Phys.org news
Phys.org / Comprehensive digital materials ecosystem can perform 'sanity check' to guide design
There is a near-infinite number of material candidates out there—and simply not enough time to hunker down in the lab and test them all. Thankfully, researchers have a variety of tools (such as AI) at their disposal to ...
Phys.org / New DNA tools outperform traditional methods for detecting genetic risk in wildlife
Wildlife populations that become small and isolated, often due to habitat loss, inevitably experience inbreeding which can lead to the loss of fitness and eventual extinction. One solution is to perform a genetic rescue: ...
Phys.org / Urban park soil microbes reveal function–evolution trade-off
Urban parks are a vital component of urban ecosystems and provide distinctive habitats for soil microorganisms. Yet scientists have questioned whether—and how—the functional diversity and evolutionary potential of microbial ...
Phys.org / Scientists confirm existence of molecule long believed to occur in oxidation
In the journal Science Advances, scientists in Sweden and the U.S. report the first-ever direct observation of a type of short-lived molecule that has shaped decades of thinking in atmospheric chemistry, combustion research ...
Phys.org / Leopard gecko study clarifies how temperature shapes sex development
In reptiles, a simple temperature change can determine whether an egg develops into a male or female. This process is formally known as temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD), in which the sex of an embryo is determined ...
Phys.org / Researchers realize room-temperature two-dimensional multiferroic metal
Multiferroic metals are materials that exhibit both electric polarization and magnetic order in the same crystal—a state known as multiferroicity. Because these properties coexist, they can interact through magnetoelectric ...
Phys.org / Inside the light: How invisible electric fields drive device luminescence
Fleeting electron-hole pairs are giving scientists a new window into optimizing light-emitting devices (LEDs). Using quantum magnetic resonance, Osaka Metropolitan University researchers have discovered how shifting internal ...
Phys.org / How an alga makes the most of dim light by rearranging ordinary chlorophyll
To survive in areas where it is difficult to photosynthesize, some organisms adopt unique strategies. Osaka Metropolitan University researchers have found that a freshwater alga captures far-red light as an additional energy ...
Phys.org / From guesswork to guidance: How machine learning speeds dopant design for water-splitting photocatalysts
MLIP calculations successfully identify suitable dopants for a novel photocatalytic material, report researchers from the Institute of Science Tokyo. As demonstrated in their study, published in the Journal of the American ...
Phys.org / The fish were biting in ancient Alabama: Tooth found embedded in Cretaceous apex predator's neck
The oceans of the Cretaceous of North America teemed with life. Gigantic fish and enormous marine reptiles hunted the Western Interior Sea. A unique new fossil demonstrates rare evidence of direct conflict between these apex ...
Phys.org / Not so pretty but plenty of likes: A bumblebee bandwagon effect prioritizes busy flowers over beautiful ones
If you were a bee, how would you choose a flower to land on? You might go to the most beautiful one, as pollination biologists have long suggested that flowers with striking colors attract pollinators more easily. Or perhaps, ...
Phys.org / A 100-solar-mass black hole merger ripples spacetime, and may flash in gamma rays
An international team from China and Italy has reported a possible cosmic encore to the landmark 2017 multi-messenger discovery. In November 2024, the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA observatories detected gravitational waves from a binary ...