Phys.org news
Phys.org / Climate change accelerates tree deaths across Australian forests, study finds
Australia's forests are losing trees more rapidly as the climate warms, a new study examining decades of data said Tuesday, warning the trend was likely a "widespread phenomenon."
Phys.org / House sparrows can help us save endangered species: A mathematical framework for genomic prediction
Researchers are trying to understand why some wild species do better than others over time, as the environment changes.
Phys.org / Researchers sustainably produce triacetic acid lactone from sugarcane
Triacetic acid lactone (TAL) has the potential to serve as a bioderived platform chemical for commercial products, including sorbic acid. However, TAL currently lacks a global market as its chemical synthesis is prohibitively ...
Dialog / Making sense of quantum gravity in five dimensions
Quantum theory and Einstein's theory of general relativity are two of the greatest successes in modern physics. Each works extremely well in its own domain: Quantum theory explains how atoms and particles behave, while general ...
Phys.org / Psychological traits that may fuel conspiracy theorist mindset identified
Conspiracy theories are one of the banes of the modern world, exacerbated by the internet and social media. What was once relegated to the fringe has now been pushed into the mainstream, actively shaping public discourse ...
Phys.org / Vegetation might exacerbate urban heat island effect in very dry cities
As temperatures rise around the world, city heat becomes increasingly unbearable during the hottest seasons. The urban heat island effect causes cities to become significantly warmer than surrounding rural areas due to human ...
Phys.org / Betelgeuse's elusive companion star: Siwarha's 'wake' detected
Using new observations from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and ground-based observatories, astronomers have tracked the influence of a recently discovered companion star, Siwarha, on the gas around Betelgeuse. The research, ...
Phys.org / Climate messaging sways minds, not wallets, regardless of political party
In a study involving more than 13,000 participants in the U.S., several messaging strategies were shown to move the needle—albeit slightly—in attempts to strengthen pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors regarding ...
Phys.org / Biological pumps: How zooplankton are transporting microplastics to the ocean depths
A new study has, for the first time, recorded and measured just how fast microplastics move through the gut passage of a key zooplankton species in real time—and used those measurements to estimate how much plastic these ...
Phys.org / Eye-opening research: Greenland sharks maintain vision for centuries through DNA repair mechanism
Dorota Skowronska-Krawczyk sits in her office, eyes fixed on the computer monitor in front of her. "You see it move its eye," says the UC Irvine associate professor of physiology and biophysics, pointing to an image of a ...
Phys.org / Active solar region observed for record 94 days
In May 2024, the strongest solar storm in twenty years raged. An international team led by ETH Zurich observed it. Their findings are now helping to improve space weather forecasts.
Phys.org / Fault-tolerant quantum computing: Novel protocol efficiently reduces resource cost
Quantum computers, systems that process information leveraging quantum mechanical effects, could soon outperform classical computers on some complex computational problems. These computers rely on qubits, units of quantum ...
