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1,463 articles from PhysOrg

Skiing in the Alps faces a bleak future thanks to climate change

Skiing was introduced into the Alps comparatively late in the 1880s, with the first ski-lift being developed in the Swiss resort of Davos in the winter of 1934. The industrial revolution was two centuries old by that point, but the world climate was still largely pre-industrial.


FRIDAY 30. DECEMBER 2022


Six climate breakthroughs that made 2022 a step toward net zero

The damage caused by climate change over this past year was at times so immense it was hard to comprehend. In Pakistan alone, extreme summer flooding killed thousands, displaced millions and caused over $40 billion in losses. Fall floods in Nigeria killed hundreds and displaced over 1 million people. Droughts in Europe, China and the U.S. dried out once-unstoppable rivers and slowed the flows of...

Museum scientists describe and name 351 new species in 2022

From research trips to remote locations, to combing through the 80 million objects held in the Museum collections, each year scientists are adding to this extensive library of life. While many of these species will already be known to those who live alongside them, by giving them scientific names we can hopefully better protect them.   

Two CubeSats to shed light on space weather disturbances

Two CubeSats, or small satellites, are on a quest to provide insight on space weather disturbances and the subsequent impact on communication signals. The dynamic duo, the Plasma Enhancements in the Ionosphere-Thermosphere Satellite (petitSat) and Scintillation Prediction Observations Research Task (SPORT), arrived at the International Space Station on Nov. 27, 2022, as part of SpaceX's 26th...

Solar-powered cells: Light-activated proton pumps generate cellular energy, extend life

New research in the journal Nature Aging takes a page from the field of renewable energy and shows that genetically engineered mitochondria can convert light energy into chemical energy that cells can use, ultimately extending the life of the roundworm C. elegans. While the prospect of sunlight-charged cells in humans is more science fiction than science, the findings shed light on important...

Study explores topological beaming of light

Nanophotonic light emitters are compact and versatile devices with wide-ranging applications in applied physics. In a new report now published on Science Advances, Ki Young Lee and a research team in physics and engineering in China and the UK, proposed to develop a topological beam emitter structure of a submicron-footprint size and high efficiency, with adaptable beam shaping capacity.

Chinese astronomers detect over 100 new open clusters

By analyzing the data from ESA's Gaia satellite, astronomers from the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory (SHAO) in China have detected 101 new open clusters in the Milky Way galaxy. The discovery was presented in a paper published December 21 on the arXiv pre-print repository.

Bile acid improves intrauterine growth retardation metabolism in piglets

Intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR), defined as the impaired growth and development of a mammalian embryo/fetus or fetal organs during pregnancy, is a major concern in pig farming. IUGR animals exhibit impaired growth and development, lower meat quality, and higher morbidity and mortality after birth. Therefore, IUGR is a major problem for the pig industry due to the lack of comprehensive...

Researchers uncover evidence of 'hidden state' involving common ion

While conducting an otherwise straightforward investigation into the assembly mechanism of calcium-phosphate clusters, researchers at UC Santa Barbara and New York University (NYU) made a surprising discovery: Phosphate ions in water have a curious habit of spontaneously alternating between their commonly encountered hydrated state and a mysterious, previously unreported 'dark' state.