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47 articles from PhysOrg

Faculty mentor training program strengthens university's institutional climate

Many universities are in search of strategies to improve their faculty diversity and institutional climate. One factor known to be critical for faculty satisfaction is proper mentorship, but many faculty, particularly women and those from underrepresented racial and ethnic backgrounds, lack clear access to high quality mentoring. To address this, the Office of Faculty Affairs at University of...

New treasure trove of globular clusters holds clues about galaxy evolution

A survey completed using a combination of ground and space-based telescopes yielded a treasure trove of previously unknown globular clusters—old, dense groups of thousands of stars that all formed at the same time—in the outer regions of the elliptical galaxy Centaurus A. The work presents a significant advance in understanding the architecture and cosmological history of this galaxy and...

A new approach to enterprise risk management

While some organizations can respond to unexpected events, which can span from disruptive technologies and intensified competition to extreme weather events and climate related disasters, most of them cannot, and have a challenging time. So, how do we deal effectively with an increasingly complex and uncertain world?

Understanding how autoactivation triggers cell death

Apoptosis is a process that causes cell death. It can go awry in cancer cells, sustaining the disease. Scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have captured the structure of BAK, a protein that triggers apoptosis. They have shown how BAK autoactivates, essentially turning itself on. Understanding how apoptosis is triggered can lead to drugs that kill cancer cells. The findings were...

Semiconductor demonstrates elusive quantum physics model

With a little twist and the turn of a voltage knob, Cornell researchers have shown that a single material system can toggle between two of the wildest states in condensed matter physics: The quantum anomalous Hall insulator and the two-dimensional topological insulator.

Study finds that K-12 experience and population density are among factors that support rural 'brain gain'

Many academics and journalists have written about rural "brain drain," the migration of talented and bright young people who leave their communities, usually in search of better economic opportunities. But a team of Iowa State University researchers have identified three significant factors that draw people back to their hometowns a decade or two after leaving: public schools, population density...

New model examines the effects of toxicants on organism populations in polluted rivers

When designing environmental policies to limit the damage of river pollution, it is paramount to assess the specific risks that particular pollutants pose to different species. However, rigorously testing the effects of toxicants—like insecticides, plastic debris, pathogens, and chemicals—on entire groups of organisms without severely damaging their whole ecosystems is simply not feasible....

Gene discovered in Georgia water a possible global threat

A gene that causes bacteria to be resistant to one of the world's most important antibiotics, colistin, has been detected in sewer water in Georgia. The presence of the MCR-9 gene is a major concern for public health because it causes antimicrobial resistance, a problem that the World Health Organization has declared "one of the top 10 global public health threats facing humanity."

Ankylosaur was sluggish and deaf

German and Austrian scientists took a closer look at the braincase of a dinosaur from Austria. The group examined the fossil with a micro-CT and found surprising new details: it was sluggish and deaf. The respective study was recently published in the journal Scientific Reports.

Hidden order in windswept sand

An interdisciplinary team including researchers from Leipzig University has analyzed an extensive collection of sand samples from so-called megaripple fields around the world and gained new insights into the composition of these sand waves. These could help settle debates about the mechanistic origin of some recently discovered enigmatic extraterrestrial sand structures and improve our ability to...

Report: US carbon emissions grew in 2021

In the face of presidential orders and a flurry of legislation to curb carbon emissions, the volume of climate-warming gasses pumped into the atmosphere in the U.S. grew by more than 6 percent in 2021 after a pandemic-driven decline in 2020, according to widely watched data released Monday.