Phys.org news

Phys.org / After 80 years, elusive molecules reveal how ozone starts turning plant emissions into haze

Scientists have directly observed a fleeting chemical reaction that creates a key ingredient in urban smog. The research offers insight into the earliest stages of pollution formation and could help improve air quality forecasting ...

2 hours ago
Phys.org / Volcanic eruptions and warming climate disrupt long-standing link between Indian and Pacific oceans

A new study that combines paleoclimate data and climate models suggests that large volcanic eruptions can disrupt the relationship between atmospheric circulation patterns over the tropical Indian and Pacific oceans. In addition, ...

7 hours ago
Phys.org / Butterfly-inspired crystals could enable durable, potentially safer glitter

The next time you need to freshen up the paint on your house or apply a bit of cosmetic glitter before heading out for the night, you might want to give a quick nod to the butterflies fluttering in a nearby garden. Taking ...

7 hours ago
Phys.org / Gamma-ray signal could be long awaited evidence for WIMPs

Dark matter is known to make up roughly 85% of all mass in the universe, as evidenced by the way galaxies spin and how galaxy clusters are held together under gravity. Yet despite decades of searching, physicists have never ...

21 hours ago
Phys.org / Bright people know more about wine: How higher intelligence is reflected in deep domain knowledge

Intelligent people tend to perform better at school and at work, as numerous studies have shown. But what happens in domains where incentives such as good grades or financial rewards don't apply and where socioeconomic status ...

16 hours ago
Phys.org / A near extinct plant in Galápagos is now recovering

A 30-year conservation effort has helped the critically endangered Galápagos snapdragon (Galvezia leucantha subsp. leucantha) recover from just six individuals to a small, carefully tended wild population. Following tireless ...

16 hours ago
Phys.org / JWST reveals a race against time for forming planets

Planets form from disks of gas and dust around young stars, but the gas needed for growth does not last forever. New observations from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) now offer a new view of how this gas escapes ...

18 hours ago
Phys.org / Sound waves do double duty, carrying and protecting quantum information

Researchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have demonstrated a promising new way to protect fragile quantum information using nothing but mechanical vibrations—essentially ...

19 hours ago
Phys.org / Scientists unlock 'ancestral code' of banana family

Scientists have recently reconstructed the ancestral karyotype of the banana family, revealing how chromosome numbers decreased stepwise from 17 to 9–11 over evolutionary time.

18 hours ago
Phys.org / Adaptation and a 'Noah's Ark for trees' offer hope for endangered black ash

With the invasive emerald ash borer beetle decimating black ash across North America, according to the U.S. Forest Service, a team led by researchers at Penn State conducted an expansive study of genetic diversity in black ...

17 hours ago
Phys.org / Porpoise entanglement recorded in real time, revealing calls and escape attempts

Researchers at the University of St Andrews have gained unprecedented insight into marine mammal behavior when they become tangled in fishing nets. In a paper published Aug. 26 in Royal Society Open Science, researchers from ...

16 hours ago
Phys.org / Machine learning method uncovers hidden patterns in DNA methylation

In a study recently published in Nature Communications, researchers from Berlin, Potsdam, and Jena present a new method for analyzing the epigenome. The machine-learning method identifies differentially methylated DNA regions ...

19 hours ago