Phys.org news
Phys.org / Discovery of CRISPR's long lost ancestor may expand gene-editing toolkit
CRISPR may be a powerful technology for gene editing, but the system existed in bacteria long before scientists began using it. For billions of years, CRISPR has acted as a natural immune system in bacteria and other microbes, ...
Phys.org / North Korea's nuclear testing may have triggered hundreds of earthquakes over several years
Between 2006 and 2017, North Korea conducted six underground nuclear tests at its vast testing site at Mount Mantap in North Hamgyong province. Typically, underground explosions trigger an intense burst of minor earthquakes ...
Phys.org / Stacked 2D materials reveal room-temperature multiferroicity and voltage-controlled magnetism
Multiferroics are materials that simultaneously exhibit two or more ferroic orders—stable arrangements of physical properties that can be switched using an external stimulus. These materials could be highly advantageous for ...
Phys.org / New thermal insulator outperforms any material found in nature
Researchers have engineered a new material that is an extreme thermal insulator, is exceptionally stiff and can be printed as a thin film at large scales. The material has one of the lowest thermal conductivity profiles of ...
Phys.org / From the start, the solar system chose fire over ice to build its first bodies
When the solar system first took up the task of building solid bodies—such as planets, moons and protoplanets—it basically had a choice between two ingredients: heat-forged chondrules, which were millimeter-sized bits of ...
Phys.org / 'Plasticorals,' coral rubble fused with plastic, represent a new form of plastic pollution
During routine beach litter surveys on the subtropical island of Okinawa, Japan, researchers came across small, brightly colored specks in the pale coral rubble. Back at the lab, spectroscopic and microscopic analyses revealed ...
Phys.org / To read 2,000-year-old burned scrolls, scientists burn their own
Douglas Seiler painstakingly sourced papyrus and reed pens from Egypt and traditional lampblack ink from Japan, then paid some high school students to inscribe the papyrus with lines from Star Wars and the Bible and a quote ...
Phys.org / Coffee on the nanoscale: Graphene oxide membrane removes half the caffeine while retaining key compounds
The humble coffee filter has the relatively simple job of letting the coffee through and leaving the grounds behind. But researchers from the ARC Center of Excellence for Carbon Science and Innovation (COE-CSI) are exploring ...
Phys.org / Bolivia's tilcayo tiger cat becomes first new wildcat species in 100 years
Scientists have discovered a new species of wild cat for the first time in more than a century, a Bolivian researcher told AFP on Thursday.
Phys.org / Amino acids and a bone mineral may help control magnesium implant breakdown, three student papers suggest
Seeing a bachelor's thesis published in a scientific journal is relatively uncommon. For three theses linked to the same research group to result in scientific publications within just three months is downright rare. Yet ...
Phys.org / Laser experiments recreate solar flare physics and reveal consistent magnetic reconnection rates
Magnetic reconnection is a process that occurs when the magnetic fields of a conductive plasma quickly rearrange and release massive amounts of stored magnetic energy. It is widely thought to be the underlying mechanism behind ...
Phys.org / Time is running out to catch a giant planet's strange orbit
A team of researchers, including those from the University of Tokyo, spotted a rare kind of planet that's unusually hot and eccentric. TOI-1355 b orbits its star, TOI-1355, which is also much hotter than our sun, in a strange ...
