Phys.org news

Crystals, bacterial colonies, flame fronts: the growth of surfaces was first described in the 1980s by the Kardar–Parisi–Zhang equation. Since then, it has been regarded as a fundamental model in physics, with implications ...

Nicotine, a potent insecticidal alkaloid unique to the nightshade family, has been employed in agriculture as a pesticide since 1690. It also has therapeutic potential for neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, ...

As the Orion spacecraft hurtles home, friction caused by reentry into Earth's atmosphere will drastically decrease its speed from a potential 25,000 miles per hour (40,000 kilometers per hour).

Elements essential to life, such as carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and sulfur, were "delivered" to Earth and the moon during the early stages of the solar system via asteroids and comets impacting their surfaces. These ...

We associate nests with shelter, warmth, and a safe retreat—and usually picture a bird's nest made out of twigs, grass and feathers. Yet many other animals take advantage of such refuges, with nests being built by a diversity ...

Observations conducted with the Subaru Telescope and its first-generation wide-field camera, Suprime-Cam, have revealed new insights into the relationship between the color and size of Jupiter Trojan asteroids.

What if the Trojan horse had been pulled to pieces, revealing the ruse and fending off the invasion, just as it entered the gates of Troy? That's an apt description of a newly characterized bacterial defense system that chops ...

There are many poorly understood links in the food web, often referred to as trophic relationships. Out in East Antarctica, a previously unconfirmed link between sea snails and Adélie penguins might reveal more than meets ...

We thought it was evolution, but an experiment with pencils shows that tips like teeth and thorns may owe their rounded shape to mechanical wear. Most of us have been stung by a bee, bitten by an animal, or scratched by a ...

U.S. cities are rapidly becoming urban heat islands, where these cities are significantly warmer than their surrounding area. Vast expanses of asphalt and concrete trap heat, while large, densely packed buildings disrupt ...

Iron and oxygen bind together throughout the body. Most famously, iron binds dioxygen, or two oxygens paired with each other, in hemoglobin that transports oxygen through blood. But iron-oxo compounds, as they're called, ...

Tropical trees are better neighbors than trees in temperate forests, according to a study published in the journal Nature by researchers from 29 different institutions including the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute ...