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. G20 countries have managed to avoid a total bust-up with Donald Trump over climate change, leaving the door open for Washington to return to the Paris Agreement—but at the cost of risky concessions. https://phys.org/news/2017-07-g20-compromise-climate.html Environment Sun, 09 Jul 2017 05:03:30 EDT news418795403 A growing chorus of voices denouncing sexist culture is echoing through male-dominated Silicon Valley, knocking a number of internet industry executives from their perches. https://phys.org/news/2017-07-chorus-denounces-sexist-silicon-valley.html Business Sun, 09 Jul 2017 05:03:13 EDT news418795384 Vietnamese authorities have seized nearly three tonnes of ivory hidden among boxes of fruit, officials said Sunday, the latest haul to spotlight the country's key role in the global wildlife smuggling trade. https://phys.org/news/2017-07-tonnes-ivory-seized-vietnam_1.html Ecology Sun, 09 Jul 2017 05:02:50 EDT news418795344 The death toll from heavy rains and flooding in Japan's south has risen to 18, officials said Sunday, as rescue teams continued their search for survivors. https://phys.org/news/2017-07-japan-death-toll_1.html Environment Sun, 09 Jul 2017 05:01:59 EDT news418795313 On the face of it, a relentless battle between the European Union and Norway in a remote part of the Arctic is about snow crabs. https://phys.org/news/2017-07-eu-norway-crab-row-fuel-oil.html Environment Sun, 09 Jul 2017 05:01:14 EDT news418795230 State election officials voiced doubt Saturday that adequate security measures can be adopted before 2018 elections to safeguard against the possibility of a foreign government interfering in U.S. elections. https://phys.org/news/2017-07-state-election_1.html Security Sun, 09 Jul 2017 04:58:50 EDT news418795115 Somalia's government says a widespread internet outage that began roughly two weeks ago is costing the Horn of Africa nation about $10 million each day and is a "major disaster." https://phys.org/news/2017-07-somalia-internet-outage-country-million.html Telecom Sat, 08 Jul 2017 17:04:29 EDT news418752261 Pitted terrains inside fresh complex craters on Ceres are similar to terrains seen Mars and Vesta, and are likely formed through the rapid evaporation of subsurface H2O, a new paper by Planetary Science Institute Research Scientist Hanna G. Sizemore says. https://phys.org/news/2017-07-pitted-materials-craters-ice-asteroids.html Space Exploration Sat, 08 Jul 2017 04:18:34 EDT news418706256 Elevated levels of uranium in water supplies is an environmental safety and health concern, but current methods of detecting it are cumbersome, costly and time consuming. Gary C. Tepper, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering, and Ph.D. student Brandon Dodd are addressing this challenge with a novel portable device that streamlines and expedites the way uranium in water is measured. Because their patented technology is more sensitive than current technologies, it is able to detect low or trace concentrations of uranium in water supplies. https://phys.org/news/2017-07-vcu-inventors-hand-held-device-vast.html Materials Science Sat, 08 Jul 2017 04:09:35 EDT news418705769 The death toll from heavy rains and flooding in southern Japan has risen to 15, a government official said Saturday, as rescuers continued work to evacuate isolated survivors. https://phys.org/news/2017-07-japan-death-toll.html Environment Sat, 08 Jul 2017 04:01:44 EDT news418705297 Mexican zoo officials are drooling over the birth of seven cubs of a species of endangered wolf. https://phys.org/news/2017-07-birth-wolf-cubs-mexico-endangered.html Ecology Sat, 08 Jul 2017 04:01:27 EDT news418705283 Mineko Kengaku, Tatsuya Murakami, and their colleagues from Kyoto University's Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (iCeMS) have developed a new method that modifies the surface of nanorods, making them more efficient in transporting cancer-killing genes into cells. https://phys.org/news/2017-07-cancer-moment.html Bio & Medicine Sat, 08 Jul 2017 03:59:59 EDT news418705187 Everybody needs a shoulder to lean on now and then. A walrus calf at the Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward, Alaska, is getting one 24 hours per day. https://phys.org/news/2017-07-rx-orphan-walrus-calf-massage.html Plants & Animals Fri, 07 Jul 2017 17:22:56 EDT news418666969 Chemists have long sought to develop new reactions for the direct conversion of simple hydrocarbon building blocks into valuable materials such as pharmaceuticals in a way that dependably creates the same chemical bonds and orientations. UT Southwestern researchers have hit upon a novel way to do that. https://phys.org/news/2017-07-chemical-reaction-potential-drug.html Materials Science Fri, 07 Jul 2017 17:22:17 EDT news418666930 Those who crave brownies or hot cocoa may be happy to hear that heroes too small to be seen may help to protect the world's chocolate supply. Scientists at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama found that exposing baby cacao plants to microbes from healthy adult cacao plants reduced the plant's chance of becoming infected with the serious cacao pathogen, Phytopthora palmivora, by half. The researchers' study was published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B on July 5. https://phys.org/news/2017-07-litter-bugs-chocolate.html Ecology Fri, 07 Jul 2017 17:20:57 EDT news418666846 Facebook on Friday unveiled plans to transform its Silicon Valley headquarters campus into a "mixed-use village" complete with housing and retail shops. https://phys.org/news/2017-07-facebook-campus-village.html Internet Fri, 07 Jul 2017 16:48:30 EDT news418664906 The world is marking International Save the Vaquita Day on July 