Phys.org

As a child, Enrique Bordallo would gaze in awe at the starry night sky in rural Spain. Next month's solar eclipse has now made his passion a popular obsession.

Federal trade and industrial policies have triggered a new wave of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the United States, with some companies committing billions of dollars to U.S.-based manufacturing. Now, an analysis in Contemporary Economic Policy has found that FDI raises employment but has no significant effect on income in rural U.S. counties.

A study published in Ecography has assessed how climate change may be destabilizing interactions between predators and prey in the wild—specifically, how owl–prey interactions have responded to environmental variability and resource availability over 24 years in the semi-arid ecosystem of Bosque Fray Jorge National Park in Chile.

The U.S. is the fourth-largest wine-producing country by output volume, and approximately 80% of its production occurs in California. Ever since the 19th century, California's premier wine-growing regions have been the Napa Valley and Sonoma County, thanks to their favorable microclimate. But grape yield and quality are very sensitive to the local environment, which means the climate crisis could shake up California's wine industry.

Forests are shaped by light competition. The trees that grow the tallest have access to the most sunlight, blocking the rays and rendering the shaded space around them inhospitable to shorter trees below. In this stem exclusion phase of forest succession, the shorter trees often die. Yet scientists have observed that in old-growth forests, trees of vastly different sizes successfully coexist, proving that reaching the top of the canopy is not the sole winning strategy for survival in a forest en

A research report launched today reveals that sponsorship is a critical part of progression into senior leadership roles because it teaches individuals how advancement actually works in practice. But only a small proportion of sponsorship relationships—less than a quarter—are characterized by the mutual trust, candid feedback and active advocacy that really boost leaders' careers.

Space and rockets have been big news of late, from the successful Artemis 2 mission in April to the recent listing of SpaceX on the Nasdaq stock exchange.

A new study published in the Journal of Helminthology by researchers from the Estonian University of Life Sciences and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, together with collaborators from Greenland and the Faroe Islands, has revealed surprisingly limited dispersal of Diplostomum parasites across North Atlantic islands. The findings challenge the common assumption that migratory birds readily transport parasites over large geographic distances.

A team of researchers led by Felipe Herrera, a professor at the University of Santiago and a researcher at the Millennium Institute for Research in Optics (MIRO), has identified a quantum phenomenon that enables chemical bonds to be broken using significantly less energy than is normally required.

A new study led by a Boston College researcher has found that experiencing educational opportunities in all stages of childhood and adolescence is the best predictor of higher educational attainment and earnings for disadvantaged American youth, as opposed to the impact of learning access during any single phase.

Following its longest hibernation period ever of nearly a year, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft has emerged in good health and is ready to begin transmitting science data gathered in the distant Kuiper Belt far beyond Pluto.

Visitors to the Fernando de Noronha archipelago, located about 340 miles (545 kilometers) off the coast of Pernambuco in northeastern Brazil, soon notice a small lizard. Seemingly ubiquitous, it roams among rocks, trails and urbanized areas, approaching people and stealing food in plain sight when it can, and rarely flees.

Universities have a role in challenging the status quo on issues such as gender, race, nationality and sexuality. But all too often, they replicate societal inequalities.

Controlling light within microscopic spaces is crucial for next-generation optical devices such as photonic integrated circuits and localized sensors. Microspheres formed of luminescent π-conjugated polymers act as optical resonators that confine and amplify light via whispering gallery modes (WGMs), and they are promising candidates for microscale organic lasers and photonic applications. However, conventional microsphere resonators are geometrically isotropic and emit isotropic light, making d

The galaxy Centaurus A is about 11 million light-years away and is the fifth-brightest galaxy in the sky. Because it's so bright, it's been studied extensively by amateur and professional astronomers alike. Also called NGC 5128, it's a starburst galaxy, meaning it's forming stars at a rapid rate.

Conventional wisdom holds that targeting the best-connected individuals in a social network is an effective way to nudge a wider group of people to change their behavior. For example, public health officials launching a campaign to improve nutrition might target a community's leaders on the assumption that they wield the most influence. The effectiveness of this approach, however, depends on the structure of the social network, a new Yale study finds.

Young women are moving away from exclusive heterosexuality faster than young men.

The DNA in a single cup of water can track wildlife, monitor pollution and survey pathogens in waterways and their surroundings, all at the same time.

Freshwater ecosystems are under growing pressure worldwide, but conservation resources are limited. A framework developed by IIASA researchers and partners can help identify where conservation could prevent biodiversity loss and where restoration efforts are likely to have the greatest ecological impact across the United States and Europe.

Scientists are increasingly worried we may be witnessing the start of the "sixth mass extinction"—the first to be caused by human activities.