Solar storms hit more locally than expected: Current instrument network too sparse, says study

A new study shows that there is greater local variation in the impact of solar storms on Earth than previously estimated. Researchers show that the effects can vary widely even over distances as small as 100 kilometers. The findings are published in Scientific Reports. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

A new approach to the sensible use of carbon dioxide from car exhaust gases

Using impure CO2 from car exhaust, the team of Prof. Dr. Shoubik Das, Chair of Organic Chemistry I at the University of Bayreuth, presents a cost-effective synthetic route for γ-lactams. γ-Lactam is an organic chemical compound, which is an inhibitory neurotransmitter. This means … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Molecular cooperation at the threshold of life

Protein-like aggregates known as amyloids can bind to molecules of genetic material. It is possible that these two types of molecules stabilized each other during the development of life—and that this might even have paved the way for the genetic code. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Was 'witchcraft' in the Devil's Church in Koli based on acoustic resonance?

The national park of Koli in eastern Finland is home to a famous, 34-meter-long crevice cave known as Pirunkirkko, or Devil's Church in English. In folklore, this crevice cave was known as a place where local sages would meet to contact the spirit world. Even today, the place is … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Research advances magnetic graphene for low-power electronics

National University of Singapore (NUS) physicists have developed a concept to induce and directly quantify spin splitting in two-dimensional materials. By using this concept, they have experimentally achieved large tunability and a high degree of spin-polarization in graphene. Th … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Experiment shows how water-filled channels crisscrossing multi-crystal ice lead to fractures

A combined team of materials scientists and engineers from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and Yale University, has shown via lab experiment, how water-filled channels crisscrossing multi-crystal ice can lead to fractures in materials such as cement and asphalt. In thei … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

CRISPR-powered optothermal nanotweezers

Optothermal nanotweezers are an innovative optical design method that has revolutionized classical optical techniques to capture a broad range of nanoparticles. While the optothermal temperature field can be employed for in situ regulation of nanoparticles, challenges remain in i … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

New insights into broken symmetries: Applying the Lorentz reciprocal theorem to fluids with odd viscosities

The Lorentz reciprocal theorem can now be applied to fluids with broken symmetries. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization (MPI-DS) in Göttingen have found a way to also accommodate this classical theorem in fluids with odd viscosities. Their di … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Potential threats, promising resources in thriving colonies of bacteria and fungi on ocean plastic trash

A team of scientists from the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) has found both potential threats and promising resources in the thriving colonies of bacteria and fungi on plastic trash washed up on Singapore shores. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Researchers describe the journey of thermal antibubbles in a hot bath

Bubbles are thin liquid shells surrounded by air. Although less well known, there are also antibubbles, which are the opposite of bubbles, i.e., a thin envelope of vapor surrounded by liquid. In a new study, we show that it is possible to create antibubbles by impacting a droplet … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Astronomers discover the Milky Way's faintest satellite

By analyzing the images from the Ultraviolet Near Infrared Optical Northern Survey (UNIONS), an international team of astronomers has discovered a new compact satellite of the Milky Way, which received designation Ursa Major III/UNIONS 1. The newfound object turns out to be the l … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

5,200 years of migrations from Mexico to California may be the origin of a mystery language

Research led by Nathan Nakatsuka of the Department of Genetics at Harvard Medical School, Boston, has found evidence supporting migrations into California from Mexico and the presence of Mexican-related ancestry in Central and Southern California starting around 5,200 years ago. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

The formation of an excitonic Mott insulator state in a moiré superlattice

When a negatively charged electron and a positively charged hole in a pair remain bound together following excitation by light, they produce states known as excitons. These states can influence the optical properties of materials, in turn enabling their use for developing various … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

NASA feels a 'sense of urgency' to get to Mars: Idaho scientists could help us get there

China has repeatedly stunned the U.S. intelligence community in the last five years with rapid progress in its space exploration program, landing a rover on the far side of the moon and completing its very own space station orbiting Earth. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Critically endangered Sumatran rhino born in Indonesia

A Sumatran rhino has been born in western Indonesia, officials said Monday, a rare sanctuary birth for the critically endangered animal with only several dozen believed to be left in the world. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Winter isn't coming: climate change hits Greek olive crop

