feed info

71 articles from PhysOrg

Researchers move closer to controlling two-dimensional graphene

The device you are currently reading this article on was born from the silicon revolution. To build modern electrical circuits, researchers control silicon's current-conducting capabilities via doping, which is a process that introduces either negatively charged electrons or positively charged "holes" where electrons used to be. This allows the flow of electricity to be controlled and for silicon...

Better models of atmospheric 'detergent' can help predict climate change

Earth's atmosphere has a unique ability to cleanse itself by way of invisible molecules in the air that act as minuscule cleanup crews. The most important molecule in that crew is the hydroxyl radical (OH), nicknamed the "detergent of the atmosphere" because of its dominant role in removing pollutants. When the OH molecule chemically interacts with a variety of harmful gases, including the potent...

Centriole instability might contribute to some cases of microcephaly

Centrioles are cylindrical structures involved in the generation of microtubules—fibers inside of cells that form a network to provide structure and shape to cells and to mediate transport processes. In addition, centriole are required to build cilia, hair-like extensions on the cell surface that allow cells to receive and respond to signals from the outside.

A superconducting silicon-photonic chip for quantum communication

Integrated quantum photonics (IQP) is a promising platform for realizing scalable and practical quantum information processing. Up to now, most of the demonstrations with IQP focus on improving the stability, quality, and complexity of experiments for traditional platforms based on bulk and fiber optical elements. A more demanding question is: "Are there experiments possible with IQP that are...

Slow and steady wilting makes for better soybeans

Unpredictable rain is just one of the many challenges soybean producers face every year. However, certain soybean varieties may be better at tolerating an extended period of dry weather than others. Researchers with the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture recently published a journal article highlighting which soybeans are better to plant in water-limited areas.

How to limit global warming to 1.5C

For the first time, sector allocations of the global carbon budget have been provided for both hard-to-abate and all other sectors—12 main macro industry sectors in total, reporting scope 1, 2 and 3 breakdowns.

Physicists discover how particles self-assemble

A team of physicists has discovered how DNA molecules self-organize into adhesive patches between particles in response to assembly instructions. Its findings offer a "proof of concept" for an innovative way to produce materials with a well-defined connectivity between the particles.

Microbes may have lived in the underground for more than a billion years

A study using the thermal history and biosignatures of the upper few kilometers of some of the oldest rocks on Earth place constraints on the evolutionary history of microbes in the deep biosphere. A new study, published in PNAS, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, show that the rocks were uninhabitable for much of their lifetimes with the longest period of habitability not extending...

The silent build-up to a super-eruption

It is estimated that about 5 to 10 volcanoes worldwide are capable of producing a super-eruption that could catastrophically affect global climate. One of these volcanoes hides below the waters of Lake Toba in Sumatra and has caused two super-eruptions in the last million years. But when will the next one be? Will there be any warning signs?

Environmental DNA is a reliable way to learn about migration from the ocean twilight zone

The mid-ocean "twilight zone" holds the key to several tantalizing questions about the marine food web and carbon-sequestering capacity of the ocean. But studying this vast and remote area is extremely difficult. Many inhabitants of the twilight zone are easily destroyed during sampling—or are quick to avoid any disturbance—so it's difficult to sample them with traditional nets. Advances in...

Researchers discover predictable behavior in promising material for computer memory

In the last few years, a class of materials called antiferroelectrics has been increasingly studied for its potential applications in modern computer memory devices. Research has shown that antiferroelectric-based memories might have greater energy efficiency and faster read and write speeds than conventional memories, among other appealing attributes. Further, the same compounds that can exhibit...

How conspiracy theorists exploited COVID-19 science

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, conspiracy theorists have exploited the conditional nature of science and questioned the trustworthiness and motives of federal agencies and officials to depict scientists and health authorities as malign actors.

It may be extinct, but the story of the ivory-billed woodpecker isn't over yet

Since the Endangered Species Act was established nearly 50 years ago in the United States, the Fish and Wildlife Service has prevented the extinction of more than 99 percent of the species listed in the act. Unfortunately, even federal protection cannot totally protect American wildlife from what scientists call the "sixth mass extinction."

Sperm switch swimming patterns to locate egg

A new study reveals how sperm change their swimming patterns to navigate to the egg, shifting from a symmetrical motion that moves the sperm in a straight path to an asymmetrical one that promotes more circular swimming.

Spiders' web secrets unraveled

Johns Hopkins University researchers discovered precisely how spiders build webs by using night vision and artificial intelligence to track and record every movement of all eight legs as spiders worked in the dark.