Phys.org news
Phys.org / Graphene membranes offer efficient, low-cost option for industrial CO₂ capture
Carbon capture is becoming essential for industries that still depend on fossil fuels, including the cement and steel industries. Natural-gas power plants, coal plants, and cement factories all release large amounts of CO₂, ...
Phys.org / Hidden fuel for ocean microbes: Urea emerges as key energy source for marine ammonia oxidizers
Ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) are some of the most abundant microorganisms in the ocean and play a key role in nitrogen cycling. Yet, despite their ubiquity, scientists have long puzzled over how these microbes can flourish ...
Phys.org / Warblers borrow color-related genes from evolutionary neighbors, study finds
Wood warblers, also called New World warblers, are some of the most colorful birds in North America, with more than a hundred species in the family ranging in color from yellow, orange and red to blue, green and pink. A new ...
Phys.org / Shape-shifting cell channel reveals new target for precision drugs
From small ions to large molecules, cellular gates control what can pass in and out of cells. But how one such gate, called pannexin-1 (PANX1), can handle vastly different cargo sizes has remained a long-standing mystery.
Phys.org / Infrared radiation may be one of the most ancient plant signals to pollinating insects
Harvard researchers have discovered that cycads—one of the oldest living lineages of seed plants—heat up their reproductive organs to attract beetle pollinators and the insects possess infrared sensors to detect these ...
Phys.org / Exposing a single active site in nanoclusters boosts catalytic activity for green energy
There is a dire need for selective catalysts that allow us to consistently achieve a desired outcome in a chemical reaction. It is this consistency that allows for more efficient, energy-saving ways of producing fuel. A team ...
Phys.org / Astronomers create first map of the sun's outer boundary
Astronomers have produced the first continuous, two-dimensional maps of the outer edge of the sun's atmosphere, a shifting, frothy boundary that marks where solar winds escape the sun's magnetic grasp. By combining the maps ...
Phys.org / Small galaxies may buck the black hole trend, Chandra finds
Most smaller galaxies may not have supermassive black holes in their centers, according to a recent study using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. This contrasts with the common idea that nearly every galaxy has one of these ...
Phys.org / Widespread sediments beneath Greenland make its ice more vulnerable to warming
In an age of rising sea levels, as polar ice sheets melt in a climate warmed by fossil fuel emissions, climate modelers are racing to understand what the future might hold for coastlines around the world. But uncertainties ...
Phys.org / All-optical modulation in silicon achieved via an electron avalanche process
Over the past decades, engineers have introduced numerous technologies that rely on light and its underlying characteristics. These include photonic and quantum systems that could advance imaging, communication and information ...
Phys.org / Wintertime spike in oceanic iron levels detected near Hawaii
Around the world, phytoplankton in the upper ocean help to cycle key nutrients and regulate Earth's climate by absorbing carbon dioxide. These photosynthesizing organisms rely on dissolved iron as an essential micronutrient, ...
Phys.org / Rare image of Tatooine-like planet is closest to its twin stars yet
In a discovery that's fit for a movie, Northwestern University astronomers have directly imaged a Tatooine-like exoplanet, orbiting two suns. While obtaining an image of a planet beyond our solar system is already rare, finding ...
