IPCC report says climate change is causing dangerous disruption to nature

Scientists at the University of East Anglia (UEA) have played a leading role in the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, released today. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 2 years ago

New technique unlocks ancient history of Earth from grains of sand

Lead researcher Dr. Milo Barham, from the Timescales of Mineral Systems Group within Curtin's School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, said the team devised a metric, which determines the "age distribution fingerprint" of minerals known as zircon within sand, shedding new light on … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 2 years ago

Tiny tire particles inhibit growth of organisms in freshwater, coastal estuaries

Small particles from tires inhibited the growth and caused adverse behavioral changes in organisms found in freshwater and coastal estuary ecosystems, two new Oregon State University studies found. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 2 years ago

New procedure to interpret X-ray emission spectra of liquid water

Water is an abundant and essential compound, found everywhere on earth. Yet despite its familiarity and simple structure, water displays many unusual physical properties. For more than a century, scientists have turned their attention to the study of water, attempting to better i … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 2 years ago

Scientists map underwater topography of more than 1.4 million lakes and reservoirs worldwide

Lakes and reservoirs have a profound influence on ecosystem functions, local streamflow levels, and the movement of water across landscapes. But water managers often are in the dark when it comes to subsurface topography, which affects the ecology, volume, temperature, and rate o … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 2 years ago

Noble False Widow Spider captures bats in the attic

Scientists from the Ryan Institute in NUI Galway have published the first record of a Noble False Widow spider feeding on a protected species of Pipistrelle bats in the UK. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 2 years ago

Australia tells tens of thousands to flee floods

Deadly floods swept Australia's east coast Tuesday, stranding residents on bridges and rooftops and forcing tens of thousands to flee their homes. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 2 years ago

Tycoons bound for ISS aren't tourists, insists space company

Three tycoons and an ex-NASA astronaut are all set for the first fully private voyage to the International Space Station next month—just don't call them tourists. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 2 years ago

China backpedals on climate promises as economy slows

When China's President Xi Jinping issued his traditional Lunar New Year wishes from the country's coal heartland in January, the subtext was clear: Beijing is not ready to kick its coal addiction, despite promises to slash emissions. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 2 years ago

Climate change brings extreme, early impact to South America

Scientists have long been warning that extreme weather would cause calamity in the future. But in South America—which in just the last month has had deadly landslides in Brazil, wildfire in Argentine wetlands and flooding in the Amazon so severe it ruined harvests—that future is … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 2 years ago

New screening system may point the way to clean, renewable hydrogen power

A new, highly sensitive system for detecting the production of hydrogen gas may play an important role in the quest to develop hydrogen as an environmentally friendly and economical alternative to fossil fuels, according to Penn State scientists. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 2 years ago

Tyrannosaurus remains hint at two possible species distinct from T. rex

A new analysis of Tyrannosaurus skeletal remains reveals physical differences in the femur, other bones and dental structures across specimens that could suggest Tyrannosaurus rex specimens need to be re-categorized into three distinct groups or species, reports a study published … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 2 years ago

Digital finance doesn't reduce inequality; it perpetuates it

A new paper in Oxford Open Economics, published by Oxford University Press, indicates that, while digital financial services are often proposed as a vehicle to lower inequality, the cost and infrastructure barriers to accessing mobile phones may amplify economic disparities among … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 2 years ago

IPCC report highlights need for climate action and adaptation

A new report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) highlights the need stop carbon emissions and adapt to "unavoidable risks," according to one of its lead authors. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 2 years ago

Impacts, adaptation and vulnerability: What's new in the latest IPCC release

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on Monday released the second part of its sixth major assessment report. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 2 years ago

Bullying in school may hamper skill development, healthy adulthood

Kids who experience bullying are victims of injury or discomfort from peer teasing, harassment, and physical abuse. While some costs of bullying—school absenteeism, suicidal thoughts and actions—have been documented, little research has been done on the two-way relationship betwe … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 2 years ago

Ancient oxygen levels provide clues to the timing of life and death on Earth

Oxygen is critical for life, but what promoted the first rise in atmospheric oxygen on Earth and precisely when it happened have been challenging scientists for the last 70 years. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 2 years ago

