Phys.org news
Phys.org / Bringing hidden optical imperfections to light
Tiny manufacturing imperfections in optical components normally go unnoticed. Yet they can alter light in surprisingly significant ways. An international research team led by TU Darmstadt has shown that such imperfections ...
Phys.org / Rewetting peatlands may curb warming-driven CO₂ emissions
Peatlands store large amounts of carbon. However, when they are drained, they can become substantial sources of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO₂).
Phys.org / From flower to fruit: A tug-of-war between growing tissues
Unlike an animal cell, a plant cell can't crawl or migrate. It's locked inside a rigid wall, cemented to its neighbors for life. A cell born at the center of a young fruit will still be there when that fruit ripens.
Phys.org / Dangerous heat days are expanding beyond summer, with regional spring-fall shifts
Extreme heat has become more common—both research and lived experience document this—but when it arrives is a different question. A new study finds that, rather than occurring only during warm seasons, extreme heat events ...
Phys.org / Northern map turtles leave Lake Erie before algal blooms peak, tracking finds
Harmful algal blooms pose serious threats to people, animals and the environment. The University of Toledo's Dr. Jeanine Refsnider counts it as a positive discovery that northern map turtles tend to steer clear, as she and ...
Phys.org / First PLP-dependent enzyme that influences bacterial protein production discovered
Researchers from the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research & Technology's (SMART) Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) interdisciplinary research group, alongside collaborators from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Nanyang ...
Phys.org / Scavenging linked to virus variety in wild birds
The scavenging behavior of many wild birds plays an important role in the type, number and variety of viruses they have, a new University of Otago–Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka-led study has found.
Phys.org / AI pinpoints when fish reach their thermal limit
Researchers have developed an AI-based system that automatically and objectively detects the moment when fish experience loss of equilibrium (LOE) due to temperature stress. The system combines DeepLabCut, a deep-learning ...
Phys.org / White is more than a color: How nature inspired a new sustainable way to make white, water-repellent materials
Look closely at Hokusai's The Great Wave off Kanagawa, one of Japan's most iconic masterpieces. The brilliant white of the waves, snow on Mount Fuji and clouds above contain no white pigment. Instead, their whiteness comes ...
Phys.org / Tiny 2D cracks creep through materials before triggering sudden fracture, experiments reveal
We have all seen something suddenly break: a phone screen cracks, a plastic object snaps or a piece of glass shatters. To our eyes, the failure seems to happen all at once. But what if the most important part of the break ...
Phys.org / A wandering black hole caught feeding on the run
Astronomers have found the first direct evidence that a wandering black hole can feed itself by dragging gas along in its wake as it moves through its galaxy. It's the first direct evidence of an accretion channel long predicted ...
Phys.org / The surprising place where giant dinosaurs incubated their eggs
Finding a fossilized dinosaur egg is exceptionally rare, but finding a stash of more than 250 shell fragments in the chilly southern reaches of the planet is even more surprising. The discoveries come from southernmost Patagonia ...
