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. Sania sits in front of her home in Indonesia, less than a kilometer from Southeast Asia's biggest coal complex, where chimneys pump dark gray smoke and a chemical smell into the air. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-indonesia-coal-affair-aflame-pledges.html Environment Mon, 04 Dec 2023 04:00:01 EST news620884567 On a sailing boat anchored off Oman's pristine Daymaniyat Islands, volunteer divers pull on wetsuits, check their scuba tanks and then take turns plunging into the clear turquoise water. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-volunteer-divers-oman-unique-coral.html Ecology Mon, 04 Dec 2023 03:51:52 EST news620884307 The bodies of 11 climbers were recovered Monday a day after a furious eruption of the Mount Marapi volcano as Indonesian rescuers searched for 12 apparently still missing. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-bodies-recovered-volcanic-eruption-indonesia.html Environment Mon, 04 Dec 2023 03:50:10 EST news620884203 Polar bears are icons of the Arctic, elusive and vulnerable. Detailed monitoring of their populations is crucial for their conservation—but because polar bears are so difficult to find, we are missing critical data about population size and how well-connected those populations are. Scientists have now developed a new tool to help: DNA analysis using skin cells shed in the bears' footprints in the snow. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-polar-footprints-dna-tracks-threatened.html Ecology Molecular & Computational biology Mon, 04 Dec 2023 00:00:01 EST news620633915 Disc golf is booming, with record numbers of players turning up each year to partake in the disc-throwing sport. It is also whizzing and whistling. In fact, the sound a disc makes while soaring through the air toward its target is full of information about how fast the disc is flying and how quickly it spins. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-physics-din-flying-discs.html General Physics Sun, 03 Dec 2023 23:40:01 EST news620650035 With Planet Earth running a fever, U.N. climate talks focused Sunday on the contagious effects on human health. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-earth-fever-climate-focusing-contagious.html Environment Sun, 03 Dec 2023 13:29:35 EST news620832562 This year, a record-hot Atlantic Ocean went toe-to-toe with a strong El Niño for which weather phenomena would steer the hurricane season. The winner? https://phys.org/news/2023-12-el-nio-storms-hurricane-season.html Environment Sun, 03 Dec 2023 10:30:01 EST news620648995 A small team of bio-scientists from the University of Rostock's Institute for Biosciences and Nuremberg Zoo's Behavioral Ecology and Conservation Lab, both in Germany, has found evidence that bottlenose dolphins can sense electric fields. In their study, reported in the Journal of Experimental Biology, the group tested the ability of two captive bottlenose dolphins to sense a small electric field. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-bottlenose-dolphins-electric-fields.html Plants & Animals Sun, 03 Dec 2023 08:20:01 EST news620648234 Astronomers have discovered a rare in-sync solar system with six planets moving like a grand cosmic orchestra, untouched by outside forces since their birth billions of years ago. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-six-planet-solar-synchrony-milky.html Astronomy Planetary Sciences Sun, 03 Dec 2023 08:20:01 EST news620536497 Nearly 120 nations pledged to triple the world's renewable energy within seven years at UN climate talks Saturday as the United States pushed to crank up nuclear capacity and slash methane emissions. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-nations-rally-renewables-cop28-climate.html Environment Sun, 03 Dec 2023 06:30:01 EST news620804864 They call the giant climate business expo running outside the COP28 United Nations talks in Dubai the "green zone". https://phys.org/news/2023-12-greenwash-corporate-dilemmas-cop28.html Environment Sun, 03 Dec 2023 05:50:02 EST news620804836 Dubai's glitzy skyline was obscured by a blanket of smog rated as "unhealthy" on Sunday as thousands of delegates attended a COP28 conference dedicated to the harmful effects of air pollution. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-dubai-hosts-climate-air-pollution.html Environment Sun, 03 Dec 2023 05:46:33 EST news620804788 Fifty oil and gas companies representing 40 percent of global production pledged to decarbonize their operations by 2050 at the UN's COP28 climate talks in Dubai on Saturday. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-oil-gas-companies-pledge-emissions.html Environment Sun, 03 Dec 2023 05:46:09 EST news620804766 A drone buzzed back and forth above rows of verdant orange trees planted near Nabeul, eastern Tunisia. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-maghreb-farmers-embrace-drones-climate.html Agriculture Sun, 03 Dec 2023 05:45:34 EST news620804728 A powerful earthquake that shook the southern Philippines killed at least one villager and injured several others as thousands scrambled out of their homes in panic and jammed roads to higher grounds after a tsunami warning was issued, officials said Sunday. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-strong-earthquake-tsunami-dead-widespread.html Environment Sun, 03 Dec 2023 05:43:05 EST news620804580 The president of French Polynesia has questioned whether 2024 Olympic surfing can go ahead at the planned site in Tahiti, saying he was concerned about safety and damage to coral from a planned judging tower. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-coral-safety-olympic-surf-venue.html Environment Sun, 03 Dec 2023 05:42:29 EST news620804542 Earth's surface is the living skin of our planet—it connects the physical, chemical and biological systems. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-theory-landscapes-drove-evolution-earth.html Earth Sciences Environment Sat, 02 Dec 2023 13:40:01 EST news620562887 Climate change is causing tropical species in the ocean to move from the equator towards the poles, while temperate species recede. This mass movement of marine life, termed tropicalization, is leading to a cascade of consequences for ecosystems and biodiversity, and has the potential to impact the global economy. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-seas-warmer-tropical-species-equator.html Ecology Sat, 02 Dec 2023 13:30:01 EST news620486497 A golden mole that "swims" in sand has resurfaced in South Africa after 87 years in the wilderness when many specialists feared it had become extinct, researchers have said. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-bashful-golden-mole-south-africa.html Plants & Animals Sat, 02 Dec 2023 10:40:01 EST news620476777 Almost half of marine mammals around the UK are being poisoned by banned chemicals. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-toxic-chemicals-uk-whales-dolphins.html Environment Sat, 02 Dec 2023 10:30:01 EST news620450729 The universe is expanding. How fast it does so is described by the so-called Hubble-Lemaitre constant. But there is a dispute about how big this constant actually is: Different measurement methods provide contradictory values. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-explanation-hubble-tension.html Astronomy Sat, 02 Dec 2023 09:20:01 EST news620655654 This week in our wrap up, we lull you into a false sense of security with adorable lion cubs then ambush you with terrifying pulsars. We do this not out of a sense of malice but to prepare your mind for the possibility of a giant cosmic void. Also, Japan has launched a new fusion research facility. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-saturday-citations-adorable-kittens-violent.html Other Sat, 02 Dec 2023 09:00:02 EST news620652209 Imagine you're a farmer searching for eggs in the chicken coop—but instead of a chicken egg, you find an ostrich egg, much larger than anything a chicken could lay. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-massive-planet-big-sun-astronomers.html Astronomy Planetary Sciences Sat, 02 Dec 2023 08:10:01 EST news620640245 More than 20 nations including the United States called for a tripling of nuclear energy to drive down emissions on Saturday as world leaders assembled for a second day at UN climate talks in Dubai. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-triple-nuclear-power-cop28.html Environment Sat, 02 Dec 2023 03:41:32 EST news620710888 A new case of cattle anthrax has been confirmed in southwest North Dakota's Grant County, bringing the number of cases in the state to 25 this year, according to state agriculture officials. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-agriculture-25th-case-cattle-anthrax.html Agriculture Sat, 02 Dec 2023 03:40:43 EST news620710836 More than 110 countries want the COP28 climate negotiations to adopt a goal of tripling renewable energy and doubling energy efficiency by 2030, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Friday. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-countries-tripling-renewables-eu-chief.html Environment Fri, 01 Dec 2023 15:31:54 EST news620667112 Children must be taught more about the importance of plants if education about climate change and sustainability is to be effective, experts have warned. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-botany-feature-prominently-school-curriculum.html Ecology Other Fri, 01 Dec 2023 15:30:57 EST news620667054 If Thanksgiving dinner conversations have turned into heated political arguments over the past two decades, social media may be to blame. Popular social media figures—or influencers—who create or share distorted political messages may cause political parties to moderate their policies to win over independent voters in general elections but tend to polarize the rest of society, according to researchers who created a model to study how social media may affect election cycles. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-social-media-affect-voter-opinions.html Social Sciences Political science Fri, 01 Dec 2023 15:28:47 EST news620666919 Twenty-five feet below ground, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory scientist Spencer Gessner opens a large metal picnic basket. This is not your typical picnic basket filled with cheese, bread and fruit—it contains screws, bolts, steel tubing, and many other parts and pieces that carry particles to nearly the speed of light. The components are arranged precisely to do an important job: help feed bunches of fast-moving electrons into the stuff that the sun is made of: plasma. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-particle-cold-plasma-large-picnic.html General Physics Plasma Physics Fri, 01 Dec 2023 15:28:02 EST news620666873 A new study from Simon Fraser University researchers examines the Canadian military's efforts to reduce the impacts of underwater noise pollution on species during training exercises in the Pacific Ocean but caveat that more can still be done. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-canadian-military-combat-ocean-noise.html Ecology Fri, 01 Dec 2023 15:25:25 EST news620666718