Climate change is causing high tree mortality in southern Amazon

A team of Brazilian and British scientists has discovered that extreme wind and water deficiency are the main causes of tree death in the southern Amazon. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 2 years ago

Researchers examine the performance of a fusion pilot plant to generate electricity

The U.S. fusion community has actively called for an immediate design effort for a cost-effective pilot plant to generate electricity in the 2040s. This effort and related community recommendations are documented in the 2020 report of the Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 2 years ago

Scaling laws in enzymes may help predict life 'as we don't know it'

The only references we have for "life" are the forms we know on Earth. Astrobiologists suspect that the search for alien life, and even for the origins of life on Earth, may require a broader scope. A NASA-funded team of researchers is developing tools to predict the features of … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 2 years ago

Study finds that pro-worker ideas in political platforms resonate with voters

A new paper co-written by a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign expert who studies the intersection of labor unions and politics has found that political parties whose manifestos contained greater percentages of pro-worker ideas were more appealing to voters. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 2 years ago

NASA exploring ways to keep ISS afloat without Russian help: official

NASA is exploring ways to keep the International Space Station in orbit without Russian help, but doesn't see any immediate signs Moscow is withdrawing from the collaboration following the invasion of Ukraine, a senior official said Monday. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 2 years ago

US Supreme Court hears climate case as UN issues stark warning

A divided US Supreme Court heard arguments on Monday in an environmental regulation case with potentially far-reaching implications for the Biden administration's fight against climate change. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 2 years ago

Europe's joint Mars mission with Russia postponed by war

The launch of a joint Europe-Russian mission to Mars this year is now "very unlikely" due to sanctions linked to the war in Ukraine, the European Space Agency said Monday. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 2 years ago

Plastic labeling needs 'sustainability scale,' says new report

Labeling of plastic products needs a drastic overhaul, including a new "sustainability scale" to help consumers, researchers say. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 2 years ago

Snail competition leads to fewer parasites that cause schistosomiasis

Schistosomiasis is a debilitating disease caused by a parasitic worm that develops in freshwater snails before infecting people. Knocking back snail populations with pesticides is one method to control the spread of the disease, also known as "snail fever." | Continue reading


@phys.org | 2 years ago

Climate changed-driven migration is a focus of a new international report

An Oregon State University (OSU) researcher is a lead author of an international report released today that explores the impact of climate change-driven human migration. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 2 years ago

Overlooked channels influence water flow and flooding along Gulf Coast

An unnoticed network of channels is cutting across the coastal plain landscape along the Gulf Coast and influencing how water flows, according to research from The University of Texas at Austin that could help predict flooding from major storms in the future. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 2 years ago

Under pressure: A new theory helps predict when soft materials will fail

Researchers led by a team from the University of Massachusetts Amherst recently announced a major theoretical and experimental breakthrough that allows scientists to predict, with an unprecedented precision, when a soft material will crack and fail. The findings, published in the … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 2 years ago

Physicists report on 'quantum boomerang' effect in disordered systems

Physicists at UC Santa Barbara have become the first to experimentally observe a quirky behavior of the quantum world: a "quantum boomerang" effect that occurs when particles in a disordered system are kicked out of their locations. Instead of landing elsewhere as one might expec … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 2 years ago

Study reveals chemical link between wildfire smoke and ozone depletion

The Australian wildfires in 2019 and 2020 were historic for how far and fast they spread, and for how long and powerfully they burned. All told, the devastating "Black Summer" fires blazed across more than 43 million acres of land, and extinguished or displaced nearly 3 billion a … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 2 years ago

Indian Ocean warming could weaken summer monsoon rainfall in South Asia

The South Asian monsoon, also known as Indian summer monsoon (ISM), is crucial for the food security and socioeconomic well-being of 40% of the world's population. From a historical perspective, fluctuations in monsoon rainfall have been linked to the rise and fall of civilizatio … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 2 years ago

Researchers map wildlife and infrastructure to maximize tourism in Costa Rica

With lush green jungles brimming with wildlife, Costa Rica has become a global tourism hotspot—and government leaders would like to keep it that way. They worked with researchers from the Stanford Natural Capital Project to understand how nature supports the country's most visite … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 2 years ago

Kilonova afterglow potentially spotted for first time

For the first time, Northwestern University-led astronomers may have detected an afterglow from a kilonova. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 2 years ago

Climate change has 'irreversibly' changed Florida, a new global report says

Unchecked climate change has already changed Florida permanently and irreversibly—and the world has a limited window to stop it from getting worse, according to a new global report from the world's top scientists. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 2 years ago

Pathogen-repellent wrap shown to shed viruses as well as bacteria

New research by the inventors of a promising pathogen-repellent wrap has confirmed that it sheds not only bacteria, as previously proven, but also viruses, boosting its potential usefulness for interrupting the transmission of infections. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 2 years ago

Big data arrives on the farm

A new analysis by Glenn Stone, professor of anthropology and of environmental studies in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, examines how digital technologies are beginning to make inroads into agriculture in lower-income countries in Asia, Africa and Latin Ame … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 2 years ago

New lightweight super material could battle bullets, deflect space debris

University of Wisconsin–Madison engineers have created a nanofiber material that outperforms its widely used counterparts—including steel plates and Kevlar fabric—in protecting against high-speed projectile impacts. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 2 years ago

Social networking for fossils shows community impacts of mass extinctions

By applying an algorithm akin to what Facebook uses to make friend suggestions, researchers have identified communities of ancient life in the fossil record and tracked how their numbers changed through each of the planet's mass extinctions. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 2 years ago

Atheists more likely to hide beliefs if they're women, Republicans, southerners or were previously religious

Atheists in the United States are more likely to conceal their beliefs if they're women, Republicans, southerners or if they've previously been religious, according to new research from Rice University and West Virginia University. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 2 years ago

After California's massive Dixie fire, PG&E to ramp up spending on wildfire safety in 2022

PG&E Corp. spent nearly $4.9 billion last year to prevent wildfires—and still wound up responsible for the second-largest fire in California history. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 2 years ago

Metasurface-based antenna turns ambient radio waves into electric power

Researchers have developed a new metasurface-based antenna that represents an important step toward making it practical to harvest energy from radio waves, such as the ones used in cell phone networks or Bluetooth connections. This technology could potentially provide wireless po … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 2 years ago

Potential impacts of emerald ash borer on wildlife in black ash wetlands

Black ash wetlands cover approximately 1.2 million acres of wetland forest in the western Great Lakes. They are an ecologically significant part of Minnesota's landscapes and provide critical habitat for wildlife.  | Continue reading


@phys.org | 2 years ago

A new way to control atomic interactions

In a new study, Stanford researchers demonstrate how to manipulate atoms so they interact with an unprecedented degree of control. Using precisely delivered light and magnetic fields, the researchers programmed a straight line of atoms into treelike shapes, a twisted loop called … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 2 years ago

Team significantly improves BioCro software for growing virtual crops

A team from the University of Illinois has revamped the popular crop growth simulation software BioCro, making it a more user-friendly and efficient way to predict crop yield. The updated version, BioCro II, allows modelers to use the technology much more easily and includes fast … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 2 years ago

Ring my string: Building silicon nano-strings

Tightening a string, e.g. when tuning a guitar, makes it vibrate faster. But when strings are nano-sized, increased tension also reduces, or 'dilutes', the loss of the string's vibrational modes. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 2 years ago

How a two-faced molecule can silence problematic genes

T and B lymphocytes, which are part of a group of immune cells commonly called white blood cells, work together to eliminate foreign invaders in the body such as viruses. However, certain diseases can arise when T and B cells are activated at inappropriate times, including autoim … | Continue reading


@phys.org | 2 years ago

Trees may benefit from earlier start of growing season in cold humid areas

A research group led by Prof. Liang Eryuan from the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research (ITP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has found that trees may benefit from an earlier start of the growing season in cold humid areas, but not in dry areas. | Continue reading


@phys.org | 2 years ago