Phys.org news
Phys.org / Kids' brains are built for distraction. Sometimes that's a good thing.
Parents often learn the hard way that to make it anywhere on time, they should calculate how much time they think they need to get ready—and double it.
Phys.org / Interviewing with AI? Try not to let the robot affect your behavior
A firm handshake used to be all a job candidate needed to make a good first impression, but today a growing number of firms are relying on artificial intelligence to screen applicants.
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 / 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 / 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 / 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 ...
