Month: February 2023

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Quantum mechanics deals with the behavior of the Universe at the super-small scale: atoms and subatomic particles that operate in ways that classical physics can’t explain. In order to explore this tension between the quantum and the classical, scientists are constantly attempting to get larger and larger objects to behave in a quantum-like way. Back
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Cheaper to produce and better at absorbing higher energy forms of light, perovskite materials have the potential to replace silicon in solar panel technology. Unfortunately scientists are still figuring out how to make these perovskites more stable and longer-lasting. In a new study, scientists have been able to significantly improve the efficiency of a particular
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The Universe is filled with magnetic fields. Although the Universe is electrically neutral, atoms can be ionized into positively charged nuclei and negatively charged electrons. When those charges are accelerated, they create magnetic fields. One of the most common sources of magnetic fields on large scales comes from the collisions between and within interstellar plasma.
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In what once seemed like a pretty black and white case of camouflage, the explanation for the zebra’s striking pattern now seems to have more to do with keeping blood-sucking flies at bay. As scientists grow increasingly confident in why zebras are striped, they are now turning their attention to how it works. A new
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The short answer is wind happens because the Sun heats some parts of the planet more than others, and this uneven heating starts a wind going. That means wind energy is really a kind of solar energy! All winds are made the same way Wind systems on Earth vary from the global-scale trade winds and
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An ancient three-dimensional star-shaped ‘thing’ still baffles scientists more than a century after its discovery. The undetermined whatchamacallits were found in 500-million-year-old bedrock in the southwestern United States in 1896. To the untrained eye, they look sort of like bundt cakes: circular with radial lobes spreading outwards like a starfish or the spokes of a
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The tinder fungus (Fomes fomentarius) has some surprising properties, scientists have discovered: properties that could enable it to provide a natural, biodegradable alternative to certain plastics and other materials in the future. As its name suggests, the wood-eating fungus has historically been used to catch a spark for fires, though it has also been incorporated
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Animals are contaminated with hazardous forever chemicals on every continent except Antarctica, according to a new report. Creatures ranging from tigers and polar bears, to red pandas and voles, to plankton in the sea, are likely accumulating per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) by eating fish, drinking water, or simply breathing air, and it could put
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Jupiter is well known for its spectacular aurorae, thanks in no small part to the Juno orbiter and recent images taken by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Like Earth, these dazzling displays result from charged solar particles interacting with Jupiter’s magnetic field and atmosphere. Over the years, astronomers have also detected faint aurorae in
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Two newly discovered forms of frozen salt water could help scientists resolve a mystery concerning the Solar System’s ice-encrusted moons. When subjected to higher pressures and lower temperatures than can be found in nature on Earth, the atoms in hydrated sodium chloride – more commonly known as salt water ice – arranged themselves in never-before-identified