Colloidal gels are complex systems made up of microscopic particles dispersed in a liquid, ultimately producing a semi-solid network. These materials have unique and advantageous properties that can be tuned using external forces, which have been the focus of various physics studies. [...]
Reliably measuring the polarization state of light is crucial for various technological applications, ranging from optical communication to biomedical imaging. Yet conventional polarimeters are made of bulky components, which makes them difficult to reduce in size and limits their widespread adoption. [...]
Years after a wildfire threatened to wipe out a rare, genetically unique species in a tiny Colorado creek, it was found "thriving" in new streams, officials said. [...]
A recent study that recommended toxic chemicals in black plastic products be immediately thrown away included a math error that significantly overstated the risks of contamination, but its authors are standing by their conclusions and warn against using such products. [...]
The war in Ukraine is causing hunger thousands of miles from the battlefields, according to a study in Communications Earth & Environment. Nearly three years of war in the "breadbasket of the world" has left croplands destroyed and forced laborers who grow, harvest and process a bounty of wheat, barley and oats to flee. Combined with export bans from other countries, ripple effects resonated through global trade and upended food supply systems. [...]
Sloths weren't always slow-moving, furry tree-dwellers. Their prehistoric ancestors were huge—up to 4 tons (3.6 metric tons)—and when startled, they brandished immense claws. [...]
Two new baby lizards have hatched at the Los Angeles Zoo, the first of their species to be bred there, zoo officials said Thursday. [...]
The missing ingredient for cooking up stars in the same way you might steam your Christmas pudding has been spotted for the first time by astronomers. Much like a pressure cooker has a weight on top of its lid to keep the pressure in and get your festive dessert dense, moist and ready to eat, merging galaxies may need magnetic fields to create the ideal conditions for star formation. [...]
A coalition of environmental groups challenged California's leading climate regulator on Wednesday, alleging that a recent update to a leading climate program will create additional pollution in the state's San Joaquin Valley. [...]
Teeth are essential for helping people break down the food they eat, and are protected by enamel, which helps them withstand the large amount of stress they experience as people chew away. Unlike other materials in the body, enamel has no way to repair damage, which means that as we age, it risks becoming weaker with time. [...]
The ATLAS collaboration at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has released a new high-precision measurement of the lifetime of the electrically neutral beauty (B0) meson—a hadron composed of a bottom antiquark and a down quark. [...]
Despite their reputation as buzzing nuisances, flies serve a critical role as some of the Earth's most prolific pollinators—and new research led by Penn State scientists suggests they are increasingly at risk due to rising global temperatures. [...]
New research shows that three sites spread along an approximately 620-mile portion of today's Denali Fault were once a smaller united geologic feature indicative of the final joining of two land masses. That feature was then torn apart by millions of years of tectonic activity. [...]
There's a good chance you owe your existence to the Haber-Bosch process. [...]
A team of chemists from Scripps Research and Rice University has unveiled a novel method to simplify the synthesis of piperidines, a key structural component in many pharmaceuticals. The study, published in Science, combines biocatalytic carbon-hydrogen oxidation and radical cross-coupling, offering a streamlined and cost-effective approach to creating complex, three-dimensional molecules. This innovation could help accelerate drug discovery and enhance the efficiency of medicinal chemistry. [...]
California's native wildflowers are being smothered by layers of dead, invasive grasses. A new UC Riverside study shows that simply raking these layers can boost biodiversity and reduce fire danger. [...]
A concentrated sugar solution could be just as effective as antibiotics at treating a common infection in dairy cows, according to a new study led by researchers at Penn State. The results were recently published in the journal Frontiers in Veterinary Science. [...]
Quantum technologies are radically transforming our understanding of the universe. One emerging technology is macroscopic mechanical oscillators, devices that are vital in quartz watches, mobile phones, and lasers used in telecommunications. In the quantum realm, macroscopic oscillators could enable ultra-sensitive sensors and components for quantum computing, opening new possibilities for innovation in various industries. [...]
La Brea Tar Pits scientists have identified a previously unknown juniper species as Juniperus scopulorum, commonly known as the Rocky Mountain Juniper. The successful identification, along with the first-ever radiocarbon dating of these fossil plants in Southern California, expands our ability to track past environmental changes and highlights the vulnerability of junipers and the environments they shape in the face of modern climate change. [...]
Within minutes of fertilization, the egg of a fruit fly becomes a scene from the battle of the sexes. The egg attacks and destroys the cellular "power plants" (mitochondria) from the sperm that had fertilized it, so that only its own mitochondria remain. These findings from a new Weizmann Institute of Science study, published in Nature Communications, might provide insights into advanced fertilization treatments and shed light on a long-standing mystery: How and why do we inherit all of our mitochondria from our mothers? [...]
At one time or another, most of us have played with a flipbook, using our thumbs to rapidly flip a series of pictures to create an illusion of movement. [...]
Heating plasma to the ultra-high temperatures needed for fusion reactions requires more than turning the dial on a thermostat. Scientists consider multiple methods, one of which involves injecting electromagnetic waves into the plasma, the same process that heats food in microwave ovens. But when they produce one type of heating wave, they can sometimes simultaneously create another type of wave that does not heat the plasma, in effect wasting energy. [...]
If all the world's a stage and all the species merely players, then their exits and entrances can be found in the rock record. Fossilized skeletons and shells clearly show how evolution and extinction unfolded over the past half a billion years, but a Virginia Tech analysis extends the chart of life to nearly 2 billion years ago. The study is published in the journal Science. [...]
The Christmas period isn't just for presents, sparkling lights and too much festive food—it's also prime time for couples to get engaged. And for heterosexual couples, this is likely to happen in a specific way. The man will do the asking. [...]
Desert locusts typically lead solitary lives until something—like intense rainfall—triggers them to swarm in vast numbers, often with devastating consequences. [...]
Scientists have uncovered a new role for a cell's own RNA in fending off attacks by RNA viruses. Some of the cell's RNA molecules, researchers found, help regulate antiviral signaling. These signals are part of the intricate coordination of immune responses against virus invasion. [...]
Elon Musk's SpaceX is planning to fly private crew missions to the International Space Station in partnership with a California-based startup, the two companies said on Thursday. [...]
The aboveground biomass of vegetation is significant to the global carbon cycle and climate change mitigation. Both biotic factors, such as forest structure attributes, community-weighted mean of traits, and functional diversity, and abiotic factors, such as topography and soil properties, can impact this biomass, either directly or indirectly, with these effects varying according to the spatial scale of the data collected. [...]
Online retail platforms are increasingly becoming a dumping ground for low-quality products—which, over time, only serves to tarnish the retailer's reputation and dent sales. But new research from a team of business scholars at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Penn State points to a new model that would allow e-commerce platforms to proactively identify potentially dubious products for removal. [...]
Stock investments by politicians have long drawn public scrutiny. Under a 2012 law, members of the U.S. Congress must disclose transactions over a $1,000 threshold. Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle were criticized for trading in everything from remote work technologies to telemedicine. [...]