Phys.org news
Phys.org / One of industry's toughest lignin byproducts could become feedstock for valuable chemicals
The pulp and paper industry, which manufactures everything from tissue paper to cardboard, also generates a significant yet often overlooked byproduct—a complex polymer called lignin. Around 100 million tons of lignin are ...
Phys.org / Five-year study finds rewilded elephants develop successful coping mechanisms, with individual differences
Ex-captive elephants released into the wild adapt well to wild environments, according to a study published July 29, 2026, in the journal PLOS One by Tenisha Roos and Tamara Eggeling of the Elephant Reintegration Trust of ...
Phys.org / Unique fossil reveals the internal organs of a 245-million-year-old marine reptile
Scientists from China, Europe and the U.S., including Dr. Stephan Spiekman, a paleontologist at the State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart and the University of Hohenheim, have described a fossil of the long-necked marine ...
Phys.org / Hydrothermal microbes shape seafloor minerals at newly found vents near Greek island
In August 2023, the German research vessel METEOR set sail on Expedition M192 to the Greek island of Milos with Dr. Solveig Bühring as chief scientist. The mission was to locate and investigate previously unknown hydrothermal ...
Phys.org / The cost of memory: How organisms balance thinking and sensing
Remembering the past can help living organisms make better decisions, but memory comes at a cost. Whether it is an animal searching for food or a single cell responding to its surroundings, storing and using information requires ...
Phys.org / Strain turns non-chiral crystals left- or right-handed on demand
Mechanical strain is one of the most common tools used to tailor the properties of materials. In piezoelectric materials, stretching or compressing a crystal generates an electrical polarization. In piezomagnetic materials, ...
Phys.org / Gonorrhea's own enzyme triggers therapy against multidrug-resistant strains in lab tests
Scientists at the Universities of Liverpool and Oxford have developed a promising new way to kill antibiotic-resistant strains of Neisseria gonorrhoeae, the bacterium that causes gonorrhea, using a targeted therapy that is ...
Phys.org / First electrically pumped perovskite polariton laser diode solves a decades-long challenge
Resolving a long-standing problem in semiconductor physics and optoelectronics, a team of researchers from Skoltech—a VEB.RF group institution—and their colleagues from ITMO University and HSE University have for the first ...
Phys.org / Antarctic storms are becoming more frequent and intense, affecting sea ice
Winters in Antarctica's Ross Sea have become stormier in recent decades, affecting sea-ice conditions and field operations, new University of Otago—Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka research shows.
Phys.org / Lake ice loss could accelerate after winter temperatures cross critical thresholds
For lakes across the Northern Hemisphere, winter ice is more than a frozen surface. It is a seasonal regulator that shapes underwater ecosystems and energy balance. But as the planet warms, this frozen season is disappearing ...
Phys.org / Private mission to rescue NASA's aging telescope runs into its own trouble
The spacecraft rushing to the rescue of an aging and sinking NASA telescope has run into its own problem.
Phys.org / A successful, sustainable catalyst for ethanol dehydrogenation
Ethanol is an alcohol used in a vast number of industrial and household applications. When dehydrogenated—in this case, stripped of some of its hydrogen atoms—it yields another important compound: acetaldehyde, which is used ...