All News
Phys.org / Compact electron accelerator offers new approach for treating PFAS-contaminated water
So-called forever chemicals or PFAS compounds are a growing environmental problem. An innovative approach to treating PFAS‐contaminated water and soil now comes from accelerator physics: high‐energy electrons can break ...
Phys.org / It started with a cat: How 100 years of quantum weirdness powers today's tech
A hundred years ago, quantum mechanics was a radical theory that baffled even the brightest minds. Today, it's the backbone of technologies that shape our lives, from lasers and microchips to quantum computers and secure ...
Phys.org / Plastics everywhere, and the myth that made it possible
If there's one material that defines modern life more than any other, it's plastic: present from the moment we're born in newborn stool, in product packaging, in the soil beneath our feet and the air we breathe.
Phys.org / Hubble tension: Primordial magnetic fields could resolve one of cosmology's biggest questions
A Simon Fraser University cosmologist believes his team's new research may bring them a step closer to cracking one of science's biggest questions—the Hubble tension.
Phys.org / Cleaner air is (inadvertently) harming the Great Barrier Reef
Air pollution is now recognized as one of the greatest threats to human health, contributing to an estimated 4.2 million premature deaths in 2019, according to the World Health Organization.
Phys.org / Western governors called to Washington as Colorado River impasse drags on
With western states deadlocked in negotiations over how to cut water use along the Colorado River, the Trump administration has called in the governors of seven states to Washington to try to hash out a consensus.
Phys.org / World on track to breach 1.5°C target by 2030
Global average temperature increases could pass the 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold outlined in the Paris Agreement by the end of the decade, according to the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service, putting the world at greater ...
Phys.org / How much of 'us' is really 'us'?
Some time around 1683, amateur Dutch scientist Antonie van Leeuwenhoek scraped the plaque from between his teeth and peered at it through a home-made microscope.
Phys.org / Snow is vital for the Pyrenees, and it's disappearing fast
Snow is a defining feature of mountain ranges, and of winter itself for much of the world. But beyond its scenic value, snow plays a vital role in mountain ecosystems, as well as a range of human socioeconomic activity, and ...
Phys.org / Edison's 1879 bulb experiments may have unintentionally produced graphene
What do Thomas Edison and 2010 Nobel Prize in physics winners Konstantin Novoselov and Andre Geim have in common? According to a recent publication from the lab of Rice University's James Tour in ACS Nano, it could be graphene—an ...
Phys.org / Scientists observe a 300-million-year-old brain rhythm in several animal species
Sleep is a universal biological state that allows all animals, from mammals to amphibians, fish and even insects, to restore their energy and consolidate knowledge that can contribute to their survival. Neuroscientists and ...
Phys.org / Particle permutation task can be tackled by quantum but not classical computers, study finds
Quantum computers, systems that process information leveraging quantum mechanical effects, are expected to outperform classical computers on some complex tasks. Over the past few decades, many physicists and quantum engineers ...
