Study says strong political action needed to reduce increasing share of millionaires' enormous environmental impact

The number of millionaires in the world is steadily increasing, and their emission patterns make it difficult, if not impossible, to meet the Paris Agreement's target of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. According to a new study by tourism professor Stefan Gössling, … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Plant protection of the future may come from the plants themselves

Humans and animals all have chemical and microbial signatures that influence their well-being in one way or another. In medicine, the use of probiotics rather than antibiotics has become high on the agenda. However, humans and animals are not the only ones who have a close relati … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

When speaking up at work, talk to someone who can take action, study recommends

Conventional wisdom says it pays to speak up at work: When an employee offers a novel idea for workplace improvements, and managers listen and act, both the organization and employee win. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Saving Florida's only population of rare, endangered orchid from extinction

Researchers have pinpointed the biggest threats to the only population of rare, endangered mule ear orchids in the U.S. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

One facility makes a big contribution to Salt Lake's winter brown cloud

The 2.4 million people who live along Utah's Wasatch Front experience some of the most severe winter particulate matter air pollution in the nation. Now, analysis of measurements taken during National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) research flights in 2017 indicate … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Lucy spacecraft set to encounter new asteroid target

NASA's Lucy spacecraft will add another asteroid encounter to its 4-billion-mile journey. On Nov. 1, 2023, the Southwest Research Institute-led Lucy mission will get a close-up view of a small main belt asteroid to conduct an engineering test of the spacecraft's innovative astero … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Study analyzes gender differences in uptake of biological control agent to tackle tomato pest in Pakistan

A new CABI-led study has analyzed gender differences in the uptake of the biological control agent Trichogramma chilonis to control the pest Helicoverpa armigera on tomato crops in Pakistan. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Webb spies Chariklo ring system with high-precision technique

In 2013, Felipe Braga-Ribas and collaborators, using ground-based telescopes, discovered that Chariklo hosts a system of two thin rings. Such rings had been expected only around large planets such as Jupiter and Neptune. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Study: How to apply lessons from Colorado's costliest wildfire to drinking water systems

Wildfire damage to drinking water systems can significantly delay a community's economic recovery. The costliest disaster in Colorado's history, the Marshall Fire of 2021, resulted in more than $2 billion in losses. Six drinking water systems were directly in the fire's path. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Work from home success linked to work/life boundaries

Remote jobs can help workers craft more satisfying lives, with higher psychological well-being and work engagement, but only if that work occurs during regularly contracted hours, according to new ILR School research. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

US wealth gap widening more quickly than Europe's: Study

The wealth gap was partly due to significant rises in stock market prices, according to the new study from Imperial College Business School, published in the Journal of Monetary Economics. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

New shield blocks electromagnetic interference while allowing wireless optical signals

Researchers have experimentally demonstrated, for the first time, a mechanically flexible silver mesh that is visibly transparent, allows high-quality infrared wireless optical communication and efficiently shields electromagnetic interference in the X band portion of the microwa … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Keep on flowing: The importance of freshwater corridors in the Amazon

The Amazon rainforest and basin are crucial for the balance of the Earth's environmental systems that enable life as we know it. The world's largest rainforest covers 6.7 million square kilometers and encompasses the largest network of forests and rivers in the world, housing aro … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Fraudulent microchip use and compliance issues found on controversial lion farms in the Free State, South Africa

A number of serious management and compliance issues were revealed on lion farms in the Free State province, South Africa, by a joint team of researchers from MONITOR, Blood Lions, and World Animal Protection. Potentially fraudulent activities relating to the use of microchips, o … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Proper management of nitrogen and irrigation shown to increase yields and reduce leaching

Imagine a hot and dry summer day, it might have been dry and hot for a long time. The birds are singing and the irrigation machines in the fields are running at full speed. But what does irrigating crops really mean for farmers' yields and how does it affect nitrate leaching? Res … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Citizen scientists discover more than 1,000 new burial mounds

Over the past few years, citizen scientists from the Heritage Quest project have scoured the entire Veluwe and Utrechtse Heuvelrug areas for unknown archaeological heritage. One of the results of this research is that the number of known burial mounds in this area has doubled. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Can we increase the carbon content of agricultural soils?

