Phys.org news
Dialog / The wetland puzzle that stumped hydrology for decades—how physics and AI joined forces to predict unmeasured regions
For years, the Prairie Pothole Region has bothered me in a very specific way. On a map, it looks like a normal landscape: fields, gentle slopes, small streams. But hydrologically, it behaves like something else entirely. ...
Phys.org / Life forms can planet hop on asteroid debris—and survive
Tiny life forms tucked into debris from an asteroid hit could catapult to other planets—including Earth—and survive, a new Johns Hopkins University study finds. The work demonstrates that a certain hardy bacterium easily ...
Phys.org / HETDEX data reveal a vast 'sea of light' between early galaxies
Astronomers with the Hobby-Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX) have used data from the project to make the largest, most accurate 3D map yet of the light emitted by excited hydrogen in the early universe, 9 billion ...
Phys.org / Hard-to-make diastereomers: How a cage-like allyl reagent changes the outcome
Diastereomers are structurally identical molecules that are not mirror images of each other. Diastereomers can have different biological activities, potencies or toxicities, which means they can influence biological systems, ...
Phys.org / Liquid crystal phase in antiferromagnets can be detected electrically
The best candidate for next-generation magnetic devices—technology that can power, store, sense or transport information—may be, counterintuitively, antiferromagnets. Today, the most widely used magnetic materials are ...
Phys.org / 'Mismatched' plant water isotopes vanish with better sampling: Study points to better drought forecasts
For decades, scientists have relied on a chemical fingerprint inside water molecules to determine where plants get their moisture. The method shaped our understanding of drought resilience, groundwater use, and ecosystem ...
Phys.org / Chemically 'stapled' peptides used to target difficult-to-treat cancers
Researchers at the University of Bath have developed a new technology that uses bacteria to build, chemically stabilize, and test millions of potential drug molecules inside living cells, making it much quicker and easier ...
Phys.org / Deadly soil fungal pathogen puts Australia's reptiles at risk of extinction
University of Queensland researchers say Australia's reptiles are at risk of extinction because a little understood fungus is infecting species throughout the environment. Associate Professor Celine Frere from UQ's School ...
Phys.org / From hyperbolic in-plane anisotropy to an optical chirality: A new route to nanoscale circular polarizers
In recent years, van der Waals crystals have evolved from scientific curiosities into a versatile platform for exploring novel quantum phases and unconventional nanophotonic phenomena. Their layered nature allows stacking, ...
Phys.org / Did plants nearly wipe out all marine life on Earth—twice?
UC College of Arts and Sciences Professor Thomas Algeo has been studying the planet's five major mass extinctions since the Ordovician Period, when global sea levels were much higher than today. In a paper published in Nature ...
Phys.org / BaSi₂-supported nickel catalyst boosts low-temperature hydrogen production
A new catalyst strategy developed at Institute of Science Tokyo uses BaSi2 as a support for nickel and cobalt to decompose ammonia at lower temperatures. By forming unique ternary transition metal–nitrogen–barium intermediates ...
Phys.org / Asteroid Ryugu samples offer new insights into early solar system magnetism
To uncover the history of our solar system, it is necessary to study the dynamic evolution of the ancient solar nebula materials. These materials interacted and coevolved with the weak but widespread magnetic field of the ...
