Articles by Krystal Kasal
Phys.org / California drought may have pushed parts of the Sacramento Valley aquifer toward permanent collapse
Around a quarter of the U.S. food supply is grown in California's Central Valley. Most of its crops, like rice, fruit trees and nut trees, are water-intensive and require extensive groundwater pumping during droughts. Over ...
Phys.org / Extragalactic positron-annihilation hotspots might mean Milky Way produces far more positrons than thought
Positrons—the antimatter counterpart of electrons—are created in high-energy cosmic processes. When normal matter meets its antimatter counterpart, they annihilate, or vanish, and produce a distinctive 511 keV gamma-ray signal. ...
Phys.org / Ancient bones from smaller Maya communities reveal heavy reliance on maize and local subsistence patterns
Historians and archaeologists know that maize was a central food source and cultural symbol across the ancient Maya world, but much of what is known has come from studies focused on large Maya cities and elite burials.
Phys.org / Why and how birdsong differs across the world—and the eight motifs that tie them together
Birdsong carries meaning across open space, helping birds attract mates, defend territory and communicate with rivals. While there has been much research into the use of birdsong across species, researchers have lacked a ...
Phys.org / Engineered enzyme erases a stubborn mark of aging by up to 70% in human tissue samples
A biotech company called Revel Pharmaceuticals is looking into ways to reverse aging, and the company's science team, along with researchers from the company Calico and the University of Colorado, may be a step closer to ...
Phys.org / Low cloud-cover has helped mute warming for the last 47 years, but models predict this will change
A recent study, published in Geophysical Research Letters, combines historical satellite observations with atmospheric reanalysis data to construct a multidecade record of low-cloud cover in the hope of improving current ...
Phys.org / Light-driven chemistry steers electron transfers beyond redox limits
Chemists use single-electron transfers to synthesize complex, ring-shaped molecular structures found in many drug candidates and advanced materials, but current techniques still have limitations. A new study, accepted for ...
Phys.org / AI‑designed gene‑editing enzymes expand the CRISPR toolbox
Scientists have made many advances using traditional CRISPR technology, especially in medicine, but they are now seeking ways to create genuinely new gene-editing enzymes with properties that have not already evolved naturally. ...
Phys.org / Brain-inspired nanopore device uses current-induced heating for memory operations
Some researchers are leaning into biology for inspiration in computing. In particular, neuromorphic computing offers a brain-inspired approach to hardware that replaces traditional binary processing with systems that function ...
Phys.org / Asteroid with unexplained orbital shift turns out to be a 'dark comet'
Typically, astronomers identify comets by their distinct atmospheres, or comae, and their tails, which are created as the sun vaporizes a comet's ice. These features emit a glow when sunlight bounces off dust and water droplets. ...
Phys.org / New Jurassic dinosaur species identified in Thailand from a single bone
A new study published in Scientific Reports describes the identification of a new species of long-necked dinosaur found in the Phu Kradung Formation in Thailand. The team calls the dinosaur Uragasaurus kalasinensis and says ...
Phys.org / Next‑generation membranes can refine crude oil using under half the energy of distillation
Oil refining is necessary for transforming raw, unusable crude oil into valuable goods like gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and petrochemical feedstocks. However, the usual distillation process is energy-intensive, spurring researchers ...
Phys.org / Nanoplastics found in Antarctic soils for first time, suggesting long-range atmospheric transport
Microplastic contamination has been a much-discussed topic over the last several years, but contamination from even smaller plastic particles represents another pressing issue. Nanoplastics—defined as being under a micrometer ...
Phys.org / Much of Earth's 'space dust' may come from unidentified near-Earth asteroids
Like a shelf in an old house, the Earth collects a lot of dust from its surroundings. This "space dust" is mostly made up of micrometeorites that survive atmospheric entry and provides researchers with a cheap and easy way ...
Phys.org / Traces of Earth's primordial magma ocean discovered in lava from a modern volcanic eruption
In May 2018, the island of Mayotte, between Madagascar and Mozambique, began to experience a series of earthquakes that led to the discovery of an underwater volcano, now called Fani Maoré. Multiple scientific expeditions ...
