Phys.org news
Phys.org / A galaxy with almost no stars? New Cloud-9 observations strengthen the case
Astronomers have taken one of the deepest looks yet at Cloud-9, a candidate "dark galaxy," and found no trace of stars. The paper outlining this discovery was posted to the arXiv preprint server on Aug. 21.
Phys.org / How atmospheric events at the top of the world could have triggered two devastating California floods
In early 2017 and 2023, California experienced two catastrophic and record-breaking floods that caused billions of dollars in damage, triggered mudslides and forced thousands of people to evacuate. Why this happened left ...
Phys.org / 1,000 times faster operations bring reliable quantum computing a step closer
So far, quantum computers have been held back by their extreme sensitivity to errors and external disturbances. The longer a quantum operation takes, the greater the risk of computational errors.
Phys.org / Himalayan glacial lakes are growing—and so is the downstream flood risk
Dozens of glacial lakes have formed across northern India in the last three decades, while existing lakes have expanded rapidly, highlighting the need to monitor a landscape reshaped by climate change.
Phys.org / Asteroid Ryugu's dust reveals nitrogen's slow concentration into complex molecules
Nitrogen is a key ingredient in the biomolecules that form the building blocks of life. Yet as an unbonded gas, it is far more likely to drift into space than to lock itself into solid compounds, making it difficult for astronomers ...
Phys.org / Unveiling how nanoparticles create iridescence in ancient ceramics
Scientists led by the Universitat Politècnica de Barcelona and the ESRF, the European Synchrotron, have revealed the chemical reactions in nanoparticles that created a unique, shimmering effect in the painting on ninth-century ...
Phys.org / 'CRISPR-Combo' system speeds regeneration of hard-to-breed perennial crops
Editing a plant's genes is only half the battle. Before a new, improved trait can ever reach a farmer's field, scientists must be able to grow a whole plant from just a few edited cells—a process that can be slow, unreliable ...
Phys.org / An unusual bacterium that penetrates and lives inside human cells may offer a new drug target
Research underway in the lab of Rebecca Alexander, a professor in Wake Forest University's Department of Chemistry, is shedding light on an unusual human bacterium, Mycoplasma penetrans. Alexander's work to understand how ...
Phys.org / Gondwana really was a supercontinent—and it may have helped kickstart life on Earth
Some 550 million years ago, Earth looked very different than it does today. The Southern Hemisphere was dominated by an enormous single continent known as Gondwana.
Phys.org / Water isotopes reveal early drought signals in Central Amazon rainfall
The historic droughts of 2023 and 2024 in the Amazon reduced river flows and altered the region's rainfall composition. Daily monitoring in Manaus, the capital of the Brazilian state of Amazonas, revealed these changes through ...
Phys.org / How sex with multiple mates can help save species from extinction
Allowing females to mate with multiple males, rather than just one, could help make species more resistant to extinction, University of East Anglia research shows. A new study reveals that when females have multiple males ...
Phys.org / Tightly guided atoms could enable low-power quantum navigation when GPS fails
Within tiny halos of light clinging to a vanishingly thin wisp of optical fiber, scientist Jongmin Lee guides atoms like marbles through a narrow pipe. Rock the fiber and the atoms shift side by side; they just don't fall ...