8 by supporting VaquitaCPR's ambitious, emergency plan to help save the vaquita porpoise from extinction in the northern Gulf of California. The project, which has been recommended by the International Committee for the Recovery of the Vaquita (CIRVA), involves relocating some of the remaining vaquitas to a temporary sanctuary later this year. At the same time, a permanent ban on gillnet fishing went into effect last week in a bid to save a critically endangered species of porpoise. VaquitaCPR is led by the Mexican government and supported by a consortium of marine mammal experts from more than a dozen organizations around the world. https://phys.org/news/2017-07-vaquita-day-bold-efforts-panda.html Ecology Fri, 07 Jul 2017 16:46:27 EDT news418664772 New research shows a species of diatom, a single-celled algae, thought to be asexual does reproduce sexually, and scientists learned it's a common compound - ammonium - that puts the ubiquitous organism in the mood. https://phys.org/news/2017-07-diatoms-sex-ammonium-mood.html Plants & Animals Fri, 07 Jul 2017 16:45:27 EDT news418664711 Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Princeton University have theoretically predicted a new class of insulating phases of matter in crystalline materials, pinpointed where they might be found in nature, and in the process generalized the fundamental quantum theory of Berry phases in solid state systems. What's more, these insulators generate electric quadrupole or octupole moments—which can be thought of roughly as very specific electric fields—that are quantized. Quantized observables are a gold standard in condensed matter research, because experimental results that measure these observables have to, in principle, exactly match theoretical predictions—leaving no wiggle room for doubt, even in highly complex systems. https://phys.org/news/2017-07-class-insulating-crystals-hosts-quantized.html General Physics Fri, 07 Jul 2017 16:44:16 EDT news418664627 She doesn't have a name yet, but visitors to the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium can now get a look at a female elephant calf born a month prematurely. https://phys.org/news/2017-07-visitors-pittsburgh-zoo-baby-elephant.html Plants & Animals Fri, 07 Jul 2017 14:07:34 EDT news418655249 In today's increasingly powerful electronics, tiny materials are a must as manufacturers seek to increase performance without adding bulk. https://phys.org/news/2017-07-powerful-photodetector-enable-optoelectronics-advances.html Nanomaterials Fri, 07 Jul 2017 14:00:06 EDT news418623402 Type I diabetes patients typically inject insulin several times a day, a painful process that reduces quality-of-life. Injectable medications are also associated with noncompliance, which can result in long-term complications for patients with chronic disease and dramatic increases in healthcare costs. https://phys.org/news/2017-07-easier-prescription.html Biochemistry Fri, 07 Jul 2017 13:09:37 EDT news418651761 When welders fuse together metals, they don't always use metals with similar compositions. Often, dissimilar welding is required to create the most formidable structure. https://phys.org/news/2017-07-neutrons-aim-dissimilar-metal-welds.html Materials Science Fri, 07 Jul 2017 13:07:21 EDT news418651634 The orangutan population on the island of Borneo has shrunk by a quarter in the last decade, researchers said Friday, urging a rethink of strategies to protect the critically-endangered great ape. https://phys.org/news/2017-07-borneo-orangutans-alarming-decline.html Ecology Fri, 07 Jul 2017 13:06:39 EDT news418651594 India's sacred Ganges and Yamuna rivers cannot be considered "living entities", the country's top court ruled Friday, suspending an earlier order that granted them the same legal rights as humans. https://phys.org/news/2017-07-rivers-rights-humans-india-court.html Environment Fri, 07 Jul 2017 13:06:16 EDT news418651572 NASA satellite imagery revealed that Tropical Depression 4 appears to be losing its punch, and the National Hurricane Center expects the storm to weaken. https://phys.org/news/2017-07-nasa-weakening-tropical-depression.html Earth Sciences Fri, 07 Jul 2017 13:05:34 EDT news418651529 Google parent Alphabet is spinning off a little-known unit working on geothermal power called Dandelion, which will begin offering residential energy services. https://phys.org/news/2017-07-google-moonshot-factory-geothermal.html Energy & Green Tech Fri, 07 Jul 2017 12:51:01 EDT news418650655 The last time you watched a spider drop from the ceiling on a line of silk, it likely descended gracefully on its dragline instead of spiraling uncontrollably, because spider silk has an unusual ability to resist twisting forces. https://phys.org/news/2017-07-strange-silk-rappelling-spiders-dont.html Condensed Matter Fri, 07 Jul 2017 12:50:36 EDT news418650577 A team led by Gang Han, PhD, has designed a human protein-based, tumor-targeting Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) contrast that can be easily cleared by the body. The discovery holds promise for clinical application, including early stage tumor detection because of the enhanced MRI contrast, according to Dr. Han, associate professor of biochemistry & molecular pharmacology at University of Massachusetts Medical School. https://phys.org/news/2017-07-tumor-targeting-mri-contrast-based-human.html Bio & Medicine Fri, 07 Jul 2017 12:43:12 EDT news418650179 IC 342 is a challenging cosmic target. Although it is bright, the galaxy sits near the equator of the Milky Way's galactic disk, where the sky is thick with glowing cosmic gas, bright stars, and dark, obscuring dust. https://phys.org/news/2017-07-hubble-hidden-galaxy.html Astronomy Fri, 07 Jul 2017 10:29:44 EDT news418642175