Phys.org news

Phys.org / Capturing gravity waves: Scientists break 'decades of gridlock' in climate modeling

Global climate models capture many of the processes that shape Earth's weather and climate. Based on physics, chemistry, fluid motion and observed data, hundreds of these models agree that more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere ...

4 hours ago in Earth
Phys.org / When gigantism shapes the diet of a superpredator: The Japanese giant salamander's spectacular transition

A study conducted by researchers at the University of Liège on a large population of Japanese giant salamanders—one of the largest amphibians in the world—reveals that above a certain size, a spectacular transition occurs ...

4 hours ago in Biology
Phys.org / LimbLab: A tool to visualize embryonic development in 3D

Studying the shape of tissues and organs is critical to understanding how they are formed. Embryonic development happens in three dimensions, but many studies are limited by the use of two-dimensional approaches and images ...

5 hours ago in Biology
Phys.org / Controlling magnetism to unlock better hydrogen storage alloys

Hydrogen is expected to play a central role in future clean energy systems, but storing it efficiently and safely remains one of the biggest challenges to its widespread adoption. Solid-state hydrogen storage, in which hydrogen ...

5 hours ago in Chemistry
Phys.org / Breathing in the past: How museums can use biomolecular archaeology to bring ancient scents to life

Recent advances in biomolecular archaeology have revealed that ancient objects can retain the molecular fingerprints of past aromatic practices. These molecules provide unprecedented insight into ancient perfumery, medicine, ...

14 hours ago in Other Sciences
Phys.org / Glimpsing the quantum vacuum: Particle spin correlations offer insight into how visible matter emerges from 'nothing'

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have uncovered experimental evidence that particles of matter emerging from energetic subatomic smashups retain a key feature of virtual particles ...

22 hours ago in Physics
Phys.org / When continents try, and fail, to break apart

Great things can come from failure when it comes to geology. The Midcontinent rift formed about 1.1 billion years ago and runs smack in the middle of the United States at the Great Lakes. The rift failed to completely rupture, ...

21 hours ago in Earth
Phys.org / Are returning Pumas putting Patagonian Penguins at risk? New study reveals the likelihood

Should we protect an emblematic species if it may come at the cost of another one—particularly in ecosystems that are still recovering from human impacts? This is the conservation dilemma facing Monte Leon National Park, ...

19 hours ago in Biology
Phys.org / Electron-phonon 'surfing' could help stabilize quantum hardware, nanowire tests suggest

That low-frequency fuzz that can bedevil cellphone calls has to do with how electrons move through and interact in materials at the smallest scale. The electronic flicker noise is often caused by interruptions in the flow ...

21 hours ago in Physics
Phys.org / Forest soils increasingly extract methane from the atmosphere, long-term study reveals

Forest soils have an important role in protecting our climate: They remove large quantities of methane—a powerful greenhouse gas—from our atmosphere. Researchers from the University of Göttingen and the Baden-Württemberg ...

23 hours ago in Earth
Phys.org / Graphene sealing enables first atomic images of monolayer transition metal diiodides

Two-dimensional (2D) materials promise revolutionary advances in electronics and photonics, but many of the most interesting candidates degrade within seconds of air exposure, making them nearly impossible to study or integrate ...

21 hours ago in Nanotechnology
Phys.org / Beyond climate: Connection and mobility were key drivers in early human innovation, research suggests

A new study challenges the idea that climate change drove early human innovation. Instead, researchers find that cultural developments arose under different environmental conditions, shaped by movement, interaction, and knowledge ...

22 hours ago in Other Sciences