Phys.org news

Beans of the cacao plant, Theobroma cacao, are used in chocolates, pharmaceuticals and other products, but they're under threat. Increased drought associated with climate change has already begun to stress cacao-growing regions ...

Scientists in Japan have developed a high-resolution X-ray telescope sharp enough to distinguish an object just 3.5 mm wide from one kilometer away, by combining precision mirror-making technology with space astronomy. To ...

Rhodium is one of the most powerful catalytic metals known to chemistry. Small amounts of it can drive reactions that produce millions of tons of useful chemicals every year. But getting rhodium to work well—quickly, selectively, ...

For decades, astronomers were only able to study the universe's very first stars using theoretical models. Now, observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have revealed what may be the most compelling evidence ...

A recent study by Dr. John Moretti of the University of Texas and local caver John Young uncovered the remains of Ice Age megafauna, revealing an entirely new ecosystem that once thrived on the Edwards Plateau. Among the ...

DNA studies of 1,500-year-old skeletons have revealed that ancient Koreans lived in tightly knit family networks where marrying close relatives was common in some cases, from powerful elites to individuals chosen for human ...

By analyzing the data from various space observatories, Chinese astronomers have inspected a nearby quasar designated SDSS J000532.84+200717.4. Results of the new study, published April 1 on the arXiv preprint server, shed ...

In the process of converting carbon dioxide into useful chemicals such as ethylene—a key precursor for plastics—a major challenge has been the flooding of electrodes, where electrolyte penetrates the electrode structure and ...

Astronomers analyzing gravitational-wave data from the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Collaboration have reported that merging binary black holes fall into three distinct categories. The study shows that the three subpopulations have their ...

With Artemis II successfully completing its historic lunar mission on Friday, NASA is banking on billionaires Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk for the next step: landing astronauts on the moon.

Engineered cells are a high-value genetic asset that is key to many fields, including biotechnology, medicine, aging, and stem cell research, with the global market projected to reach $8.0 trillion USD by 2035. Yet the only ...

A new study, published in Physical Review Letters, reports that scientists have successfully imaged the formation of cavity-induced density waves induced by laser light in an ultracold quantum gas. Previously, only global ...