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Phys.org / Luminescence dating confirms Roman-era gold mines in the Eastern Pyrenees

A study by the UAB and the University of A Coruña has succeeded in demonstrating the existence of Roman-era alluvial gold mines in the Eastern Pyrenees. The discovery was made possible by dating two samples from the infill ...

17 hours ago in Other Sciences
Phys.org / InN thin films show transient Pauli blocking for broadband ultrafast optical switching

Recent decades have witnessed rapid advancements in high-intensity laser technology. The combination of laser irradiation and novel materials is opening exciting avenues for the design of functional materials and devices. ...

16 hours ago in Physics
Phys.org / Most lab testing quietly inflates 2D transistor performance, research reveals

For nearly two decades, two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors have been studied as a complement or possible successor to silicon transistors, promising smaller, faster and more energy-efficient processors. To ease their production ...

17 hours ago in Nanotechnology
Phys.org / Cellular switch casts light on why humans are active in the day

Early mammalian ancestors were nocturnal, sleeping during the day while the dinosaurs dominated the land. However, some mammalian lineages, including human ancestors, independently transitioned to diurnality (active during ...

17 hours ago in Biology
Phys.org / How immune cells spot viral RNA fast: LGP2 helps MDA5 respond to short dsRNA

A study reveals how two proteins cooperate in a key early step of antiviral detection, as reported by researchers at Science Tokyo. Using cryo-electron microscopy and high-speed atomic force microscopy, they found that LGP2 ...

16 hours ago in Biology
Phys.org / Cooling without gases: Molecular design brings solid-state cooling closer to reality

Some solid materials can cool down or heat up when pressure is applied or released. This behavior enables cooling and heating technologies that do not rely on climate-damaging refrigerant gases. In practice, however, a major ...

21 hours ago in Physics
Phys.org / From trash to climate tech: Rubber gloves find new life as carbon capturers

Every year, over 100 billion nitrile rubber gloves are produced. They are made from synthetic polymers—a material chemically related to plastic and derived from crude oil. The vast majority is used in the health care sector, ...

18 hours ago in Chemistry
Phys.org / Stress-testing the Cascadia Subduction Zone reveals variability that could impact how earthquakes spread

The Cascadia Subduction Zone is unusually quiet for a megathrust fault. Spanning more than 600 miles from Canada to California, the fault marks the convergence of the Juan de Fuca and North American plates. While other subduction ...

21 hours ago in Earth
Phys.org / Why tropical cyclones' rainfall surges before landfall

A research team at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has analyzed 40 years of data covering about 1,500 tropical cyclones and discovered that average rain rates surge by more than 20% in the 60 hours ...

19 hours ago in Earth
Phys.org / Satellite data enable first global estimate of aerosol cloud cooling

Particles in the atmosphere, known as aerosols, cool the climate by acting as cloud condensation nuclei. The more cloud droplets form around these particles, the less sunlight penetrates a cloud. This cools the climate, although ...

19 hours ago in Earth
Phys.org / Promoters and enhancers: Tool catches gene-controlling DNA sequences doing each other's jobs

Researchers at the Weill Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology have uncovered new evidence that two major types of gene-controlling DNA sequences, promoters and enhancers, operate with a shared logic and often perform ...

19 hours ago in Biology
Phys.org / Female Daubenton's bats share scarce feeding grounds at the edge of their range, study finds

At newly colonized high-elevation sites in the central Italian Apennines, female Daubenton's bats take turns using the same hunting spots instead of feeding side by side. A study published by a research team from the University ...

18 hours ago in Biology