Phys.org news
Phys.org / Silver vine or catnip? When cats can choose, silver vine wins
What plant do cats love most? In Europe and North America, many people would probably answer "catnip." In Japan, the answer would more likely be silver vine (matatabi in Japanese). Both plants are famous for triggering the ...
Phys.org / New form of NAND flash data storage for deep space missions can survive 1 million rads
As space missions travel farther from Earth, spacecraft must increasingly be able to process and store their own data. Soon, artificial intelligence (AI) could be the primary tool for handling this growing volume of information.
Phys.org / Scientists solve 200-year-old puzzle of how tobacco plants make nicotine
Scientists have uncovered how tobacco plants naturally make nicotine, solving a mystery that has puzzled researchers for nearly two centuries. The discovery, published in Nature Communications, could lead to safer production ...
Phys.org / This German dialect leaves AI baffled, exposing a digital language blind spot
How well do language models understand Meenzerisch, the dialect spoken in the German city of Mainz? A research team led by Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) has now investigated this question for the first time. Meenzerisch ...
Phys.org / Seabird world shrinks as oceans warm, forcing longer flights to survive
Seabirds such as albatrosses and petrels are retreating into smaller areas of ocean and traveling further to find new places to live as the climate warms. Scientists from the University of Reading studied more than 120 species ...
Phys.org / Protected areas that help wildlife often do little for the soil fungi on which plants depend
Governments around the world conserve plants and animals in part by setting aside land. Whether as wilderness reserves or as resource management zones that allow industrial activities such as logging, 17.4% of the planet's ...
Phys.org / Overlooked 'history force' may skew particle motion by up to 60% in shaken fluids
Physicists at the University of Bayreuth have investigated the so-called Basset–Boussinesq history force acting on particles in fluids. Due to the difficulty of calculating it, this force is often neglected—a fact that Bayreuth ...
Phys.org / Quantum-scale simulations and AI uncover promising 2D perovskites for future energy tech
Researchers at Clarkson University are advancing the use of artificial intelligence and computational physics to accelerate discovery of next-generation materials for quantum technologies, optoelectronics, and renewable energy ...
Phys.org / Field-ready tool identifies rare and zoonotic parasitic worms missed by standard tests
Parasitic nematodes (commonly known as roundworms) are a large, diverse and poorly studied group of disease-causing organisms that severely impact the health of humans and animals. They infect almost one-quarter of the global ...
Phys.org / Proteins that create ice inspire 'cool' applications, from cryomedicine to artificial snow
Bacteria from the Middle East have caused precipitation all the way out in California. The same bacteria, which are known to attack plants, have also been found embedded within lumps of hail in West Africa.
Phys.org / Migrating charges unlock hard-to-reach C-H bond edits in organic molecules
A team at the University of Vienna, led by chemist Nuno Maulide, has developed a new method for controlling chemical reactions in a more targeted and efficient manner. At the heart of this is the concept of "cation sampling": ...
Phys.org / Bats create 'silent frequency zones' to detect prey in noisy flight, researchers reveal
Sound plays an important role for many animals, helping them navigate and hunt. Echolocation is the ability of animals like bats and dolphins to locate objects by emitting sound waves and interpreting the returning echoes. ...
