The ability to turn on and off a physical process with just one photon is a fundamental building block for quantum photonic technologies. Realizing this in a chip-scale architecture is important for scalability. Researchers have demonstrated the use of 'Rydberg states' in solid state materials (previously shown in cold atom gases) to enhance nonlinear optical interactions to unprecedented levels...

A new article used eye-tracking technology to record eye movements of readers and concluded that people with dyslexia have a profoundly different and much more difficult way of sampling visual information than normal readers.

In an effort to fight the millions of tons of marine litter floating in the ocean, researchers have developed a new virtual tool to track this debris. Their work will help provide answers to help monitor and deal with the problem of marine litter.

Researchers have succeeded in ultra-fast freezing proteins after a precisely defined period of time. They were able to follow structural changes on the microsecond time scale and with sub-nanometer precision. Owing to its high spatial and temporal resolution, the method allows tracking rapid structural changes in enzymes and nucleic acids.

The perception of light is extremely fast. But the analysis was carried out on molecules in solution in the laboratory. Scientists reproduced the experiment on mice, in order to observe the processing of light by a living organism in all its complexity. This study shows that light energy alone does not define the response of the retina. Its shape also has an impact on the signal sent to the brain...

Researchers have uncovered a mechanism by which dissolved salts can crystallize in a way that makes it easy to remove them from surfaces, potentially helping to prevent fouling of metal surfaces.

Various studies show that people of color are disproportionately exposed to air pollution in the United States. However, it was unclear whether this unequal exposure is due mainly to a few types of emission sources or whether the causes are more systemic. A new study that models peoples' exposure to air pollution - resolved by race-ethnicity and income level - shows that exposure disparities among...

Adverse environmental exposures during pregnancy -- including those that occur before pregnancy is recognized -- have a sizable effect on risk for psychiatric symptoms in childhood. Researchers are working to discover, develop and implement early life interventions that can mitigate some of these risks.

Scientists are developing a completely new 'brain stress test' for evaluating the mental status of patients with Parkinson's disease, the second most prevalent neurodegenerative disease worldwide. It involves awakening the 'ghosts' hidden in specific networks of the brain to predict the onset of hallucinations.

The Southern Ocean dominates the oceanic uptake of humanmade CO2. But how much carbon dioxide can it actually absorb in the future? This long-standing question remained unresolved as projections of different generation of climate models repeatedly showed a wide range of future Southern Ocean CO2 sink estimates. Climate scientists have now been able to reduce this large uncertainty by about 50...

To be more energy efficient, many people have replaced their incandescent lights with light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs. However, those currently on the market emit a lot of blue light, which has been linked to eye troubles and sleep disturbances. Now, researchers have developed a prototype LED that reduces -- instead of masks -- the blue component, while also making colors appear just as they do...

Every day, the sun ejects large amounts of a hot particle soup known as plasma toward Earth where it can disrupt telecommunications satellites and damage electrical grids. Now, scientists have made a discovery that could lead to better predictions of this space weather and help safeguard sensitive infrastructure.

While evolution is normally thought of as occurring over millions of years, researchers have discovered that bacteria can evolve in response to climate change in 18 months. Biologists found that evolution is one way that soil microbes might deal with global warming.

Socially just policies aimed at limiting the Earth's human population hold tremendous potential for advancing equity while simultaneously helping to mitigate the effects of climate change, researchers say.

More green spaces in an area is associated with a lower racial disparity in COVID-19 infection rates, according to the first study to examine the relationship between the supply of green spaces and reduced disparity in infectious disease rates.

Tiny molecules called nanobodies, which can be designed to mimic antibody structures and functions, may be the key to blocking a tick-borne bacterial infection that remains out of reach of almost all antibiotics, new research suggests.

Scientists mapped the electronic states in an exotic superconductor. The maps point to the composition range necessary for topological superconductivity, a state that could enable more robust quantum computing.

Analysis of data from a lightning mapper and a small, hand-held radiation detector has unexpectedly shed light on what a gamma-ray burst from lightning might look like - by observing neutrons generated from soil by very large cosmic-ray showers.

Seasonally occurring fields of aufeis (icing) constitute an important resource for the water supply of the local population in the Upper Indus Basin. Geographers have now examined the spreading of aufeis and, for the first time, created a full inventory of these more than 3,700 aufeis fields. They are important for these high mountain areas between South and Central Asia, particularly with respect...

New research is shedding light on the biopsychosocial process that can lead to poor grades, withdrawal from classes and even students who drop out.

Matching the capability of different tree species with the types of contaminants present in soil and water is critical in phytoremediation. A research team has developed a new contaminant prioritization tool that has the potential to increase the effectiveness of phytoremediation in landfill clean-up.

Researchers used computer modeling to reveal that one of the three mutations that make variant B.1.351 different from the original SARS-CoV-2 reduces the virus' binding to human cells -- but potentially allows it to escape some antibodies.

Chocolate is a beloved treat, but sometimes the cocoa beans that go into bars and other sweets have unpleasant flavors or scents, making the final products taste bad. Surprisingly, only a few compounds associated with these stinky odors are known.

Uncapped, idle oil wells could be leaking millions of kilograms of methane each year into the atmosphere and surface water, according to a new study.