New approach overcomes long-standing limitations in optics to enhance the efficiency of Mie scattering

When you look up at the sky and see clouds of wondrous shapes, or struggle to peer through dense, hazy fog, you're seeing the results of "Mie scattering," which is what happens with light interacts with particles of a certain size. There is a growing body of research that aims to … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 11 months ago

The 'one-pot' nanosheet method catalyzing a green energy revolution

A research group from the Institute for Future Materials and Systems at Nagoya University in Japan has developed a new 'one-pot' method to make nanosheets using less rare metals. Their discovery should allow for the energy-making process to be more eco-friendly. The journal ACS N … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 11 months ago

Research progress in pump-probe experiments at high-intensity laser facilities

The reaction kinetics of energetic materials is a key factor in determining the detonation characteristics and safety. The complexity of the reaction process and the lack of experimental means remain a notable challenge in experimental research and fine modeling. To accurately pr … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 11 months ago

New study sheds light on how much methane is produced from Arctic lakes and wetlands

When it comes to greenhouse gases, methane is one the biggest contributors. Not only is it massively abundant—it's about 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 11 months ago

Field-induced superconductivity in quantum materials

Field-induced superconductivity occurs when an applied magnetic field increases or induces superconductivity. In a new report published in Science Advances, Joshua J. Sanchez and a team of scientists applied stress as a switch between a field tunable superconducting state and a r … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 11 months ago

New plasma instability sheds light on the nature of cosmic rays

Scientists from the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) have discovered a new plasma instability that promises to revolutionize our understanding of the origin of cosmic rays and their dynamic impact on galaxies. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 11 months ago

Daily singing workout keeps songbird males attractive, study shows

Every year in the Christmas season it becomes clear again that some people are amazingly skilled singers, like Mariah Carey and George Michael. Their singing can stir strong emotions. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 11 months ago

Jordan's mission to save its ancient olive trees

Every morning, Jordanian farmer Ali Saleh Atta swallows two cloves of garlic with a cup of olive oil before heading out to check on his ancient olive trees. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 11 months ago

Japan zoo probes possible mass squirrel poisoning

A Japanese zoo has launched a probe after apparently massacring 31 of its 40 squirrels by mistake with treatments meant to kill parasites, officials said. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 11 months ago

UN climate summit runs overtime as fury mounts on fossil fuels

The world's climate negotiators on Tuesday haggled beyond a host-imposed deadline for a deal as at-risk nations voiced fury over a proposed compromise that stops short of phasing out fossil fuels. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 11 months ago

Ukraine has lost almost 20% of its scientists due to the war, study finds

Until the early morning of February 24, 2022, Ukrainian scientist Olena Iarmosh did not believe there would be a Russian invasion of Ukraine. Iarmosh grew up and had settled in Kharkiv, her beloved city in Eastern Ukraine and only 40 km away from the Russian border, where she wor … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 11 months ago

Roman 'backwater' bucked Empire's decline, archaeologists reveal

A rare roofed theater, markets, warehouses, a river port and other startling discoveries made by a Cambridge-led team of archaeologists challenge major assumptions about the decline of Roman Italy. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 11 months ago

A 14-inch spacecraft delivers new details about 'hot Jupiters'

A spacecraft the size of a cereal box has collected precise measurements of the atmospheres of large and puffy planets called "hot Jupiters." The findings, led by a team from the University of Colorado Boulder, could help reveal how the atmospheres around these and a host of othe … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 11 months ago

Farmers and ranchers in the Southwestern US face challenges due to human-induced atmospheric warming

The American Southwest has always been a dry place—cue romantic visions of hot, rugged, sun-bleached, seemingly infinite landscapes and star-filled night skies. And yet, the plants, animals and people of the Four Corners region (Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona) have manage … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 11 months ago

Using gravitational waves to observe thermal effects in binary neutron star mergers

In a study published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, researchers examined neutron star mergers using THC_M1, a computer code that simulates neutron star mergers and accounts for the bending of spacetimes, due to the strong gravitational field of the stars, and of neutrino p … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 11 months ago

NASA's MAVEN observes the disappearing solar wind

In December 2022, NASA's MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) mission observed the dramatic and unexpected "disappearance" of a stream of charged particles constantly emanating off the sun, known as the solar wind. This was caused by a special type of solar event that w … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 11 months ago

Bee species in Wake County, North Carolina—are they missing or just hard to find?

