Phys.org news
Phys.org / Flash droughts can pull 'alarming' amounts of moisture from the landscape and intensify wildfires
When catastrophic wildfires capture global headlines, such as the unprecedented blazes sweeping through southern Europe this summer or the devastating 2019–20 "Black Summer" in Australia, they are almost always preceded by ...
Phys.org / Spectroscopy system detects aerosols using light reflected from traffic signs and tree trunks
Researchers have developed and tested an infrared spectroscopy system that can rapidly detect chemical aerosols from a distance by using light reflected from common surfaces such as traffic signs, tree trunks or painted surfaces. ...
Dialog / Bacteria may identify a virus without recognizing its DNA
When a virus enters a cell, its top priority is to replicate its genome rapidly, creating new viruses to infect elsewhere. The host has the opposite priority: to destroy the virus, ideally before it can do any harm. Biology ...
Phys.org / Uncovering the structure of the poxvirus 'portal complex'
Poxviruses have a long history in human disease as well as medicine: The first-ever vaccine was developed to protect against smallpox, which has since been eradicated. Despite this, scientists still don't fully understand ...
Phys.org / Redistributing sunlight boosts algae biomass productivity sixfold
Algae are increasingly being explored as sustainable "living factories" that can convert sunlight and carbon dioxide into renewable fuels, plastics, pharmaceuticals and other valuable products.
Phys.org / ATPγS recycling opens cheaper pathways to increased drug stability
Pharmaceutical drugs often rely on chemical compounds found in the body. Take phosphate, a common compound cells use as a chemical switch. In a process called phosphorylation, cells can add a phosphate to a molecule and turn ...
Phys.org / New technique pinpoints human DNA inherited from 'ghost' ancestors
UC Berkeley researchers have identified regions of DNA that humans inherited from two unknown ancestors as a result of long-ago interbreeding among modern humans and at least four other archaic human relatives.
Phys.org / Physicists link the Riemann Hypothesis to phase transitions in quantum systems
A new study in Nature Communications has established a link between the Riemann Hypothesis and dynamical phase transitions in engineered quantum systems, demonstrating the effect on a quantum processor.
Phys.org / Hiroshima blast debris reveals a previously unknown alloy
The Hiroshima blast on Aug. 6, 1945, was one of the most devastating events in human history. Like all nuclear detonations, it created fleeting moments of extreme heat, pressure, mixing and cooling. These conditions can briefly ...
Phys.org / Rainfall across the US is increasingly coming from farther away
Before rain falls, the moisture that forms it may have traveled anywhere from just a few kilometers to hundreds or even thousands of kilometers away. It usually begins as water that evaporated from oceans, lakes, forests ...
Phys.org / Physicists create Bose–Einstein condensate from ultracold polar molecules
Bose–Einstein condensates are states of matter that form when particles called bosons are cooled to temperatures that are only a fraction of a degree above absolute zero (i.e., 0 Kelvin [-460°F]). In these states, particles ...
Phys.org / Two Arctic charr populations evolved in less than a century, study finds
Evolution, the process through which animals and other living organisms change their inherited traits over time, typically unfolds slowly over thousands or even millions of years. Some species, however, can adapt at a faster ...
