Phys.org news
Phys.org / Slow spin could explain why planets become hellish
Hundreds of Venus-like planets could soon help determine why some worlds become sweltering greenhouse hellscapes while others remain capable of supporting life. But before answering that question, scientists first need to ...
Phys.org / Using salt to drive drug-carrying particles deeper into difficult-to-treat biofilms
Biofilms—bacterial communities encased in a sticky, polymer-rich matrix—can be difficult to treat because that matrix slows antibiotics and drug-carrying particles. With help from salt, though, Yale researchers have found ...
Phys.org / Climate change could mean four extra hours of extreme heat on hot days
Hot days could gain more than four additional hours of extreme heat by the end of the 21st century under a high-emissions scenario, according to a modeling study published in Nature Climate Change. The findings show that ...
Phys.org / Ticklish spots are shared across cultures, but why they are ticklish is more complex than it seems
People from different cultural backgrounds are tickled in remarkably similar ways. They laugh, resist and are usually tickled by family members or friends. They are also ticklish in the same body regions. These are among ...
Phys.org / Fermentation emerges as key pathway for ammonium production beneath the Pearl River Delta
A study led by Professor Jimmy Jiujiu Jiao from the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at The University of Hong Kong (HKU) and Professor Meng Li from Shenzhen University has identified microbial fermentation as the ...
Phys.org / Corn-stalk sugars feed new bacterial strain designed to make useful chemicals
Engineers have developed a strain of a common bacterial species that can feed exclusively on the three major sugars present in corn stalks. While the new multiple-sugar-consuming strain of the bacterium Pseudomonas putida ...
Phys.org / When fever isn't the answer: Infected tadpoles cool themselves to fight viruses
Fever is one of the best-known mechanisms by which animals combat infectious diseases. Sick animals can increase their body temperature in two ways: through physiological regulation, by altering internal metabolic processes, ...
Phys.org / Cosmic filaments help set first limits on dark matter's decay into gravitons
Composing some 85% of the universe's total mass, dark matter betrays its presence only through gravity, unlike ordinary matter. Yet through new research published in Physical Review D, a team led by David Dunsky of New York ...
Phys.org / Controlled cracking technique prints quantum dots into tiny pixels for sharper displays
Recent technological advances have enabled the development of increasingly sophisticated, sharper displays for electronic devices. Many modern displays use light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, tiny semiconductor-based components ...
Phys.org / Oldest known giant rock scallop bead suggests California coastal trade began millennia earlier
Archaeologists have discovered two giant rock scallop beads that push back the clock on the first appearance of these high-status ornaments. The discovery shows that these prized marine beads were traded hundreds of miles ...
Phys.org / Early snakes explored life underground, on land and at sea
Snakes are highly modified lizards, with more than 4,000 living species today. The origin of snakes has long been one of evolutionary biology's most debated questions. Their sparse fossil record has made it hard to pin down ...
Phys.org / New catalyst with 75% less platinum promises to reduce the cost of hydrogen fuel cells
The high cost of platinum is one of the main barriers to the wider adoption of hydrogen fuel cells. Now, researchers at IMDEA Materials Institute have developed a catalyst that delivers the same performance while using 75% ...
