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56 articles from PhysOrg

Bright colors in the animal kingdom: Why some use them to impress and others to intimidate

High up in a tree sits a bright red vermilion flycatcher. The males of this songbird species use their red feathers to attract females. Meanwhile, an Arizona mountain kingsnake slithers among the rocks below. Its vivid red, yellow and black coloring mimics that of the venomous coral snake to keep predators away. But why did these two species evolve similar colors to send completely different...

Light rail stations could form the basis of a polycentric Montreal with the right planning, according to new research

As municipal planning and design shifts away from the sprawling, car-centric model that dominated much of the 20th century, developers and local governments can disagree over how to grow cities sustainably. Transit-oriented development (TOD), which prioritizes population density, walkability, land-use diversity and parking around transit nodes, is a long-standing field. However, much of the...

Ancient ocean methane is not an immediate climate change threat

Deep below the ocean's surface, the seafloor contains large quantities of naturally occurring, ice-like deposits made up of water and concentrated methane gas. For decades, climate scientists have wondered if this methane hydrate reservoir might "melt" and release massive amounts of methane to the ocean and the atmosphere as ocean temperatures warm.

Report: Hurricane Ian farm loss could reach $1.56B

Agriculture losses in Florida from Hurricane Ian's high winds and drenching rains could reach $1.56 billion, with citrus, cattle, vegetable and melon operations among the hardest hit, the University of Florida reported Tuesday in a preliminary estimate.

Collaborative team discovers new natural products, to be used as sources of antibiotics, at unprecedented speed

Many of the drugs we utilize in modern medicine are naturally produced by microbes. Penicillin, an antibiotic derived from certain molds, is one of the most notable natural products due to its recognition as one of the biggest advances in medicine and human health. As DNA sequencing has become cheaper and faster, scientists now have access to hundreds of thousands of microbial genomes and the...

Scientists have grown custom-shaped nanoparticles

Physicists at Ural Federal University (UrFU) and their colleagues from the Institute of Electrophysics, Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the Institute of Ion Plasma and Laser Technologies, Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan have developed a technology for the growth of nonspherical nanoparticles that are synthesized in the process of ion implantation.

Black Canada lynx photographed for the first time

A black-coated Canada lynx was photographed for the first time by a researcher at the University of Alberta, Canada. Thomas Jung, also employed by the Government of Yukon, recorded the animal in a 30 second video on a cell phone.

Bacterial quorum quenched by bacterial enzyme

Bacteria produce slimy biofilms to coat and protect themselves and make them less susceptible to antimicrobial drugs and chemical cleaning products. The biofilms have implications for health and various industries, as they can cause fouling, corrosion and bacterial contamination.

How scientists predict solar wind speed accurately using multimodality information

As more and more high-tech systems are exposed to the space environment, space weather prediction can provide better protection for these devices. In the solar system, space weather is mainly influenced by solar wind conditions. The solar wind is a stream of supersonic plasma-charged particles which will cause geomagnetic storms, affect short-wave communications, and threaten the safety of...

Scientists compile Cassini's unique observations of Saturn's rings

Southwest Research Institute scientists have compiled 41 solar occultation observations of Saturn's rings from the Cassini mission. The compilation, published recently in the journal Icarus, will inform future investigations of the particle size distribution and composition of Saturn's rings, key elements to understanding their formation and evolution.

Native predatory fish help control invasive species in Hawaiian fishpond

Jacks and barracuda in Heʻeia fishpond were found to feed on Australian mullet, an invasive species introduced to Oahu waters in the 1950s. This finding, published in Aquaculture, Fish, and Fisheries by researchers from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB), and Paepae O Heʻeia suggests that these native predatory fish may provide a form of...