Phys.org

As quantum computers grow more ambitious, many researchers believe the best way forward is to build them in multiple interconnected parts. In these modular designs, separate quantum processors are linked so they can work together as one larger machine. For this to happen, however, connections must carry fragile quantum information without destroying it.

Around 2,400 years ago, at

A kerosene-based gel developed by Concordia researchers could make rocket and satellite fuels easier to store and control.

Among the ravenous carnivores and lumbering herbivores that roamed the Cretaceous landscape, another kind of dinosaur was evolving that started to eat something else: the plants that began to flower and produce fruit. The discovery by paleontologists from Stony Brook University, Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) and the North Dakota Geological Survey reveals that a new species, Infernogallus jamesi

At a landmark Canadian trial focused on the government

A new study has mapped human urogenital development in its native spatial context, revealing how neighboring organs coordinate their development through cellular communication and molecular signaling during embryogenesis.

Every day, two NASA space instruments known as the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 and -3 (OCO-2 and OCO-3) capture more than a million observations of sunlight reflecting off Earth

A moth-shaped robot used an artificial circulatory system to deliver chemical building blocks through its body and grow a light sensor where UV light struck.

Environmental pollutants containing chlorine or bromine have been widely studied, but compounds containing both elements have remained largely unexplored. Researchers have now detected bromochloropyrene in industrial soils and harbor sediments, investigated its breakdown under simulated sunlight, and measured its activity through a biological receptor linked to toxic effects. The findings reveal distinct environmental and biological properties, highlighting the need to investigate other mixed-ha

A new modeling study, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, suggests that the East Antarctic Ice Sheet may be more resilient to extreme long-term warming than previously estimated. Increased snowfall, greater cloud cover and changes in atmospheric circulation could partially offset ice loss

In eThekwini, researchers have harnessed machine learning and satellite data to spot the city

Scientists at the University of New Mexico have played a key role in identifying a rare, 4.1-billion-year-old Martian meteorite that provides new evidence that the red planet may have once had a wetter, Earth-like environment.

Proteins perform essential functions in living organisms, from catalyzing biochemical reactions to supporting cellular energy metabolism. Their functions depend on their amino acid composition and three-dimensional structures. However, early proteins may have evolved when fewer amino acid types were available than those used by most modern proteins.

When asteroids travel too close to white dwarfs, the dense remnants of stars that have exhausted their nuclear fuel, powerful gravitational forces can tear them apart. However, new research from Planetary Science Institute (PSI) suggests that these asteroids don

A reaction on a single electrode can tell scientists a remarkable amount about the chemical nature and number of analytes involved. The challenge comes when they want to distinguish many reactions on the same electrode. After more than a decade of trying to overcome that limitation, Ravi Saraf and his Nebraska Engineering graduate students have demonstrated a way to quantify many reactions on the same electrode without sacrificing extraordinary sensitivity.

Decoding of messenger RNA (mRNA) occurs during translation, the vital cellular process that builds proteins. Errors in this process are known to lead to cancer growth. Scientists at St. Jude Children

Silicones are widely used in industry, medicine and everyday products due to their exceptional thermal and chemical stability. However, it is precisely these properties that have made recycling silicones extremely problematic in the past. Researchers at the Institute of Chemistry at TU Berlin have now succeeded in breaking down the polymer chains of silicone molecules into their basic building blocks. The resulting molecule dimethyldichlorosilane can then be reused as a starting material for the

An eyewitness can tell the truth, believe every word they say and still send an innocent person to prison. A new study by Stephen Charman from FIU

All materials contain inherent defects. These are not always harmful, since they can be used to engineer and introduce certain properties into a material. However, it is crucial to understand how they function and how they affect the material

The shape of microplastics can influence how deadly a viral infection can be for fish, according to new research from William

Scientists can now edit genes in precise locations deep in the brain and body without the use of invasive surgery or implants, thanks to new work from researchers at the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute. The team demonstrated its technique, which uses a combination of ultrasound, light-emitting nanoparticles and photo-controllable gene-editing proteins, by successfully altering genes in mouse brains at selected locations.

Research on political polarization points to how people

The future of the alligator species could come down to a one- or two-degree temperature difference, according to new research from the University of Georgia. The findings are published in the Journal of Experimental Biology.

Residents and firefighters in an Indonesian city long shrouded in a toxic haze brought on by months of wildfires rushed outside dancing and chanting as rain this week brought a welcome respite.

Whales never cease to amaze me. After nearly two decades of studying these majestic mammals, I

Bats promote the health of ecosystems in many ways. Insect-eating species help regulate insect populations, including agricultural and forest pests. In tropical and subtropical regions, nectar-feeding and fruit-eating bats pollinate plants and disperse seeds, supporting plant reproduction and forest regeneration.

New research from Carnegie Mellon University

A research team led by the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) has found that heat-evolved algae maintain more stable biomolecular profiles under elevated temperatures than their non-evolved (wild-type) counterparts, providing new insights into how they withstand heat stress.

Every electronic device, factory and vehicle generates heat that often goes to waste. What if that energy could be recovered to generate electricity using thin films manufactured without high-temperature processing? Researchers at Tohoku University have taken a step toward making this possible, developing a thermoelectric material that delivers a 250-fold increase in power factor by adding a small amount of titanium to chromium nitride.

As modern electronic devices shrink, so do the metal electrical wires inside them. However, they start to run into serious problems the smaller they get. Conventional wires generate excessive heat and suffer a massive spike in electrical resistance that affects overall performance.

A harmonic increment provides a new way to improve smooth approximations of the minimum function. In a recent paper, published in the Journal of Inequalities and Applications, Prof. Thomas A. Weber shows how a harmonic-increment transformation brings any smooth estimate that lies strictly below the minimum closer to it, while keeping the improved estimate below the minimum, so it remains a conservative estimate of a worst realization, or weakest link.

Flying foxes are the biggest bats in the world; they look like German shepherd puppies with 5-foot (1.5-meter) wingspans. But Madagascar

In a study published in Eco-Environment and Health, a team of 35 international experts led by Surrey

A user who is frustrated with changes a social media company made to their favorite messaging platform, like the introduction of an annoying AI chatbot, can

With family budgets stretched ever tighter, swimming lessons can be one of the first expenses to be cut back

Job loss and career uncertainty can take a toll that extends well beyond the workplace. New research suggests that a psychological intervention based on the principles of acceptance and commitment therapy, or ACT, may help individuals navigate work-related challenges while improving well-being and reducing psychological distress.

Reading a conversation and deciding whether a chatbot wrote it can be surprisingly difficult. In a study involving more than 72,000 judgments of human and AI responses, participants frequently mistook machine-generated captions, word associations and conversational replies for human work. However, in a smaller experiment, direct questioning proved more successful at exposing a chatbot, though even that comes with caveats.

Keeping the lights on nationwide is a feat of engineering that depends on millions of miles of power lines and thousands of power-generation plants.

In 2001, Brenda Andrew was convicted of murdering her husband, and in 2004 she was sentenced to death.

Ocean fish stocks have been increasingly exploited over time, and remote sensing shows they have declined in the open ocean over the last three decades, particularly in the tropics. But it

Agentic artificial intelligence is gaining popularity far beyond tech circles, with Meta, OpenAI, Anthropic and other companies going head-to-head in the surging market for consumer-friendly AI agents.

For years, residents of a flood-prone Philippine island north of Manila have elevated their homes atop layer upon layer of concrete, only to see floodwaters threaten them again.