What happens to bee populations in areas of massive human population growth like Wake County, North Carolina, where the population is more than 16 times greater than it was at the turn of the 20th century? | Continue reading


@phys.org | 11 months ago

Soybean oil production residue can be used to make product that treats symptoms of menopause

Consuming soy foods is often said to be good for women's health, and much research has been conducted in recent decades to find out whether it can explain why Asian women, whose diet contains plenty of soy foods, have few or none of the usual symptoms of menopause reported by wom … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 11 months ago

Inequality in well-being increasing in the US: Study

New research by School of Economics Associate Professor Shatakshee Dhongde combines multidimensional inequality measurements to better understand the disparity in the United States. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 11 months ago

Study analyzes how the green transition affects competition and concentration in the business market

The green transition towards a more sustainable and environmentally friendly economy has become a necessity to combat climate change, the scarcity of resources, and pollution. Businesses have been forced to shift from traditional fossil fuels to renewable energy sources. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 11 months ago

Predictive models augur that at the end of the century fields will need more water than today

A team from the University of Cordoba has published evapotranspiration projections for Andalusia through 2100, using a machine learning model that allows this data to be obtained based on the air temperature | Continue reading


@phys.org | 11 months ago

Study: Women-led groups were key to food security during COVID-19 in India

In March of 2020, India's government announced a strict lockdown with just four hours notice, including a ban on the informal and traditional food outlets that 80 to 90 percent of Indians rely on for their main source of food. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 11 months ago

Peatlands were drained for agriculture. Now researchers are trying to restore them

With wellies and waterproof clothing, Claudia Nielsen spent time splodging through the Bois-des-Bel peatlands earlier this year. The peatlands, located in Quebec, Canada, had been restored, with conservations working on them for 23 years. Nielsen was there to learn more about the … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 11 months ago

Zapping manure with special electrode promises an efficient method to produce fertilizers, other chemicals

An interdisciplinary team led by University of Wisconsin–Madison scientists has developed a new technique that could help farmers extract useful nutrients such as ammonia and potassium from livestock manure to efficiently make fertilizer and other useful chemical products. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 11 months ago

A new way of thinking about how organ architecture develops

Within every developing embryo lies the mystery of self-organization: How does an organism go about shaping itself even while it's in the process of making its parts? | Continue reading


@phys.org | 11 months ago

NASA's EMIT instrument maps global airborne mineral dust

NASA'S EMIT mission, placed on the International Space Station to learn how dust storms on Earth warm or cool the planet, has created the first complete maps of the world's dust source regions, providing precise locations of 10 key minerals based on how they reflect and absorb li … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 11 months ago

Alaskan allies: Communities unite to protect the areas they love

Natural resource management decisions in protected areas impact more than the wildlife and landscapes they're charged to conserve. They also affect neighbors, who could otherwise hunt, build, or engage in recreation as they choose on their own land. For decades, community members … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 11 months ago

Study: Extreme rainfall increases agricultural nutrient runoff, conservation strategies can help

Nutrient runoff from agricultural production is a significant source of water pollution in the U.S., and climate change that produces extreme weather events is likely to exacerbate the problem. A new study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign looks at how extreme rain … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 11 months ago

Brokers play important role in regulating migrant workers in China

New research authored by a Cornell University ILR School doctoral student examines the interplay between private labor brokers and local state actors in Chinese migrant worker regulations. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 11 months ago

Beluga whales' calls may get drowned out by shipping noise in Alaska's Cook Inlet

Beluga whales are highly social and vocal marine mammals. They use acoustics to navigate, find prey, avoid predators and maintain group cohesion. For Alaska's critically endangered Cook Inlet beluga population, these crucial communications may compete with a cacophony of noise fr … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 11 months ago

How to make 'Jeopardy!' work for you at the office

Showing strength and confidence is often touted as the way to get things done at work, but a new study from the University of Iowa's Tippie College of Business suggests that people might have more success if they were less assertive. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 11 months ago

Research progress in thermal expansion characteristics of TATB-based polymer bonded explosives

Under complex temperature variations, the irreversible thermal expansion of polymer-bonded explosives (PBXs) containing 1,3,5-triamino-2,4,6-trinitrobenzene (TATB) leads to diminished shape stability. This, in turn, directly impacts the mechanical properties and safety performanc … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 11 months ago

Novel compounds show promise in the fight against tuberculosis and neurodegenerative disease

