Phys.org news
Phys.org / From hyperbolic in-plane anisotropy to an optical chirality: A new route to nanoscale circular polarizers
In recent years, van der Waals crystals have evolved from scientific curiosities into a versatile platform for exploring novel quantum phases and unconventional nanophotonic phenomena. Their layered nature allows stacking, ...
Phys.org / Newly excavated Maya wetland settlement shows the civilization's adaptation to changing climate
Past civilizations have been significantly affected by climate change, but how they adapted to new conditions centuries ago is less clear. In research newly published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, ...
Dialog / The wetland puzzle that stumped hydrology for decades—how physics and AI joined forces to predict unmeasured regions
For years, the Prairie Pothole Region has bothered me in a very specific way. On a map, it looks like a normal landscape: fields, gentle slopes, small streams. But hydrologically, it behaves like something else entirely. ...
Phys.org / Discovery of natural mechanism behind ferroptosis solves longstanding puzzle in cell biology
After more than a decade of research, scientists have discovered the natural mechanism behind a novel form of cell death called ferroptosis. The work, described in the current issue of Cell, points toward an entirely new ...
Phys.org / Deadly soil fungal pathogen puts Australia's reptiles at risk of extinction
University of Queensland researchers say Australia's reptiles are at risk of extinction because a little understood fungus is infecting species throughout the environment. Associate Professor Celine Frere from UQ's School ...
Phys.org / Tiny flows, big insights: Microfluidics system boosts super-resolution microscopy
Understanding how cells are organized and how their molecular components interact in a coordinated and cooperative manner is a central goal of modern life sciences. To answer these questions, researchers need to observe many ...
Phys.org / Synthetic gene medicines may disrupt DNA repair
Antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs), used to treat genetic diseases, can affect how cells repair damage to their DNA. This is shown in a new study from Karolinska Institutet, published in Nature Communications. The findings ...
Phys.org / Tiny Purgatorius fossils in Denver Basin hint at early primate spread southward
New minuscule fossils of Purgatorius, the earliest-known relative of all primates—including humans—have been unearthed in a more southern region of North America than ever before, and the breakthrough is providing paleontologists ...
Phys.org / Permafrost is key to carbon storage. That makes northern wildfires even more dangerous
The devastating wildfires in northern Canada in recent years have climate consequences that go far beyond smoke and carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere, according to a new study co-authored by two NAU researchers. ...
Phys.org / Modern twist on wildfire management methods has a bonus feature that protects water supplies
Wildfires are among the most economically costly natural disasters and are becoming more severe and frequent due to global warming. The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction estimates that global damage from wildfires ...
Phys.org / Superfluids emerge in 2D moiré crystal formed from time, study predicts
Conventional crystals are materials in which atoms arrange themselves in repeating spatial patterns. Time crystals, on the other hand, are phases of matter characterized by repeating motions over time without constantly heating ...
Phys.org / Dense, dark forests in Europe are a modern phenomenon
For over 20 million years, the landscape of Europe has been a tree-rich mosaic of grasslands, scrubs and more or less open woodlands with an abundance of wildflowers. This is the conclusion of a new and comprehensive study ...