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Phys.org / Plastic bags to gasoline: Molten salts crack polyethylene into real fuels
Researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory developed a method to convert a commonly discarded hydrocarbon polymer into gasoline- and diesel-like fuels. The team has applied for a patent for the ...
Phys.org / Giant jars, ancient bells, buried bones and a mystery that endures
Helping to preserve artifacts, some potentially 2,000 years old, was an irresistible privilege. Since 2016, an Australian-Lao team led by Louise Shewan, Dougald O'Reilly and Thonglith Luangkhoth has conducted archaeological ...
Medical Xpress / Little-used cholesterol test could prevent more heart attacks and strokes
A routine blood test taken by millions in the U.S. each year to measure "bad" cholesterol is not the best measure to guide treatment and prevent heart attacks and strokes, suggests a new Northwestern Medicine study published ...
Phys.org / Do you see faces in the clouds? Researchers examine pareidolia
Humans are masters of seeing faces in any old thing—a handbag, TV static, toasted white bread. Scientists want to know why. A few years ago, as the category 5 Hurricane Milton bore down on the Florida coast, the internet ...
Medical Xpress / New study finds eye focuses using color signals, not just sharpness
The human eye functions like an exceptionally precise, high-end camera, one with a resolution of around 576 megapixels. What makes it intriguing is that although our eyes can focus on light at only one wavelength at a time, ...
Phys.org / A 'stemness checkpoint' helps control stem cell identity
A study published in Cell Research advances a central idea in stem cell biology by identifying a checkpoint that controls the identity of many different types of stem cells across developmental stages. For nearly two decades, ...
Phys.org / Could we actually terraform Mars? A new scientific roadmap lays out the blueprint—and the risks
Reading the "Mars Trilogy" by Kim Stanley Robinson brings the benefits and pitfalls of efforts to terraform the red planet into sharp relief. Since the 1970s, when Carl Sagan first suggested the possibility that we could ...
Phys.org / Satellites capture the volatile human–luminescence relationship
From space, Earth's populated areas glow on the otherwise "black marble" of the planet at night. For decades, scientists assumed this glow was steadily increasing as the world developed. However, a new study published in ...
Phys.org / 'Oldest octopus' fossil is no octopus at all, scans reveal
A famous 300-million-year-old fossil that was thought to be the world's oldest octopus—even featuring in the Guinness Book of Records—has turned out to be something else altogether. In what amounts to a case of mistaken identity, ...
Phys.org / Ancient tectonic processes are the key to locating rare minerals
New research from Adelaide University has revealed that geological processes dating back billions of years are critical to locating the rare earth elements needed for modern technologies and the global clean energy transition. ...
Phys.org / Bridging AI- and experimental-led materials discovery with better database architecture
Materials databases lie at the heart of future data-driven discovery in energy-related fields, say researchers from Tohoku University. In an article published in the journal Precision Chemistry, they have examined how different ...
Phys.org / 'Pinprick of light': Artemis crew witnesses meteorite impacts on moon
During their historic lunar flyby, astronauts on NASA's Artemis II mission witnessed meteorites striking the rugged surface of the moon, a sight that has piqued scientists' curiosity.
