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100 articles from PhysOrg
One-size does not fit all for post-disaster recovery, study finds
When a natural disaster strikes, it often takes years for vulnerable communities to recover, long after the news coverage fades and the rest of the world seems to move on. A new Portland State University study that followed 400 households after the 2015 Nepal earthquakes provides insight into better understanding the factors that contribute to resilience and change in short-term rural natural...
NASA-NOAA satellite tracks Isaias' development, movement, soaking potential
NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite provided visible imagery of the development and movement of Tropical Storm Isaias is it moved into the eastern Caribbean Sea. NASA's Aqua satellite provided temperature information that gave insight into Isaias' rainmaking potential.
Astrophysicists observe long-theorized quantum phenomena
At the heart of every white dwarf star—the dense stellar object that remains after a star has burned away its fuel reserve of gases as it nears the end of its life cycle—lies a quantum conundrum: as white dwarfs add mass, they shrink in size, until they become so small and tightly compacted that they cannot sustain themselves, collapsing into a neutron star.
Mars-bound spaceship experiencing technical issues: NASA
Mars 2020, the spaceship carrying NASA's new rover Perseverance to the Red Planet, is experiencing technical difficulties and is running on essential systems only, the agency said Thursday.
New understanding of CRISPR-Cas9 tool could improve gene editing
Within a mere eight years, CRISPR-Cas9 has become the go-to genome editor for both basic research and gene therapy. But CRISPR-Cas9 also has spawned other potentially powerful DNA manipulation tools that could help fix genetic mutations responsible for hereditary diseases.
Stay or leave? A tale of two virus strategies revealed by math
As small and relatively simple as they may be, even viruses have strategies. Now, researchers in Japan report that they can evaluate two of these strategies through a combination of biology and math, providing a new tool for insight into viruses that could be used to develop better treatments.
Ancient mountain formation and monsoons helped create a modern biodiversity hotspot
One of the big questions in biology is why certain plants and animals are found in some places and not others. Figuring out how species evolve and spread, and why some places are richer in species than others, is key to understanding and protecting the world around us. Mountains make a good laboratory for scientists tackling these questions: mountains are home to tons of biodiversity, in part due...
Challenging a central tenet of chemistry
Steve Granick, Director of the IBS Center for Soft and Living Matter and Dr. Huan Wang, Senior Research Fellow, report together with 5 interdisciplinary colleagues in the July 31 issue of the journal Science that common chemical reactions accelerate Brownian diffusion by sending long-range ripples into the surrounding solvent.
Economic and food supply chain disruptions endanger global food security
COVID-19 has led to a global economic slowdown that is affecting all four pillars of food security—availability, access, utilization, and stability—according to a new article from researchers at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), published in the journal Science. Agricultural and food markets are facing continuous disruptions due to labor shortages caused by lockdowns,...
Looking up to the Joneses: Consequences of the perceptions of white wealth
Before the era of COVID-19, research suggested that premature deaths among white Americans were rising. Even before the era of COVID-19, these findings were surprising. As Dr. Cooley explains, "These trends were puzzling to us because white people, on average, have more wealth than other racial groups and are generally privileged in our society." As a result, Cooley and colleagues questioned...
Team simultaneously synthesizes dicarboxylic acids and hydrogen from diols
Every year, the chemical industry makes trillions of dollars synthesizing the countless chemical compounds we use every day.
New method lets scientists peer deeper into ocean
Researchers have advanced a new way to see into the ocean's depths, establishing an approach to detect algae and measure key properties using light. A paper published in Applied Optics reports using a laser-based tool, lidar, to collect these measurements far deeper than has been typically possible using satellites.
Tierra del Fuego: Marine ecosystems from 6,000 to 5,000 years ago
Global warming will modify the distribution and abundance of fish worldwide, with effects on the structure and dynamics of food networks. However, making precise predictions on the consequences of this global phenomenon is hard without having a wide historical perspective.
Researchers discover a new and unique class of carbohydrate receptors
An international team of researchers led by Aarhus University are the first to determine the crystal structure of an exopolysaccharide receptor. The results give insight into how plants and microbes communicate, and this knowledge can hopefully be used for more sustainable agriculture where microbes play an important role.
ALMA finds possible sign of neutron star in supernova 1987A
Two teams of astronomers have made a compelling case in the 33-year-old mystery surrounding Supernova 1987A. Based on observations of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and a theoretical follow-up study, the scientists provide new insight for the argument that a neutron star is hiding deep inside the remains of the exploded star. This would be the youngest neutron star known...
NASA finds Post-Tropical Low Douglas crossing a line
The strong wind shear that weakened Douglas to a tropical storm early on July 29 has further weakened it to a post-tropical low-pressure area. NASA's Aqua satellite provided an infrared view of those remnants, headed across the International Date Line in the Pacific Ocean.
Plastics, pathogens and baby formula: What's in your shellfish?
The first landmark study using next-generation technology to comprehensively examine contaminants in oysters in Myanmar reveals alarming findings: the widespread presence of human bacterial pathogens and human-derived microdebris materials, including plastics, kerosene, paint, talc and milk supplement powders.
Stunning space butterfly captured by telescope
Resembling a butterfly with its symmetrical structure, beautiful colors, and intricate patterns, this striking bubble of gas—known as NGC 2899—appears to float and flutter across the sky in this new picture from ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT). This object has never before been imaged in such striking detail, with even the faint outer edges of the planetary nebula glowing over the background...
Magnetic gold nanohybrid will help fight cancer
A team of NUST MISIS scientists, together with colleagues from Russia and Germany, have presented a detailed study of magnetite-gold nanohybrids. In the future, such nanoparticles can help in theranostics—the diagnostics and subsequent therapy of oncological diseases. The results of the work have been published in the Journal of Materials Chemistry B.
'A win for the Everglades': 5,000 pythons removed in state-sponsored capture program
Florida's fight against the invasive Burmese python has hit a new milestone: 5,000 snakes captured in the Everglades since wildlife managers started paying hunters to remove the destructive constrictors in 2017.
'It's real.' Latinos, African Americans most likely to view pollution as a serious health threat
Latinos and African Americans are more likely to view pollution as a serious health threat than other groups, according to a new statewide study by the Public Policy Institute of California.
New study confirms extensive gas leaks in the North Sea
During expeditions to oil and gas reservoirs in the central North Sea in 2012 and 2013, scientists of the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel (Germany) became aware of a phenomenon that had been hardly recognized before. They discovered that methane bubbles emerged from the seabed around abandoned wells. The gas originates from shallow gas pockets, which lie less than 1000 meters deep...
Researchers synthesize nanoparticles tailored for special applications
Whether in innovative high-tech materials, more powerful computer chips, pharmaceuticals or in the field of renewable energies, nanoparticles form the basis for a whole range of new technological developments. Due to the laws of quantum mechanics, such particles measuring only a few millionths of a millimeter can behave completely differently in terms of conductivity, optics or robustness than the...
Faster LEDs for wireless communications from invisible light
Researchers have solved a major problem for optical wireless communications—the process by which light carries information between cell phones and other devices. Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) pulse their light in a coded message that recipient devices can understand.
Researchers make major, concerning microplastics discovery
Researchers from University College Cork have discovered that microplastics (plastic pieces smaller than 5 mm) in our freshwaters are being broken down into even smaller nanoplastics (smaller than 1 µm, at least five thousand times smaller in size) by a type of freshwater invertebrate animal, and that this may happen much faster than previously estimated.