https://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. If there's one thing most office workers can agree on, it's that they tend to feel less productive toward the end of the day and the end of each work week. Now, a team of researchers at Texas A&M University has found objective evidence of this phenomenon in action. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-workers-productive-typos-afternoonespecially-fridays.html Social Sciences Economics & Business Thu, 03 Aug 2023 03:56:43 EDT news610253796 Northern muriquis, which live in the Atlantic forest of Brazil, are one of the most endangered species of monkey in the world. Choosing good mates and rearing thriving offspring are key to the species' long-term survival. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-monkey-poop-endangered-species.html Plants & Animals Thu, 03 Aug 2023 03:54:13 EDT news610253635 Canadian vertebrate paleontologist Aaron Kilmury and a team of researchers from the University of Manitoba have published new research in PeerJ Life and Environment, unveiling the first-ever formal description of microvertebrate fossil assemblages from the late Cenomanian to middle Turonian periods in Manitoba, Canada. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-canadian-paleontologists-microvertebrate-faunal-assemblages.html Paleontology & Fossils Thu, 03 Aug 2023 00:10:01 EDT news610211530 New interference radar functions employed by a team of researchers from Chapman University and other institutions improve the distance resolution between objects using radar waves. The results may have important ramifications in military, construction, archaeology, mineralogy and many other domains of radar applications. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-radar-century-old-trade-off-wavelength-distance.html General Physics Wed, 02 Aug 2023 16:18:04 EDT news610211879 Rice University physicists have shown that immutable topological states, which are highly sought for quantum computing, can be entangled with other manipulable quantum states in some materials. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-materials-immutable-topological-states-entangled.html General Physics Quantum Physics Wed, 02 Aug 2023 16:10:29 EDT news610211424 When you are driving through a rain storm, traction is key. If your tires lack sufficient tread, your vehicle will slip and slide, and you won't have the grip needed to maneuver safely. When torrential rains hit near-shore, shallow water ecosystems, sea urchins experience a similar challenge. Heavy precipitation can alter the concentration of salt in the ocean waters, causing lower salinity levels. Even a slight change in salinity can affect the ability of sea urchins to securely attach their tube feet to their surroundings—like tires gripping the road. This becomes a matter of life and death for the small spiny creatures, as they rely on their adhesive structures to move in the wave-battered rocky area near the seashore. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-sea-urchins-struggling-climate-ecosystems.html Plants & Animals Ecology Wed, 02 Aug 2023 16:09:13 EDT news610211348 A rash of storms in Texas in recent years—from Hurricane Harvey in 2017 to the deep freeze in 2021—has put big chunks of the population in danger and left millions without electricity or water for long periods. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-water-purifying-cup-drinkable-creeks-streams.html Nanomaterials Wed, 02 Aug 2023 14:56:57 EDT news610207011 Previous studies in humans and animals have shown that hosts in a social condition (sharing the same space) harbor a more similar microbiota composition. Microbial transmission between hosts, which is increased when living in the same household, leads to similar species inhabiting the gut. However, whether bacterial evolution in the gut is affected by microbiota transmission has remained unknown. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-power-host-social-interactions-bacterial.html Evolution Cell & Microbiology Wed, 02 Aug 2023 14:55:53 EDT news610206950 Duct tape found at crime scenes can provide forensic scientists with important information, but no standardized protocol for analyzing it has ever existed. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-duct-tape-evidence-court-method.html Analytical Chemistry Wed, 02 Aug 2023 14:30:34 EDT news610205428 Steric zippers are a specific type of hydrophobic packing structure that form between two adjacent layers of peptide β-sheets in amyloid and similar fibrils. These structures play a crucial role in the stability and propagation of amyloid fibrils, and can aid in designing new peptide-based materials. However, creating artificial steric zippers is challenging owing to the strong aggregation tendency of β-sheet peptides. This often leads to the formation of gels and fibrils, making it difficult to obtain structures in their crystalline form. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-steric-zipper-interactions-artificial-crystalline.html Analytical Chemistry Materials Science Wed, 02 Aug 2023 14:30:10 EDT news610205406 A single accessory—an ornate necklace from a child's grave in ancient Jordan—provides new insights into social complexity of Neolithic culture, according to a study published August 2, 2023 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Hala Alarashi of the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Spain, and the Université Côte d'Azur, France and colleagues. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-neolithic-necklace-child-grave-reveals.html Archaeology Social Sciences Wed, 02 Aug 2023 14:00:01 EDT news610189573 In an analysis of more than 5,000 people, frequently working in teams was associated with a greater tendency for women and white men to put in extra effort at work, while other links between job conditions and effort varied between genders and ethnoracial groups. Wei-hsin Yu of the University of California, Los Angeles, U.S, and Janet Chen-Lan Kuo of National Taiwan University, Taiwan, present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on August 2, 2023. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-teamwork-environments-linked-white-employees.html Social Sciences Economics & Business Wed, 02 Aug 2023 14:00:01 EDT news610189589 A collaboration of nuclear theorists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, Temple University, Adam Mickiewicz University of Poland, and the University of Bonn, Germany, has used supercomputers to predict the spatial distributions of charges, momentum, and other properties of "up" and "down" quarks within protons. The results, just published in Physical Review D, revealed key differences in the characteristics of the up and down quarks. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-reveal-high-resolution-view-quarks-protons.html Quantum Physics Wed, 02 Aug 2023 13:18:35 EDT news610201107 A common metal paper clip will stick to a magnet. Scientists classify such iron-containing materials as ferromagnets. A little over a century ago, physicists Albert Einstein and Wander de Haas reported a surprising effect with a ferromagnet. If you suspend an iron cylinder from a wire and expose it to a magnetic field, it will start rotating if you simply reverse the direction of the magnetic field. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-scientists-unusual-ultrafast-motion-layered.html Condensed Matter Quantum Physics Wed, 02 Aug 2023 13:17:30 EDT news610201043 "A place for everything and everything in its place"—making sense of order, or disorder, helps us understand nature. Animals tend to fit nicely into categories: Mammals, birds, reptiles, whatever an axolotl is, and more. Sorting also applies to materials: Insulator, semiconductor, conductor, and even superconductor. Where exactly a material lands in the hierarchy depends on a seemingly invisible interplay of electrons, atoms, and their surroundings. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-rare-physics-superconductor.html Superconductivity Wed, 02 Aug 2023 13:15:33 EDT news610200917 At particle accelerator facilities around the world, scientists rely on powerful X-rays to reveal the structure and behavior of atoms and molecules. Now, researchers from the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have calculated how to make X-ray pulses at X-ray free-electron lasers (XFEL) even brighter and more reliable by building a special cavity chamber and diamond mirrors around an XFEL. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-x-ray-laser-brightness-power-crystal.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 02 Aug 2023 13:10:10 EDT news610200606 Loss of forest cover is associated with more frequent extreme flooding, as well as more frequent floods of any size, according to new UBC research. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-clearcut-frequent-extreme.html Earth Sciences Environment Wed, 02 Aug 2023 12:40:45 EDT news610198841 Sea salt hides a secret: tiny droplets of the seawater from which it came, preserving geologic history. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-seawater-ancient-world.html Earth Sciences Wed, 02 Aug 2023 12:40:30 EDT news610198824 Many cereal crops, such as wheat and barley, are prey to devastating fungal diseases caused by infection with so-called grass powdery mildews. A key battleground between the plants and the powdery mildews is the interaction between plant immune receptors and pathogen effectors, molecules which are delivered into host cells by pathogens to establish infection. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-insights-illuminate-arms-crop-fungal.html Molecular & Computational biology Agriculture Wed, 02 Aug 2023 12:33:58 EDT news610198430 Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries power smartphones, electric vehicles and storage for solar and wind energy, among other technologies. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-true-lithium-revealed.html Materials Science Wed, 02 Aug 2023 12:33:20 EDT news610198393 New research published today in Nature has revealed the importance of mineral forms of iron in regulating the cycling of this bio-essential nutrient in the ocean. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-highlights-importance-mineral-iron-ocean.html Ecology Molecular & Computational biology Wed, 02 Aug 2023 12:31:48 EDT news610198302 Dunes, the mounds of sand formed by the wind that vary from ripples on the beach to towering behemoths in the desert, are incarnations of surface processes, climate change, and the surrounding atmosphere. For decades, scientists have puzzled over why they form different patterns. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-dune-patterns-reveal-environmental-earth.html Earth Sciences Wed, 02 Aug 2023 11:39:11 EDT news610195128 In California, thousands of miles of fiber optic cables crisscross the state, providing people with internet. But these underground cables can also have a surprising secondary function: they can sense and measure earthquakes. In a new study at Caltech, scientists report using a section of fiber optic cable to measure intricate details of a magnitude 6 earthquake, pinpointing the time and location of four individual asperities, the "stuck" areas of the fault, that led to the rupture. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-fiber-optic-cables-characterize-earthquakes.html Earth Sciences Environment Wed, 02 Aug 2023 11:23:15 EDT news610194191 Contributing to the pursuit of sustainable farming, especially sugarcane growing, Brazilian researchers have shown that water bodies such as ponds and even puddles can maintain ecosystem services, provided there are tolerant animals in the vicinity to replace those most sensitive to agricultural practices. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-substitution-tolerant-sensitive-species-ecosystems.html Plants & Animals Ecology Wed, 02 Aug 2023 11:23:07 EDT news610194183 There could be a new contender for heaviest animal to ever live. While today's blue whale has long held the title, scientists have dug up fossils from an ancient giant that could tip the scales. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-heaviest-animal-ancient-whale-peruvian.html Plants & Animals Paleontology & Fossils Wed, 02 Aug 2023 11:12:55 EDT news610193569 A new image of the galaxy cluster known as "El Gordo" is revealing distant and dusty objects never seen before, and providing a bounty of fresh science. The infrared image, taken by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, displays a variety of unusual, distorted background galaxies that were only hinted at in previous Hubble Space Telescope images. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-webb-spotlights-gravitational-arcs-el.html Astronomy Wed, 02 Aug 2023 11:06:57 EDT news610193082 Building on the Middle East's reputation as one of the historical birthplaces of cereal crop domestication, a KAUST-led team has compiled the first complete genome map of an ancient grain known as einkorn. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-ancient-grain-genetic-secrets-bread.html Molecular & Computational biology Agriculture Wed, 02 Aug 2023 11:00:02 EDT news610128139 A chemical process used in the browning of food to give it its distinct smell and taste is probably happening deep in the oceans, where it helped create the conditions necessary for life. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-nature-kitchen-chemical-reaction-cooks.html Biochemistry Wed, 02 Aug 2023 11:00:02 EDT news610189437 Researchers are more likely to pen scientific papers with co-authors of the same gender, a pattern that cannot be simply explained by the varying gender representation across scientific disciplines and time, according to joint research from Cornell and the University of Washington. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-same-gender-co-authors.html Social Sciences Education Wed, 02 Aug 2023 10:59:58 EDT news610192796 In a compost heap, the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans finds a richly laid table: at a length of just one millimeter, the worm feeds on bacteria that decompose organic material. It is essential that the animal avoids sunlight—and not just to ensure its body remains at an optimal temperature and does not dry out. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-nematode-artificial-intelligence-elucidate-sensor.html Biotechnology Molecular & Computational biology Wed, 02 Aug 2023 10:40:54 EDT news610191648