Phys.org news

Phys.org / A novel protein may help to combat greenhouse gas emissions

Nitrous oxide (N2O) is a potent greenhouse gas that both traps heat and destroys ozone, reducing Earth's protection from solar radiation.

Oct 21, 2025 in Biology
Phys.org / Solar radiation management is gaining traction as a climate intervention, but how hard is it to dim the sun?

Once considered a fringe idea, the prospect of offsetting global warming by releasing massive quantities of sunlight-reflecting particles into Earth's atmosphere is now a matter of serious scientific consideration. Hundreds ...

Oct 21, 2025 in Earth
Phys.org / Mathematical model reveals why cracks sharpen during rapid rubber fracture

A research group from the University of Osaka, Zen University, and the University of Tokyo has mathematically uncovered the mechanism that causes crack tips to sharpen during the rapid fracture of rubber.

Oct 21, 2025 in Physics
Phys.org / Increasing heat is super-charging Arctic climate and weather extremes

By evaluating historical climate records, observational and projection data, an international team of researchers found a "pushing and triggering" mechanism that has driven the Arctic climate system to a new state, which ...

Oct 21, 2025 in Earth
Phys.org / Do we need to see to gesture? How blind people express concepts without vision

A team of researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics recently set out to investigate whether people who are blind gesture like sighted people when talking about the world, and how their unique perceptual ...

Oct 21, 2025 in Other Sciences
Phys.org / Brown dwarf with stormy atmosphere discovered orbiting red dwarf via three observation techniques

By combining the power of ground-based and space-based telescopes, astronomers have discovered a new brown dwarf—a type of object that lies between a star and a planet—orbiting a small star about 55 light-years from Earth. ...

Oct 21, 2025 in Astronomy & Space
Phys.org / Red light and recyclable catalysts drive sustainable photocatalysis

Modern chemistry is increasingly focused on developing sustainable processes that reduce energy consumption and minimize waste. Photocatalysis, which uses light to promote chemical reactions, offers a promising alternative ...

Oct 21, 2025 in Chemistry
Phys.org / Offline interactions predict voting patterns better than online networks, finds study

According to a new study, offline social networks, revealed by co-location data, predict U.S. voting patterns more accurately than online social connections or residential sorting. Michele Tizzoni and colleagues analyzed ...

Oct 21, 2025 in Other Sciences
Phys.org / Shanghai Tower serves as inspiration for first synthetic dynamic helical polymer

Researchers at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands have developed a polymer that adopts a coiled spring configuration at low temperatures and unfolds again upon heating. Furthermore, the molecule can break down ...

Oct 21, 2025 in Chemistry
Phys.org / Future-focused conservation index identifies reptiles as highest conservation priority

Reptiles could overtake amphibians as the highest priority for conservation among vertebrates as threats like climate change and invasive species worsen in the future, according to a new conservation index tool developed ...

Oct 21, 2025 in Biology
Phys.org / Nanopore signals and machine learning unlock new molecular analysis tool

Understanding molecular diversity is fundamental to biomedical research and diagnostics, but existing analytical tools struggle to distinguish subtle variations in the structure or composition among biomolecules, such as ...

Oct 21, 2025 in Chemistry
Phys.org / Exotic roto-crystals can break into individual fragments then reassemble themselves

It sounds bizarre, but they exist: crystals made of rotating objects. Physicists from Aachen, Düsseldorf, Mainz and Wayne State (Detroit, U.S.) have jointly studied these exotic objects and their properties. They easily ...

Oct 21, 2025 in Physics