Greek organic farmer Zaharoula Vassilaki looks with admiration at a huge olive tree on her property believed to be over two centuries old, still yielding despite a direct lightning hit years ago. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Experts trash Hong Kong's 'throwaway culture' ahead of plastic ban

Unlike her fellow Hong Kong urbanites toting plastic or paper cups filled with coffee, pet groomer Lucine Mo takes her caffeine hit in a thermal mug with a QR code. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

The way a sperm tail moves can be explained by mathematics worked out by Alan Turing

Alan Turing might be best know for his work helping to crack Germany's "Enigma" communications code during the second world war. But he also came up with a theory where patterns can form just through chemical compounds spreading out (diffusing) and reacting with one another. This … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Heat, disease, air pollution: How climate change impacts health

Growing calls for the world to come to grips with the many ways that global warming affects human health have prompted the first day dedicated to the issue at crunch UN climate talks starting next week. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

A fullerene-like molecule made entirely of metal atoms

A small team of chemists from Nankai University, Nanjing Tech University and Shanxi University, all in China, working with a colleague from Universidad San Sebastián, in Chile, has, for the first time, created a fullerene-like molecule made entirely of metal atoms. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Reservoir construction may be reducing carbon storage in ocean sediments

Carbon storage has been a key focus in recent years to draw down natural and anthropogenic sources of carbon dioxide and help the fight against global warming, and particularly focuses on terrestrial forests and soils, as well as wetland mangroves and seagrasses. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Limits for quantum computers: Perfect clocks are impossible, research finds

There are different ideas about how quantum computers could be built. But they all have one thing in common: you use a quantum physical system—for example, individual atoms—and change their state by exposing them to very specific forces for a specific time. However, this means th … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

One of world's largest icebergs drifting beyond Antarctic waters after it was grounded for 3 decades

One of the world's largest icebergs is drifting beyond Antarctic waters, after being grounded for more than three decades, according to the British Antarctic Survey. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Antarctic ozone hole getting deeper in mid-spring, research suggests

The hole in the Antarctic ozone layer has been getting deeper in mid-spring over the last two decades, despite a global ban on chemicals that deplete Earth's shield from deadly solar radiation, new research suggested Tuesday. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Dynamic bio-interface between mussel tissue and byssus plays important role in quick release

A team of chemists at McGill University, working with a colleague from Charité-Universitätsmedizin, in Germany, has uncovered part of the process used by mussels to bind to rocks and to quickly release from them when conditions warrant. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

KiDS in the sky: New stellar system discovered by the Kilo-Degree Survey

Astronomers have discovered a new stellar system in the outskirts of the Milky Way as part of the Kilo-Degree Survey (KiDS). The newfound system, named Sextans II, is most likely an ultra-faint dwarf galaxy. The finding is reported in a paper published November 10 on the pre-prin … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Tracking an errant space rocket to a mysterious crater on the moon

In March 2022, a defunct part of a space rocket hurled toward the moon's surface and impacted near the Hertzsprung Crater, an enormous impact feature on the far side of the moon that is never directly visible from Earth. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

A new theory to explain the nature of volcanic fountaining

A multi-institutional team of Earth scientists, meteorologists, geologists and volcanologists has developed a new theory to explain the nature of volcanic fountaining. In their project, reported in the journal Nature Communications, the group studied the 2021 eruption of the Fagr … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

From underground detectors to cosmic secrets: Exploring dark matter-nucleon interactions

In a new study, scientists report results from the PandaX-4T experiment, setting stringent limits on dark matter–nucleon interactions using low-energy data and the Migdal effect, ruling out significant parameter space for a thermal relic dark-matter model. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Saturday Citations: Lead, microplastics and coal on our filthy planet—plus, faster-charging lithium-ion batteries

This week, we reported on new developments in lithium-ion batteries, and a real industrial pollution hat trick with stories on coal, lead and microplastics. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

What kind of seafood is morally ethical to eat?

