Lund University in Sweden shows that overheated birds have smaller offspring, and that those that are born may have lower chances of survival. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Lung lavage as new test method improves tuberculosis diagnosis in rhinoceros

Diseases and tuberculosis in particular can pose considerable challenges for wildlife. In order to avoid epidemics within populations or to treat individual animals belonging to highly endangered species, fast and reliable tests are paramount. However present tuberculosis testing … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Obtaining polyester from plant oil

The development of future technologies that are not based on mineral oil and can be used for producing chemicals and plastics is one of the major tasks in modern materials science and a key challenge that needs to be addressed if sustainable industrial production is to have a fut … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Scientists discover stability in hybrid photoelectric nanomaterials

A team of Siberian scientists and foreign colleagues calculated the parameters that influence the intensity of the reaction between carbon nanotubes and phthalocyanines—complex nitrogen-containing compounds. Hybrid constructions based on them are considered as new materials for s … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Rosetta witnesses birth of baby bow shock around comet

A new study reveals that, contrary to first impressions, Rosetta did detect signs of an infant bow shock at the comet it explored for two years – the first ever seen forming anywhere in the solar system. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Minority-led firms more likely to face survival threats

Nearly half of firms run by ethnic minority entrepreneurs have experienced an "existential crisis" threatening their survival in the past five years, a major new survey of London firms has revealed. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Wet season changes under future climate change could harm 'vulnerable' Africa

Later and more intense rainy seasons across parts of Africa due to climate change could have damaging consequences, a new study has found. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Diamonds are forever – whether made in a lab or mined from the Earth

Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Arsenic contamination is common in Punjabi wells, study finds

While most Americans have access to safe, potable water, populations in some regions of the world are not as fortunate. In fact, the majority of some 90 million people who live in the Punjab areas of Pakistan and India drink and cook with untreated well water that they collect th … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Mapping the big blue: Laser-induced technology to help mineral exploration at oceanic depths

Scientists have successfully measured zinc samples under deep-sea conditions. Their method could support sustainable extraction of raw seabed materials. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Five reasons why 2018 was a big year for palaeontology

A lot happened in the world of palaeontology in 2018. Some of the big events included some major fossil finds, a new understanding of our reptile ancestors and a major controversy whose outcome could rewrite human history. The Conversation Africa asked Dr. Julien Benoit to discus … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Where's my package? Common carrier freight lockers can ease city traffic and prevent failed deliveries

Online shopping is a big convenience for many Americans, but porch piracy can ruin the experience. For example, Mikaela Gilbert lived in a row house in West Philadelphia while she studied systems engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. By her junior year, Gilbert had lost … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

New ways to make plant-based medicines in space and on earth

How can you make medicines in space? | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Coral larvae found to prefer a noisy environment

A team of researchers with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution has found that coral larvae prefer to set up a new home in a place noisy with other living organisms over a barren soundless site. In their paper published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, the group des … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Distortion of water droplet surface may increase the likelihood of the droplet freezing

Clouds are a big source of uncertainty in computer simulations used to study Earth systems. To reduce that uncertainty, researchers study the formation of ice in clouds. This formation influences precipitation rates, large-scale cloud motions, and cloud optical properties. This r … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago

Astronomers confirm extended atmosphere on accretion disk of X-ray binary

Astronomers use stellar eclipses to study the atmosphere of accretion disks around compact stars. SRON-researchers observed this method on a low-mass X-ray binary. They find a thicker atmosphere than predicted and distinguish two different gas components. The research was publish … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 5 years ago