Phys.org news

A University of Alberta study has whittled down climate-related reasons beavers are emerging earlier onto the ice from their lodges in the spring—a shift that helps them store more winter food but could also lead to more ...

How much of the essential trace element iron remains available for marine life in the ocean depends critically on the diversity of organic molecules in seawater, according to new research published in Nature Communications ...

A stick-on gel for plants could one day offer a simple, safe and targeted way to treat diseases and pests. Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed an adhesive gel that can be loaded with substances, ...

Rice production is heavily dependent on nitrogen fertilizers, particularly in China, where application rates are two to three times the global average. At the same time, a large amount of nitrogen is lost to the environment—mainly ...

Zinc is an essential trace element that controls myriad biological processes. The delicate balance of its concentration in the body is critical; both deficiency and excess are linked to severe pathological states such as ...

Researchers have uncovered a counterintuitive phenomenon in collision dynamics: high-speed particles bounce back from wet walls much more strongly than expected. Integrating experimental observations with advanced numerical ...

A rare dataset collected by instruments at the point where Antarctica's largest ice shelf begins to float reveals ocean processes that drive melting at this critical part of the continent.

In tissue engineering, the tiniest bit of improper force can harm a living culture. Spheroids—3D clumps of cells—can be used to model complex human tissues, because they can re-create specific cell-to-cell and cell-to-matrix ...

The genes that could help the world's crops survive drought, heat, and disease probably already exist. But much of this genetic diversity remains hidden within ancient plant varieties and forgotten seed collections, among ...

A rainbow reveals with colors what otherwise remains hidden: light is "refracted" by transparent matter, in this case water droplets. This same physical effect underlies many everyday technologies, like LCD screens and broadband ...

Scientists at Stanford University have discovered that DRT3, a unique defense system found in bacteria, creates DNA to protect against viral infections. DRT3 is made up of two different enzymes called reverse transcriptases, ...

The Hayward fault, part of the larger San Andreas fault system, runs 74 miles through the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area. The fault is overdue for an earthquake that could cause extensive damage to such a dense population ...