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Phys.org / From nuisance to new resource: Prickly pear could support fuels, foods and rural growers

Texans often view prickly pear cactus as a nuisance, but researchers with Texas A&M AgriLife Research are seeking opportunity. Susanne Talcott, Ph.D., a molecular researcher and professor in the Texas A&M Department of Food ...

4 hours ago
Phys.org / The hidden physics behind the shape of rose thorns

Roses are known for their thorns, the sharp structures that can sting and prickle the skin. Thorns, botanically known as prickles, are thought to discourage animals from feeding on plants and may also help climbing roses ...

17 hours ago
Phys.org / Sound waves do double duty, carrying and protecting quantum information

Researchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have demonstrated a promising new way to protect fragile quantum information using nothing but mechanical vibrations—essentially ...

10 hours ago
Phys.org / Adaptation and a 'Noah's Ark for trees' offer hope for endangered black ash

With the invasive emerald ash borer beetle decimating black ash across North America, according to the U.S. Forest Service, a team led by researchers at Penn State conducted an expansive study of genetic diversity in black ...

8 hours ago
Phys.org / Porpoise entanglement recorded in real time, revealing calls and escape attempts

Researchers at the University of St Andrews have gained unprecedented insight into marine mammal behavior when they become tangled in fishing nets. In a paper published Aug. 26 in Royal Society Open Science, researchers from ...

7 hours ago
Phys.org / Setting limits on phase transitions in the dark energy era

The universe is known to be expanding at an accelerating rate. Physicists typically attribute this acceleration to dark energy, a mysterious component of the universe that exerts negative pressure, causing space to expand ...

20 hours ago
Medical Xpress / New mRNA immunotherapy eliminates pancreatic tumors in mice

Inspired by the work of the RNA Therapeutics Institute at UMass Chan Medical School and the development of the COVID vaccine, Marcus Ruscetti, Ph.D., and Chaitanya Naimesh Parikh, Ph.D. '26, have developed an immunotherapy ...

11 hours ago
Phys.org / Scientists unlock 'ancestral code' of banana family

Scientists have recently reconstructed the ancestral karyotype of the banana family, revealing how chromosome numbers decreased stepwise from 17 to 9–11 over evolutionary time.

9 hours ago
Dialog / Hydroclimate whiplash damages California's tallest redwoods after years of drought

Tall trees are generally associated with high-biomass forests. This is particularly true for forests dominated by Sequoia sempervirens (hereafter redwood), the world's tallest tree species. Extreme decay resistance, the ability ...

8 hours ago
Phys.org / 3D atomic imaging reveals a new pathway to crystal formation

The most common scientific approach for thinking about how condensation, freezing and other phase transitions begin is based in classical nucleation theory, which was developed about a century ago. Thousands of experiments ...

9 hours ago
Phys.org / Microcline reveals how a common mineral surface triggers ice formation in clouds

Pure water freezes only at around -38°C (-36°F). Tiny mineral dust particles act as so-called ice nucleators—crystallization seeds on which ice crystals form. A research team at Bielefeld University and the University of ...

9 hours ago
Phys.org / Using plutonium to probe the universe: Magneto‑ν experiment advances dark matter and neutrino research

Astronomers can't see dark matter directly, but they know it's there: Its gravity shapes galaxies and the large-scale structure of the cosmos. In an effort to uncover the composition of this hidden mass, a team at Lawrence ...

11 hours ago