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16,941 articles from PhysOrg
Controlling the nanoscale structure of membranes is key for clean water, researchers find
A desalination membrane acts as a filter for salty water: push the water through the membrane, get clean water suitable for agriculture, energy production and even drinking. The process seems simple enough, but it contains complex intricacies that have baffled scientists for decades—until now.
Stretching diamond for next-generation microelectronics
Diamond is the hardest material in nature. But out of many expectations, it also has great potential as an excellent electronic material. A joint research team led by City University of Hong Kong (CityU) has demonstrated for the first time the large, uniform tensile elastic straining of microfabricated diamond arrays through the nanomechanical approach. Their findings have shown the potential of...
COVID-19 dominates annual list of banished words, terms
Even as vaccines are being rolled out to battle the coronavirus, wordsmiths at Lake Superior State University in Michigan's Upper Peninsula say they want to kick any trace of it from the English language.
Magnitude 3.6 earthquake jolts San Francisco Bay Area
A magnitude 3.6 earthquake has jolted the San Francisco Bay Area on the last day of 2020.
Changes, challenges: The not-so-secret life of pandemic pets
Olivia Hinerfeld's dog Lincoln and Kate Hilts' cat Potato have something in common: They both like to interrupt Zoom calls as their owners work from home.
Light-responsive E. coli functional biofilms as scaffolds for hydroxyapatite mineralization
Living organisms have evolved mechanisms of biomineralization to build structurally ordered and environmentally adaptive composite materials. While research teams have significantly improved biomimetic mineralization research in the lab, it is still difficult to engineer mineralized composites with structural features and living components much like their native counterparts. In a new report now...
Well-preserved Ice Age woolly rhino found in Siberia
A well-preserved Ice Age woolly rhino with many of its internal organs still intact has been recovered from permafrost in Russia's extreme north.
Eastern Caribbean issues rare alerts for rumbling volcanoes
Volcanoes that have been quiet for decades are rumbling to life in the eastern Caribbean, prompting officials to issue alerts in Martinique and St. Vincent and the Grenadines as scientists rush in to study activity they say hasn't been observed in years.
WEDNESDAY 30. DECEMBER 2020
Pandemic has revealed our dependence on migrant workers
The coronavirus has taught us an important lesson.
Anti-transpirant products unnecessary in cycad propagation
In a first-of-its-kind study within cycad horticulture literature, University of Guam researchers have found that the use of anti-transpirants neither help nor hinder successful propagation of cycad stem cuttings.
Largest study of Asia's rivers unearths 800 years of paleoclimate patterns
813 years of annual river discharge at 62 stations, 41 rivers in 16 countries, from 1200 to 2012. That is what researchers at the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) produced after two years of research in order to better understand past climate patterns of the Asian Monsoon region.
Diddy providing some COVID-19 relief for Miami neighborhood
Rapper Sean "Diddy" Combs provided some coronavirus relief in a Miami neighborhood on Tuesday, handing out $50 bills amid a crowd of hundreds.
The map of nuclear deformation takes the form of a mountain landscape
Until recently, scientists believed that only very massive nuclei could have excited zero-spin states of increased stability with a significantly deformed shape. Meanwhile, an international team of researchers from Romania, France, Italy, the USA and Poland showed in their latest article that such states also exist in much lighter nickel nuclei. Positive verification of the theoretical model used...
Scientists further improve accuracy of directional polarimetric camera
Recently, researchers from the Optical Remote Sensing Center of the Anhui Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics (AIOFM), Hefei Institutes of Physical Science (HFIPS) have successfully improved the accuracy of directional polarimetric camera (DPC) laboratory polarization calibration via new methods.
ATLAS project finds 12 new species of sea creatures
Researchers working with the ATLAS project have reported to the press that they have found 12 new species of sea creatures new to science. The EU funded undersea project has been ongoing for five years and has carried out 45 research expeditions that involved the work of over 80 scientists and student volunteers.
Fish sex organs boosted under high CO2
Research from the University of Adelaide has found that some species of fish will have higher reproductive capacity because of larger sex organs, under the more acidic oceans of the future.
Observations shed more light on the atmosphere of white dwarf GD 424
Astronomers have performed spectroscopic observations of a newly detected white dwarf star known as GD 424. Results of the observational campaign provide more insights into the atmosphere of this object. The study was presented in a paper published December 23 on arXiv.org.
Organic meats found to have approximately the same greenhouse impact as regular meats
A trio of researchers from the Technical University of Munich, the University of Greifswald and the University of Augsburg have found that the meat production process for organic meats produces approximately the same amounts of greenhouse gases as does the conventional meat production process. In their paper published in the journal Nature Communications, Maximilian Pieper, Amelie Michalke and...
Torpor: a neat survival trick once thought rare in Australian animals is actually widespread
Life is hard for small animals in the wild, but they have many solutions to the challenges of their environment. One of the most fascinating of these strategies is torpor. Not, to be confused with sleep or Sunday afternoon lethargy, torpor is a complex response to the costs of living.
Designing Dirac vortex topological photonic crystal fibres
Optical fibres made of topological photonic crystals allow improved versatility and control across the modes and polarization of light they transmit. Compositionally, photonic crystals contain bandgaps to prevent the passage of light relative to specific wave energies and momenta much like an on/off switch. In a new report now published on Nature Light: Science & Applications, Hao Lin, and Ling Lu...
COVID cluckers: Pandemic feeds demand for backyard chickens
The coronavirus pandemic is coming home to roost in America's backyards.
Restoring longleaf pines, keystone of once vast ecosystems
When European settlers came to North America, fire-dependent savannas anchored by lofty pines with footlong needles covered much of what became the southern United States.
Young sea lion recovers from shark bite, returns to ocean
A feisty young sea lion is back in the Northern California wild after five weeks of rehabilitation to treat a severe shark bite, domoic acid poisoning and malnutrition.
TUESDAY 29. DECEMBER 2020
The puzzle of nonhost resistance: why do pathogens harm some plants but not others?
People have puzzled for years why pathogen Phytophthora infestens causes the devastating late blight disease, source of the Irish Potato famine, on potatoes, but has no effect at all on plants like apple or cucumber. How are apple trees and cucumber plants able to completely shake off this devastating pathogen? Agricultural scientists have wondered for years: if this resistance is so complete and...
Editorial: SoCal is losing its fight against smog. Things have to turn around in 2021
For a brief moment this year, Southern Californians got a glimpse of what clean air could look and feel like. During the first COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns in the spring, the dramatic drop in vehicle pollution combined with stormy weather to help clear out the region's notoriously smoggy, hazy air, leaving blue skies and crisp vistas.