feed info

71 articles from PhysOrg

Foster care, homelessness are higher education hurdles

A college education is estimated to add $1 million to a person's lifetime earning potential, but for some students the path to earning one is riddled with obstacles. That journey is even more difficult for students who have been in the foster care system or experienced homelessness, according to a new study from the University of Georgia.

Trust among corvids

Siberian jays are group living birds within the corvid family that employ a wide repertoire of calls to warn each other of predators. Sporadically, however, birds use one of these calls to trick their neighboring conspecifics and gain access to their food. Researchers from the universities of Konstanz (Germany), Wageningen (Netherlands), and Zurich (Switzerland) have now examined how Siberian jays...

Best of both worlds: High entropy meets low dimensions, opens up infinite possibilities

The discovery of graphene, a 2D layered form of carbon, once caused a paradigm shift in science and technology like no other. As this wonder material drew attention from material scientists around the world, it spurred research on other materials that were structurally similar, such as "van der Waals materials," which comprise strongly-bonded 2D atomic layers that are held together by weak...

Study: Parler provided echo chamber for vaccine misinformation, conspiracy theories

In the early days of COVID-19 vaccine development, a new social media platform provided a place for like-minded people to discuss vaccines, share misinformation and speculate about the motivations for its development. A new study from the University of Kansas shows people flocked to Parler to discuss the vaccines in an echo chamber-type environment, and those conversations can shed light about how...

The evolutionary fates of supergenes unmasked

While the term "supergene" may bring to mind the genetic hocus-pocus of Peter Parker's transformation into Spiderman, supergenes are actually fairly common phenomena in the realm of biology. A supergene refers to a genomic region containing multiple genes or genetic elements that are tightly linked, allowing genetic variants across the region to be co-inherited. Supergenes may arise when there is...

Researchers demonstrate a quantum advantage

Quantum computing and quantum sensing have the potential to be vastly more powerful than their classical counterparts. Not only could a fully realized quantum computer take just seconds to solve equations that would take a classical computer thousands of years, but it could have incalculable impacts on areas ranging from biomedical imaging to autonomous driving.

Harmonious electronic structure leads to enhanced quantum materials

The electronic structure of metallic materials determines the behavior of electron transport. Magnetic Weyl semimetals have a unique topological electronic structure—the electron's motion is dynamically linked to its spin. These Weyl semimetals have come to be the most exciting quantum materials that allow for dissipationless transport, low power operation, and exotic topological fields that can...

The effects of protein corona on the interactions of AIE-visualized liposomes with ce

Since the introduction on the market in 1995 of Doxil, pegylated liposomal doxorubicin, liposomes have become one of the most clinically established drug delivery systems in nanomedicine. Among different liposomal formulations, cationic liposomes have attracted great attention because of their capacity to bind negatively charged nucleic acids to perform as non-viral gene delivery tools, and due to...

How best to focus efforts on classifying new species to prevent their extinction?

Many organisms in need of conservation are still unknown or lumped in with similar species, which potentially interferes with conservation efforts. In a new study published June 1 in the Open Access journal PLOS Biology, Jane Melville of Museums Victoria, and her colleagues present a new "return-on-investment" approach to best direct efforts to identify new species before they are lost.

Mumpreneur success still requires conventional masculine behaviour

A new study led by Kent Business School, University of Kent, finds that while the mumpreneur identity may enable women to participate in the business world and be recognized as "proper" entrepreneurs, this success is dependent on alignment with the conventional masculine norms of entrepreneurship.

How news coverage affects public trust in science

News media reports about scientific failures that do not recognize the self-correcting nature of science can damage public perceptions of trust and confidence in scientific work, according to findings by researchers at the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) of the University of Pennsylvania and the University at Buffalo, the State University of New York.

Turbulence in interstellar gas clouds reveals multi-fractal structures

In interstellar dust clouds, turbulence must first dissipate before a star can form through gravity. A German-French research team has now discovered that the kinetic energy of the turbulence comes to rest in a space that is very small on cosmic scales, ranging from one to several light-years in extent. The group also arrived at new results in the mathematical method: Previously, the turbulent...

Precise data for improved coastline protection

Researchers working under the leadership of the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have conducted the first precise and comprehensive measurements of sea level rises in the Baltic Sea and the North Sea. A new method now makes it possible to determine sea level changes with millimeter accuracy even in coastal areas and in case of sea ice coverage. This is of vital importance for planning...

Researchers discover how cells can survive in high salt concentrations

Cells have to constantly adapt to their surroundings in order to survive. A sudden increase in the environmental levels of an osmolyte, such as salt, causes cells to lose water and shrink. In a matter of seconds, they activate a mechanism that allows them to recover their initial water volume and avoid dying.

A new direction of topological research is ready for take off

In a joint effort, ct.qmat scientists from Dresden, Rostock, and Würzburg have accomplished non-Hermitian topological states of matter in topolectric circuits. The latter acronym refers to topological and electrical, giving a name to the realization of synthetic topological matter in electric circuit networks. The main motif of topological matter is its role in hosting particularly stable and...

Why deep freezing iron-based materials makes them both magnetic and superconducting

Physicists at the University of Bath in the UK, in collaboration with researchers from the USA, have uncovered a new mechanism for enabling magnetism and superconductivity to co-exist in the same material. Until now, scientists could only guess how this unusual coexistence might be possible. The discovery could lead to applications in green energy technologies and in the development of...

Ancient volcanic eruption destroyed the ozone layer

A catastrophic drop in atmospheric ozone levels around the tropics is likely to have contributed to a bottleneck in the human population around 60 to 100,000 years ago, an international research team has suggested. The ozone loss, triggered by the eruption of the Toba supervolcano located in present-day Indonesia, might solve an evolutionary puzzle that scientists have been debating for decades.

Restored peatlands store carbon and mitigate climate change

Estonia has almost 10,000 ha of peat production land that has lain abandoned since the Soviet era, as well as peatland that is in use at present for peat production but whose resources will be exhausted in the near future. There are also 160,000 ha of peatland that have been drained for forestry. The findings from the research conducted by Tallinn University doctoral student Anna-Helena Purre are...