Phys.org news
Phys.org / Urban atmosphere acts as primary reservoir of microplastics, researchers find
Over the past two decades, microplastics (MPs) and nanoplastics (NPs) have been recognized as emerging pollutants, detected across every environmental compartment of Earth's system—the atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, ...
Phys.org / You've heard of climate change. What is the climate debt doom loop?
Municipal bonds are a time-honored way to fund roads, schools, bridges and other public projects while paying investors interest, usually at tax-free rates.
Phys.org / Sentinel-1's decade of essential data over shifting ice sheets
The extent and speed of ice moving off the ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica into the sea—an important dynamic for climate and sea-rise modeling—has been captured over a 10-year period by satellites from the Copernicus ...
Phys.org / Researchers develop electricity-free chlorine production from brines
Chlorine is a fundamental input to modern industry, yet most of today's supply still relies on energy-intensive electrolysis. In order to reduce energy consumption, researchers from the Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and ...
Phys.org / How rice viruses manipulate plant defenses to protect insect vectors
Planthoppers and leafhoppers not only feed on rice plants but also act as highly efficient vectors for plant viruses, causing substantial yield losses worldwide. Notably, their persistent ability to evade natural enemies ...
Phys.org / Oil residues can travel over 5,000 miles on ocean debris, study finds
When oily plastic and glass, as well as rubber, washed onto Florida beaches in 2020, a community group shared the mystery online, attracting scientists' attention. Working together, they linked the black residue-coated debris ...
Phys.org / Molecular switch reveals transition between single-celled and multicellular forms
Scientists at Nagoya University in Japan have identified the genes that allow an organism to switch between living as single cells and forming multicellular structures. This ability to alternate between life forms provides ...
Phys.org / Direct flights drive multinational firm growth in globally connected cities
Waiting in an airport for a connecting flight is often tedious. A new study by MIT researchers shows it's bad for business, too.
Phys.org / Ancient clay cylinders provide first foundation text documenting Nebuchadnezzar II's restoration of the ziggurat of Kish
In 2013, two local Iraqis handed over two inscribed clay cylinders to the State Board of Antiquities and Heritage. Subsequent analysis and translation of the inscriptions published in Iraq revealed them to belong to King ...
Phys.org / Jupiter's moon Europa lacks the undersea activity needed to support life, study suggests
The giant planet Jupiter has nearly 100 known moons, yet none have captured the interest and imagination of astronomers and space scientists quite like Europa, an ice-shrouded world that is thought to possess a vast ocean ...
Phys.org / Orange pigments in birds and human redheads prevent cellular damage, study shows
A pigment that makes feathers and hair orange helps prevent cellular damage by removing excess cysteine from cells. Pheomelanin is an orange-to-red pigment that is built with the amino acid cysteine and found in human red ...
Phys.org / Solving quantum computing's longstanding 'no cloning' problem with an encryption workaround
A team of researchers at the University of Waterloo have made a breakthrough in quantum computing that elegantly bypasses the fundamental "no cloning" problem. The research, "Encrypted Qubits can be Cloned," appears in Physical ...
