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Phys.org / How 'hyperselection' is making modern life efficient, pleasant—and boring
It's difficult to imagine a song like Queen's 1975 "Bohemian Rhapsody" topping the charts today. Almost six minutes long, it moves through several radically different musical sections and famously ignores the conventional ...
Phys.org / In Nepal, climate adaptation starts with what communities already know
The catastrophic flood along the Nepal–China border that killed more than 1,400 people and left nearly 6,000 people missing devastated communities and infrastructure and renewed questions about how Himalayan countries prepare ...
Phys.org / Male beauty ratings reveal lower averages but an exceptional upper tier
Women's faces are rated as more attractive than men's across cultures, age groups and sexual orientations. This effect, known as the "Gender Attractiveness Gap" (GAP), was recently demonstrated in a large-scale study led ...
Phys.org / Too hot to learn: How climate change hurts children's chances from birth
Children across Europe have returned to school after a summer of extreme heat. As the climate warms, one question is becoming harder to ignore: How can students learn when classrooms become dangerously hot?
Phys.org / Deep biosphere has endured mountain-building and erosion over hundreds of millions of years
A new study reveals that microbial life deep within Earth has persisted and repeatedly flourished through hundreds of millions of years of mountain-building and erosion. By analyzing minerals, fluids and gases from a 2.3-kilometer-deep ...
Phys.org / Critically endangered pygmy raccoons observed making their own paper toys
Some of the most intriguing scientific breakthroughs happen when researchers aren't explicitly looking for them. Take, for example, the pygmy raccoon (Procyon pygmaeus), a critically endangered species that lives only on ...
Phys.org / Bumpy battery surfaces can masquerade as nanoscale ion pathways, misleading material design
A signal that appears to show ions moving inside a battery may, in fact, be an illusion caused by an uneven surface. A KAIST research team has identified the origin of this type of artifact, which can lead researchers to ...
Phys.org / Quebec wildfire smoke left forest moths with deformed wings, research finds
Over the course of the summer of 2023, Quebec experienced its worst wildfire season on record. By its end, some 4.5 million hectares (11.1 million acres) of the province's boreal forest had burned. While the effects of the ...
Phys.org / Study reveals another reason to save the world's trees
All over the world, from Oregon's old-growth forests to Queensland's eucalyptus groves, creatures depend on trees for shelter. A new analysis from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign suggests that as the climate destabilizes, ...
Medical Xpress / MLC1 antibody identified as possible trigger of rare neurological autoimmune disorder
Neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) is a rare autoimmune disease of the central nervous system in which the immune system attacks structures in the brain, spinal cord and optic nerve. It mostly affects astrocytes, ...
Medical Xpress / Dopamine-targeting treatments show only modest benefits for anhedonia, prompting calls for new research approaches
Dopamine has long been considered central to understanding anhedonia—the loss of pleasure, interest and motivation that is a common feature of depression and other mental health conditions. However, a new international expert ...
Phys.org / How climate change may amplify the impact of earthquakes in the Arctic
Permafrost refers to permanently frozen ground. The rock is held together by ice, much like cement binds concrete. However, when the ice thaws, the ground becomes weak and unstable. During an earthquake, this can trigger ...