Phys.org news
Phys.org / Bees struggle to smell flowers when air pollutants combine
Bees, moths and other pollinating insects have a harder time smelling flowers in polluted air, according to research led by the University of Reading. Scientists analyzed 22 experimental studies on how the air pollutants ...
Phys.org / High-resolution global atmospheric model erases 'popcornlike' rain
Global climate and weather forecasting use predictive models that divide Earth's atmosphere into a grid, with each section typically covering tens to hundreds of kilometers. Now a new model, run by a team at the University ...
Phys.org / Fading control over 'jumping genes' may explain why big dogs age faster
Across mammals, larger species typically have longer lifespans, ranging from only a couple of years for mice to almost 200 years for some whales.
Phys.org / How information is written in ferroelectric memory at the nanoscale
What happens at the nanoscale when information is written to memory? Researchers at KAIST have shown how tiny regions with a new polarization direction form while previously formed regions continue to expand in a promising ...
Phys.org / Pottery styles reveal contrasting paths to social complexity in Neolithic Europe
Societal changes do not follow a linear path—this also holds true for Neolithic Europe, approximately 8,000 to 4,000 years ago. Two researchers from the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NASU) and the Leibniz-Zentrum ...
Phys.org / The genetic switch behind the butterfly's enhanced visual world of color
Many insects see the world through hundreds of tiny lenses that are grouped together in a visual organ known as the compound eye. Behind each lens sits a cluster of eight light-detecting cells arranged in a pattern that scientists ...
Phys.org / Chemists uncover the true active surface of nickel catalysts
Nickel is a promising, cost-effective and robust catalyst for alkaline water electrolysis—a key technology for the climate-neutral production of hydrogen. However, the actual structure of the active surface of such nickel ...
Phys.org / Healthy reef sounds can boost coral and fish recovery efforts
Coral reefs are renowned for their visual beauty, but for the marine life they support, their sounds may be just as enticing. Two new studies led by UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography reveal how underwater ...
Phys.org / Stratospheric winds can warn of extreme energy demand in Europe
A breakdown of normal polar winds in winter raises the chance of extreme cold—and a resulting spike in energy demand—in Europe, new research shows. Normally, strong and stable westerly winds circle high above the Arctic in ...
Phys.org / Nonchaotic model reveals how predictability can emerge from seemingly unpredictable dynamics
Predicting a system's final outcome from its initial state is the ultimate goal for many physicists. In certain complex systems, however, this goal is thwarted by chaos, where even the subtlest tweaks to the initial state ...
Phys.org / Solar Orbiter tracks origin of mysterious magnetic switchbacks
The European Space Agency–led Solar Orbiter spacecraft has flown through an S-shaped kink known as a "switchback" in the solar wind's magnetic field. By fingerprinting the elusive particles within the switchback, Solar Orbiter ...
Phys.org / How researchers tell different quantum excitations apart in individual molecules
Molecules can be placed in a wide variety of quantum states. How can these states be distinguished in measurements when theoretical models are unreliable? Which excitation process lies behind which measurement signal?