Climate change is considered one of the most pressing problems of our time. In this context, soil plays a greater role than might be expected. Soil can simultaneously store CO2 from the atmosphere and emit CO2 through microbial decomposition of organic matter. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Field trial shows that knowing the carbon footprint of food prompts people to eat more sustainably

Labeling the carbon footprint of food prompts people to eat more sustainably: This was the key finding for TRR 266 Accounting for Transparency researchers from LMU Munich, HU Berlin and Aalto University in Finland in a recent field trial. How the information is presented turned o … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

China's Lunar New Year exodus cools major cities, study shows

During the week-long Chinese New Year, also known as the Lunar New Year, work is suspended, businesses close and nearly three billion people leave cities to join their families in rural areas for traditional gatherings. The holiday is the largest short-term suspension in human ac … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Death and dying: How different cultures deal with grief and mourning

Grief is a universal emotion. It's something we all feel, no matter where we come from or what we've been through. Grief comes for us all and as humans who form close relationships with other people, it's hard to avoid. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Large mammals shaped the evolution of humans in Africa, says ecologist

That humans originated in Africa is widely accepted. But it's not generally recognized how unique features of Africa's ecology were responsible for the crucial evolutionary transitions from forest-inhabiting fruit-eater to savanna-dwelling hunter. These were founded on Earth move … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Tracking online hate speech that follows real-world events

A machine-learning analysis has revealed patterns in online hate speech that suggest complex—and sometimes counterintuitive—links between real-world events and different types of hate speech. Yonatan Lupu of George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and colleagues present … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

52-million-year-old fossils show near-primates were cool with colder climate

Two sister species of near-primate, called "primatomorphans," dating back about 52 million years have been identified by researchers at the University of Kansas as the oldest to have dwelled north of the Arctic Circle. The findings appear today in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS O … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Researchers identify protein FER1L5 as essential for male fertility in mice

Fertilization is the union of two cells: an egg and a sperm. Before the egg and the sperm fuse, an event known as the "acrosome reaction" needs to occur in the sperm. Now, a team from Osaka University has identified a protein called FER1L5 that is essential for sperm to undergo t … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Rethinking meat substitutes

Is excitement over meat alternatives overheated? Investors have poured billions of dollars into the sector to kickstart technologies that produce protein with ingredients such as peas, soybeans, mushrooms, and lab-grown animal cells, but they are unlikely to offset livestock agri … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Satellite data shows sustained severe drought in Europe

Europe has been experiencing a severe drought for years. Across the continent, groundwater levels have been consistently low since 2018, even if extreme weather events with flooding temporarily give a different picture. The beginning of this tense situation is documented in a 202 … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Everyday Aussies' social media posts help find missing plant species

Scientists have identified six new or rediscovered Western Australian plant species from photos taken and uploaded to the internet by members of the public, including a nature photographer from Jurien Bay, a pair of wildflower enthusiasts from Dongara and a farmer from near the S … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

No spread of H5N1 bird flu between mammals found

Mammals can become infected with the highly pathogenic (HPAI) avian influenza H5N1 virus when they feed on infected sick or dead wild birds. Studies by Wageningen Bioveterinary Research (WBVR) show that there is no spread of the virus between the mammals. However, a zoönotic muta … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Transistors repurposed as microchip 'clock' address supply chain weakness

Microchip fab plants in the United States can cram billions of data processing transistors onto a tiny silicon chip, but a critical device, in essence a "clock," to time the operation of those transistors must be made separately—creating a weak point in chip security and the supp … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Physicist encourages continuing the search for life in Venus' atmosphere

In a recent paper accepted to Contemporary Physics, a physicist from Imperial College London uses past missions and recent findings to encourage the importance of searching for life in the atmosphere of the solar system's most inhospitable planet, Venus. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Escaped pet parrots threaten New Zealand's vulnerable native birds—why a ban may be the best solution

Birds sold in the pet trade are often colorful and charismatic creatures. Some can even be taught to talk, and they often provide owners with much-needed companionship. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Food shortages: Five ways to fix 'unfair' supply chains

