Phys.org news

Blurry light from lens imperfections is a problem everywhere, from microscopes to telescopes to smartphone cameras. Using a tiny yet carefully engineered optical element and artificial intelligence, University of California ...

National governments and multilateral institutions face difficult challenges reconciling environmental goals, such as biodiversity conservation and addressing climate change, with economic development goals. In a first-of-its-kind ...

The concept of the "15-Minute City" has gained global traction as a blueprint for more livable, sustainable communities by placing daily essentials—such as grocery stores, schools, restaurants and parks—within easy reach ...

Researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) have developed a computation-guided strategy to produce urea more efficiently from carbon dioxide and nitrate. By combining large language models, density functional ...

Mangrove forests, once considered one of the world's most threatened coastal ecosystems, are showing signs of recovery worldwide, according to new research from Tulane University that finds decades of losses largely offset ...

Ozone pollution has worsened in much of the continental United States over the past decade, fueled by wildfires and the long-distance transport of unhealthy air, according to a new study titled "Fires reverse progress toward ...

Designing surfaces that precisely control how light behaves at the nanoscale is tricky. Optical Fourier surfaces, which are nanostructured gratings that redistribute light into specific directions and wavelengths, hold enormous ...

Using box jellyfish as an example, researchers from Kiel University show how the physics of density, not behavior or physiology, can prevent animals from reaching the surface even as they actively swim upward.

Deep below the Tyrrhenian Sea offshore Italy, scientists drilled into what they thought would be dark mantle rock—and found pieces of granite that seemingly had no business being there. Those unexpected intrusions turned ...

For the first time, mighty ocean waves generated in the Southern Ocean have been accurately measured all the way to the tiny ripples they form on the shores of Alaska. Professor Ian Young, from the University of Melbourne's ...

The study "Homo cooperans: Understanding the nature of human cooperation" arrives at a clear result: 69% of study participants chose to cooperate. At the same time, the study published in the journal Science shows that people ...

In the region where the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover will search for signs of life, clay deposits extend beyond previous estimates, a new study finds. One hypothesis even suggests a vast ocean once covered the landing ...