Phys.org news
Phys.org / Humans driving extinctions on scale not seen since dinosaurs, scientists say
Human activity may be triggering the greatest extinction event since the asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs, according to scientists. Their study, based on a review of decades of research on environmental change, ...
Phys.org / What vibrating molecules might reveal about cell biology
Infrared vibrational spectroscopy at BESSY II can be used to create high-resolution maps of molecules inside live cells and cell organelles in their native aqueous environment, according to a new study by a team from HZB ...
Phys.org / Climate whiplash effects due to rapidly intensifying El Niño cycles
A new study published in the journal Nature Communications reveals that the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), a key driver of global climate variability, is projected to undergo a dramatic transformation due to greenhouse ...
Phys.org / Global research shows how Dust Bowl-type drought causes unprecedented productivity loss
A global research effort led by Colorado State University shows that extreme, prolonged drought conditions in grasslands and shrublands would greatly limit the long-term health of crucial ecosystems that cover nearly half ...
Phys.org / Analysis details the where, and who, of increased hurricane power outages in the future
Georgia and northern Florida are likely to be hardest hit by increasing hurricane-induced power outages along the Atlantic coast in the future, with Hispanic, non-white and low-income populations most affected, according ...
Phys.org / Researchers discover spontaneous chirality in conjugated polymers
Chirality, a property where structures have a distinct left- or right-handedness, allows natural semiconductors to move charge and convert energy with high efficiency by controlling electron spin and the angular momentum ...
Phys.org / Ancient ocean warming reveals new insights into stability of West Antarctic Ice Sheet
The West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) is one of the most dynamic regions of the Antarctic continent. Much of its bed lies below sea level, making the region particularly sensitive to ocean warming. Understanding the development ...
Phys.org / A hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy of space immunology
With the advent of commercial spaceflight, an increasing number of people may be heading into space in the coming years. Some will even get a chance to fly to the moon or live on Mars.
Phys.org / Aerosols from pollution are shifting rainfall from land to sea in Southeast Asia, study finds
Tiny airborne particles known as aerosols, from biomass burning, urban pollution, and industrial emissions, can dramatically alter rainfall, cloud formation, and atmospheric stability. A new study led by Professor Kyong-Hwan ...
Phys.org / Atom-swapping blueprint could streamline synthesis of pharmaceutical building blocks
Researchers from NUS have pioneered a photocatalytic atom-swapping transformation that converts oxetanes into a variety of four-membered saturated cyclic molecules, which are key scaffolds in medicinal chemistry. By introducing ...
Phys.org / Most users cannot identify AI racial bias—even in training data
When recognizing faces and emotions, artificial intelligence (AI) can be biased, like classifying white people as happier than people from other racial backgrounds. This happens because the data used to train the AI contained ...
Phys.org / How a pit-shaping module sustains xylem hydraulics and rice grain yield
Xylem vessel pits are tiny openings on the cell wall of water-conducting cells—with pit geometry influencing crop yield through its effect on plant hydraulics and nitrogen transport.