UK food prices soared by more than 16% in 2022 as record inflation pushed up the prices of everything from bread to beans. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Typical mass shooters are in their 20s and 30s: Suspects in California's latest killings are far from that average

The two men who shot dead 18 people in separate incidents just days apart in California are the latest perpetrators in America's long history of mass gun violence. But something about these public shootings, and the men held responsible, stands out. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Thermal fluctuations and oscillation modes found to determine the uptake of bacteria in cells

How and with what effort does a bacterium—or a virus—enter a cell and cause an infection? Researchers from Freiburg have now made an important contribution to answering this question. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

What crocodile DNA reveals about the Ice Age

What drives crocodile evolution? Is climate a major factor or changes in sea levels? Determined to find answers to these questions, researchers from McGill University discovered that while changing temperatures and rainfall had little impact on the crocodiles' gene flow over the … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Study demonstrates a new method to search for meV dark photons

Approximately 85% of the mass of our galaxy is comprised by dark matter, matter that does not emit, absorb or reflect light and thus cannot be directly observed. While several studies have hinted at or theorized about its composition, it remains one of the greatest unresolved phy … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

War leaves a toxic legacy that lasts long after the guns go quiet: Can we stop it?

The number of armed conflicts currently raging around the world is the greatest since the end of the Second World War. These wars can leave toxic environmental legacies and cause untold damage to human health. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Why loneliness is both an individual thing and a shared result of the cities we create

If you're feeling lonely, you're not alone. Loneliness is an increasingly common experience, and it can have severe consequences. People who feel lonely are at higher risk of serious health issues, including heart disease, immune deficiency and depression. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

The cost of school uniforms is a barrier to education, but there are ways to level the playing field

This year's perennial back-to-school uniform discussion happens during a cost of living crisis. And we already know that the upfront and maintenance costs of school uniforms are a stress for families on lower incomes, in New Zealand and globally across rich and poor countries ali … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Mental health services on college campuses promote student success, report finds

Penn State's Center for Collegiate Mental Health has released the results of its 2022 Annual Report examining the factors associated with voluntary withdrawal from school during counseling services. This investigation was deemed essential given concerning national rates of "drop … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Special vascular cells adjust blood flow in brain capillaries based on local energy needs

When we smell hot dogs, it may trigger memories of backyard barbeques or attending baseball games during childhood. During this process, the areas of the brain that control smell and long-term memory are rapidly firing off impulses. To fuel these signals from neurons, the active … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Computer model of influenza virus shows universal vaccine promise

According to the World Health Organization, each year there are an estimated 1 billion cases of influenza, between 3-5 million severe cases and up to 650,000 influenza-related respiratory deaths globally. Seasonal flu vaccines must be reformulated each year to match the predomina … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

New transporter for recycling of bacterial cell wall found

A transporter which some bacteria use to recycle fragments of their cell wall has been discovered by researchers at Umeå university, Sweden. They found that the transporter controls resistance to certain kinds of cell-wall targeting antibiotics. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Unraveling the protein map of the cell's mitochondria

Mitochondria are responsible for the energy supply of the organism and fulfill functions in metabolic and signaling processes. Researchers at the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the University of Freiburg have gained systematic insight into the organization of proteins in mito … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

How mechanical tearing cuts neural connections in the fruit fly

Scientists from the Institute of Neuro- and Behavioral Biology at Münster University have been studying the regulated removal of neural connections in the model system of the Drosophila fruit fly. They find that mechanical forces play an important role in the process. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Can dogs tell the difference between when we are unable to do something for them, versus being simply unwilling?

A team of researchers at the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, working with a colleague from AS University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands, has found evidence that suggests dogs, under some circumstances, are able to understand the intentions of people that they do … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

Venice recruits next generation in flooding fight

As rising waters fuel fears that Venice may one day be entirely submerged, local children are being educated on how to protect the lagoon, a fragile ecosystem threatened by climate change. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago

ESA chief vows to restore Europe's access to space

The European Space Agency's director general says it's crucial to rebuild Europe's access to space following the botched launch of a European rocket carrying two Earth observation satellites last year and the delayed introduction of the Ariane 6 launcher. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 1 year ago