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1,619 articles from PhysOrg

Revealing the secrets of freshwater streams

Beneath the surface of a freshwater stream, animals, plants, fungi, and microorganisms create complex patterns of biodiversity. Brooke Penaluna, research fisheries biologist at the USDA Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station, studies these dynamics, which can be complicated.

New study quantifies the power of bipartisan coalitions

After weeks of tense speculation over a looming financial catastrophe, should the U.S. default on its debts, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and President Biden are finalizing terms for a bipartisan agreement to raise the debt ceiling. While it is clear that a bipartisan deal is necessary for legislative action during divided government, it is less clear whether bipartisanship is similarly...

When the media believe that a firm is really green

When firms make their environmental policies public, they can get favorable media coverage only if their narrative carefully articulates signals of conformity (actions aimed at complying with existing norms) and distinctiveness (the adoption of a recognizably uncommon behavior).

Short-lived solutions for tall trees in Chile's megadrought

For more than a decade, forests across much of Chile have been experiencing a megadrought, its effects overprinted on an already warming and drying climate. High in the Andes, stands of giant Nothofagus obliqua trees, also known as roble or southern beech, are stretching themselves to survive—and bucking a global forest trend.

Countries tussle at 'rocky' global plastic talks

Negotiators charged with hammering out a global treaty to end plastic pollution were warned there was "no time to lose" on Wednesday, after progress was slowed by two days of procedural debates that campaigners blamed on large producer countries.

AI crop predictor aids Africa's crisis planning

An artificial intelligence (AI) tool is using satellite remote sensing and machine learning to predict agricultural yields of key crops across Africa, to help mitigate the harms of climate change and other crises, its developers say.

Improving precision of planning results in resilient forests

A new dissertation on forest industrial production systems, from researcher Per Nordin at Linnaeus University, reveals that successful regeneration measures are crucial for sustainable forestry. To ensure successful plant establishment, it is important to make decisions based on factors at regional, stand, and microenvironment levels.

Research is the first to unlock the secret of microbial slime

The slimy outer layer of fungi and bacteria known as the "extracellular matrix," or ECM, has the consistency of jelly and acts as a protective and envelope layer. But, according to a recent study in the journal iScience, led by the University of Massachusetts Amherst in collaboration with Worcester Polytechnic Institute, the ECM of some microbes only gels when oxalic acid or other simple acids are...

Leveling up scanning electron microscope measurements for chip manufacturing

Researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and KLA Corporation, a provider of inspection and measurement systems for the semiconductor and related industries, have improved the accuracy of scanning electron microscope (SEM) measurements. Used for process control applications in semiconductor manufacturing, SEMs help ensure high-yield production of functional,...

One spacecraft could visit all of Saturn's inner large moons

If you've ever played Kerbal Space Program, you know how difficult it can be to get your spacecraft into the orbit you want. It's even more difficult in real life. This is why it's pretty impressive to see a proposal to study all of Saturn's large inner moons in one go.

Understanding the tantalizing benefits of tantalum for improved quantum processors

Whether it's baking a cake, building a house, or developing a quantum device, the quality of the end product significantly depends on its ingredients or base materials. Researchers working to improve the performance of superconducting qubits, the foundation of quantum computers, have been experimenting using different base materials in an effort to increase the coherent lifetimes of qubits.

Researchers solve colorful Kuiper Belt puzzle

The Kuiper Belt is a massive disk of icy bodies, including Pluto, that is located just outside of Neptune's orbit in our solar system. Objects observed in the Kuiper Belt exhibit a more diversified color range than any other solar system population, with colors ranging from white to dark reddish. While the source of this diversity in colors is unknown, scientists have speculated that it is likely...