Phys.org news
Phys.org / Importance of sublimation for the Rocky Mountain snowpack highlighted in study
This past winter, the Rocky Mountains experienced an historic snow drought, a worrying development for the tens of millions of people in the arid American West who depend on snowmelt for water. Now, a new study in the journal ...
Phys.org / Is nectar naturally spiked? What widespread low-level ethanol could mean for pollinators
As bees and hummingbirds flit from flower to flower, greedily sipping nectar in exchange for pollination, the animals often get another treat: alcohol. In the first broad analysis of the alcohol content of flower nectars, ...
Phys.org / Finding order in disorder: New mechanism amplifies transverse electron transport
For decades, it has been widely believed that electrons move most efficiently in materials that are clean and highly ordered. Much like water flowing more easily through a smooth pipe, conventional wisdom has held that electrical ...
Phys.org / A captive chimp's instrumental performances hint at the evolution of vocal externalization
In February 2023, a resident at Kyoto University's Center for the Evolutionary Origins of Human Behavior—EHUB—treated researchers to a spontaneous musical performance. Ayumu, a 26-year-old male chimpanzee, removed floorboards ...
Phys.org / Extreme global climate outcomes are possible even at 2°C warming, study warns
Extreme climate impacts on people and the environment are often associated with very high levels of global warming (3 or 4°C). A new study led by the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) shows that this assumption ...
Phys.org / A forest cleanup crew at risk? What hotter Amazon lowlands could mean dung beetles
Dung beetles remove feces from wild animals in forests and thus inhibit the spread of parasites. They work the dung into the soil and thus supply nutrients to plants. They fulfill this task both in European commercial forests ...
Phys.org / If the Laschamps geomagnetic excursion happened today, aviation radiation exposure would be radically altered
Earth's magnetic field acts as a vital shield against radiation arriving from space, but it is not constant. A new international study has examined how a reduction of the magnetic field similar to the Laschamps excursion ...
Phys.org / Why some reefs recover faster than others—mathematical model spotlights coral recruitment patterns
Climate-driven disturbances such as marine heat waves are rapidly reducing coral cover and degrading reef ecosystems worldwide. Using a mathematical model, a research team led by Subhendu Chakraborty at the Leibniz Center ...
Phys.org / Using 'imaginative' AI to survey past and future earthquake damage
Researchers have used artificial intelligence to develop a new tool for assessing earthquake damage, a leap that could ultimately help first responders in making critical rescue decisions, suggests a new study. The team's ...
Phys.org / Significant grade inflation may be occurring in graduate education, according to decades' worth of data
Analysis of two decades of student data at a large U.S. university suggests that grade inflation exists in graduate education. Researcher Vivien Lee and colleagues at the University of Minnesota, U.S., present these findings ...
Phys.org / Amazon wildfire emissions may be up to three times higher than estimated
Fires are a recurring phenomenon in central South America, often intensified by drought and deforestation. In 2024, wildfire activity reached its highest levels in 20 years, affecting vast areas of the Amazon rainforest and ...
Phys.org / Radio signals at the edge of extreme stars come from far beyond their surfaces
Pulsars are ultra-dense, rapidly spinning, and highly magnetized remnants of dead stars. They act like cosmic lighthouses, sending out regular pulses of radio waves and sometimes gamma rays in beams that sweep across the ...
