Phys.org news

Ice is cheap, abundant and surprisingly strong. But it has one major weakness: Cracks can race through it, causing it to shatter without warning. Now, scientists have developed a new material that could overcome that problem. ...

Chemical reactions are often written as simple equations: Starting materials go in, and a product comes out. In reality, the same substrates can follow many different pathways depending on their concentrations, temperature, ...

Chemical separation can be energy-intensive when molecules have similar sizes and properties. Researchers from Shibaura Institute of Technology, Japan, have now developed an interlayer adaptive crystal that changes its spacing ...

More than 5,000 years ago, a royal woman named Meretneith (also written as Merneith) lived in ancient Egypt. She was possibly the daughter of Djer, the third king of the First Dynasty, a period when the first kings ruled ...

A dolphin that harasses fish until they regurgitate their food—then swoops in to steal it—has astonished University of the Sunshine Coast researchers who have documented this novel feeding strategy.

Researchers have developed an innovative imaging technique to visualize the transition of single cells into multicellular organisms in new detail.

Messenger RNA, or mRNA, is best known for carrying genetic instructions from DNA to the cellular machinery that makes proteins. But all RNA molecules have another, less appreciated property: They are naturally sticky.

Environmental sustainability researchers at NUS found that widely used environmental, social and governance (ESG) ratings often fail to reflect companies' actual exposure to deforestation, highlighting the need to integrate ...

Global consumption of fertilizer has doubled since 1980, but some regions that have historically overused fertilizer, including China and parts of Europe, have taken steps to reduce use. Those are some of the findings of ...

In 1931, physicist Hans Bethe predicted that, in certain one-dimensional quantum systems, particles can bind together to form multi-particle states known as Bethe strings. Unlike ordinary molecules, which are held together ...

Researchers have shown how dramatic sea-level rise over a 5,000-year period profoundly changed the coasts of northern Italy, Slovenia and northern Croatia. Successive shaping and reshaping of coastal features influenced the ...

Microplastics are a modern environmental menace and a potential threat to human health. These tiny pieces of plastic, measuring from 1 to 5,000 micrometers, come mainly from larger plastics as well as sources such as paints ...