Prof. Bernd Plietker and his research group at the Chair of Organic Chemistry I at TUD have specifically developed a class of natural substances—polyprenylated polycyclic acylphloroglucinols (PPAP for short). Due to its properties, the resulting derivative PPAP53 is characterized … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 11 months ago

Highly efficient carbon dioxide photoreduction guided by machine learning and first-principles calculation

Photocatalytic reduction of CO2 to high-value carbon-based fuels holds tremendous potential in addressing the growing energy crisis. However, the high C=O bond energy of CO2 molecules (750 kJ·mol-1) makes it challenging to activate and reduce CO2. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 11 months ago

New wheat yield analysis method separates disease impact from natural senescence

The yield of wheat crops is influenced by sink strength (grain number and nutrient absorption capacity) and source capacity (photosynthetic tissue efficiency). While sink limitations are widely reported, source limitations due to diseases like septoria tritici blotch (STB) also i … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 11 months ago

Millions of birds lose precious energy due to fireworks on New Year's Eve, research reveals

Birds are affected by the mass use of fireworks on New Year's Eve up to a distance of 10 km away. With data from weather radars and bird counts, an international team of researchers revealed how many birds take off immediately after the start of the fireworks, at what distance fr … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 11 months ago

COP28: Countries promise action on food and farming

Countries must act swiftly following a landmark declaration on sustainable agriculture and food systems at COP28 to protect farmers and vulnerable groups from the effects of climate change, research leaders urge. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 11 months ago

COP28: Climate cash exclusion for conflict zones to end

Commitments made at COP28 could pave the way for ending the partial exclusion of conflict countries from climate financing, but must be followed by appropriate adaptation programs, analysts say. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 11 months ago

Promotion age and promotion speed have a significant impact on current research productivity, research finds

Rank advancement earlier in academic careers and productivity later in academic careers are strongly linked in ways that have not been discussed—through the two time-related dimensions of promotion age and promotion speed. These parameters were used to construct individual lifeti … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 11 months ago

Scientists find that senescence can accelerate evolution

The mystery of aging has fascinated people for millennia, with many willing to do anything to halt or reverse this process, because aging is typically associated with gradual deterioration of most body functions. While senescence is a natural part of life, biologists understand s … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 11 months ago

A method for production of organic–inorganic tin halide perovskites for optoelectronic devices

Researchers at the Institute for Advanced Materials at the Universitat Jaume I in Castelló have created a method for synthesizing organic-inorganic tin halide perovskites and generating thin films or coatings from them, which, when deposited on substrates, have optoelectronic pro … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 11 months ago

The great diversity of fish mouths: Catfish attach differently than expected

Some may know suckermouth armored catfish as "window cleaners" from aquariums because they possess a suckermouth, which allows them to attach to various surfaces. The attachment is not only enabled by a vacuum created by the fish but also by specific structures of their mouths, w … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 11 months ago

What happens when you can't be yourself at work

Like many other essentials of life, our sense of self is something we often take for granted, until it's under threat. When our circumstances appear at odds with who we feel ourselves to be, we are pitched headlong into a distressing state that scholars call "identity threat", wh … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 11 months ago

Public bodies 'overwhelmed' at having to implement human rights laws, study warns

Staff members at public bodies can be "overwhelmed" by having to implement human rights laws into the working of their organization when those members are in "awe" of legislation, a new study warns. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 11 months ago

World-first system to monitor the 'seafood basket' of Australia

Australia's national science agency, CSIRO, has completed initial testing of a 'weather service' for water quality in the Spencer Gulf in South Australia—which provides much of the country's seafood—with plans to use the technology in local seafood farms. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 11 months ago

Frostquakes: A new earthquake risk in the north?

A new study has identified a potentially growing natural hazard in the north: frostquakes. With climate change contributing to many observed changes in weather extremes, such as heavy precipitation and cold waves, these seismic events could become more common. Researchers were su … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 11 months ago

Researchers: Frozen methane under the seabed is thawing as oceans warm, and things are worse than we thought

Buried beneath the oceans surrounding continents is a naturally occurring frozen form of methane and water. Sometimes dubbed "fire-ice" as you can literally set light to it, marine methane hydrate can melt as the climate warms, uncontrollably releasing methane—a potent greenhouse … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 11 months ago

Seaweed farming environments do not always function as CO₂ sinks, study finds

Under climate scenarios, seaweed farming is now used globally as a promising approach for achieving carbon neutrality. Seaweed farming contributes substantial amounts of organic carbon to the ocean, part of which can be locked for a long time in the ocean and function as ocean ca … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 11 months ago