Do you like cod, shrimp, salmon, crab or pollock (also known as fish sticks)? Of course you do. Do you shop at Walmart, Costco, Kroger or Albertsons for fish? Who doesn't? Do you eat at one of the more than 400,000 restaurants supplied by food distributor Sysco? Almost certainly. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Arson suspected as wildfire burns in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, rangers say

A wildfire burning in Great Smoky Mountains National Park is believed to be the work of an arsonist, according to the National Park Service. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Beech forests are beneficial in the climate crisis but suffer under drought and heat

Measurements from the past 27 years show that nature's ecosystem services and good biodiversity remove CO2 from the atmosphere, thus reducing the effect of carbon emissions. However, it is also clear that ecosystem services are affected by higher temperatures and drought, i.e., c … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Study finds LinkedIn can trigger feelings of imposter syndrome

The use of professional social networking sites such as LinkedIn can stir up feelings of self-doubt, research suggests. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Broad bean thrives despite a hyperactive ion channel, finds study

Plants in which an ion channel of the vacuole is hyperactive are extremely stressed and grow poorly. But the broad bean is an exception, as Würzburg researchers have discovered. Their research is published in the journal eLife. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Fallen autumn leaves are a valuable resource. Here's how to make the most of them

Towards the end of autumn the days get colder and shorter. This triggers the reduction of the plant hormone auxin in most deciduous trees, which start to shed their leaves. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

How COVID enabled new forms of economic abuse of women in India

In the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, the United Nations (UN) identified what it called a "shadow pandemic" of domestic violence against women. The UN includes in its definition of domestic violence what it refers to as "economic violence," which it explains as: "making or attempti … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Waking a sleeping language: A plan to revive the speaking of ta rē Moriori

When is a language extinct and when is it merely dormant? There are certainly languages that have passed over that line, and many remain threatened today. But what of those in the twilight zone—can we revive them, and what would that look like? | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

How NASA keeps Ingenuity going after more than 50 flights

More information is always better when it comes to publicly funded space exploration projects. So it's welcome when a NASA engineer takes time out of the assuredly busy work lives to provide an update on everyone's favorite helicopter on Mars. Ingenuity has been having a rough fe … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Q&A: Study finds wide gap in SAT/ACT test scores between wealthy, lower-income kids

A recent paper released by Opportunity Insights, a Harvard-based team of researchers and policy analysts, found that children of the wealthiest 1% of Americans were 13 times likelier than the children of low-income families to score 1300 or higher on SAT/ACT tests. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

How to help beneficial insects survive winter

While a decrease in insects as the weather cools is a plus to many people, Texans should keep in mind that beneficial insects in gardens and yards could use a little help. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Understanding a satellite's death spiral

Down on the ground, death equals stillness—but not in space. Abandoned satellites are prone to tumble in unpredictable ways, and an ESA project with the Astronomical Institute of the University of Bern sought to better understand this behavior. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

A different kind of peer pressure identified between mentors and students

A study published in the International Journal of Teaching and Case Studies has looked at the dynamics of student peers helping each other with their educational needs. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Declining local media is producing media deserts, jeopardizing local democracy and community cohesion: Report

A new report has highlighted how a decline in local and community media is producing a growing trend of "media deserts" across Europe that is undermining local democracy and inclusivity. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

New models provide clarity around climate change and its impacts

Understanding and addressing the impacts of climate change is one of the most daunting challenges of our time. The complexities of interconnected natural and human systems make it extremely difficult to identify meaningful solutions. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

A 1,400-year-old temple discovered at Suffolk royal settlement

A possibly pre-Christian temple from the time of the East Anglian Kings, some 1,400 years ago, has been found at Rendlesham, near Sutton Hoo in Suffolk, by a team of archaeologists led by UCL researchers. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Poisonous invasive plant exhibits twice as many genes as expected

For the first time ever, scientists have studied the genome of Sosnowsky's hogweed, a poisonous invasive plant whose juice causes skin burns. They found that its genome has nearly twice as many genes as most other plants. The study is published in The Plant Journal. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Using AI to track icebergs

Researchers are using a new AI tool to detect icebergs in the Southern Ocean. This is the first step in being able to track the complete life cycle of most icebergs across Antarctica from satellite data. The study, "Unsupervised machine learning detection of iceberg populations w … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago