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WASHINGTON, D.C., April 8, 2016 -- University of Houston physicists report finding major theoretical flaws in the generally accepted understanding of how a superconductor traps and holds a magnetic field. More than 50 years ago, C.P. Bean, a scientist at General Electric, developed a theoretical explanation known as the "Bean Model" or "Critical State Model."

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. April 7, 2016 - Researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory used neutrons to uncover novel behavior in materials that holds promise for quantum computing. The findings, published in Nature Materials, provide evidence for long-sought phenomena in a two-dimensional magnet.

Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Yale University have found that climate models are aggressively making clouds "brighter" as the planet warms. This may be causing models to underestimate how much global warming will occur due to increasing carbon dioxide. The research appears in the April 8 edition of Science.

This news release is available in German.

Models that aim to predict human-induced global average temperature rise have been underestimating important contributions from clouds, causing projections to be lower than what actually might occur, at least in some simulations, a new study suggests. Global climate models that attempt to predict mean temperature rises need to know how the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere affects atmospheric temperatures, a relation called "equilibrium climate sensitivity" (ECS). Larger values of ECS mean that the warming caused by carbon dioxide is greater.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] -- The world has more carbon dioxide than it needs, and a team of Brown University chemists has come up with a potential way to put some of it to good use.

Two U.S. Forest Service experimental forests have been chosen to participate in the U.S,-China Climate Change and Forests Initiative, a program of the U.S.-China Climate Change Working Group led by the U.S. Department of State.

EUGENE, Ore. -- April 7, 2016 -- University of Oregon physicists have combined light and sound to control electron states in an atom-like system, providing a new tool in efforts to move toward quantum-computing systems.

The work was done on diamond topped with a layer of zinc oxide containing electrical conductors and performed at a temperature of 8 degrees Kelvin (-445.27 Fahrenheit, -265.15 Celsius) -- just above absolute zero.

WASHINGTON, April 7, 2016 -- Why do wasps become more aggressive after you kill one of the hive members? The answer is the same reason why you should be wary of bees that smell like bananas. Here's another question: Why does some metal rust? This week, Reactions answers viewers' chemistry questions like these with some short and sweet chemistry. Check out the video here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtLT74crQcwWo-JRKEkE2RFGdol4SkoJS.

An interdisciplinary team of researchers led by University of Delaware professors Wei-Jun Cai and Mark Warner has successfully measured both pH and carbonate ion concentration directly inside the calcifying fluid found in coral, an important development in the study of how ocean acidification will affect marine calcifying organisms such as corals and shellfish.

The theoretical results of a piece of international research published in Nature, whose first author is Ion Errea, a researcher at the UPV/EHU and DIPC, suggest that the quantum nature of hydrogen (in other words, the possibility of it behaving like a particle or a wave) considerably affects the structural properties of hydrogen-rich compounds (potential room-temperature superconducting substances).

Objects of the quantum world are of a concealed and cold-blooded nature: they usually behave in a quantum manner only when they are significantly cooled and isolated from the environment. Experiments carried out by chemists and physicists from Warsaw have destroyed this simple picture. It turns out that not only does one of the most interesting quantum effects occur at room temperature and higher, but it plays a dominant role in the course of chemical reactions in solutions!

Researchers who studied the effects of various disturbances on reef communities of coral and fish found that those in 'no-take' marine reserves are less impacted and recover faster than those in reefs that are not located in marine protected areas.

Researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have demonstrated a new approach to modifying the light absorption and stretchability of atomically thin two-dimensional (2D) materials by surface topographic engineering using only mechanical strain. The highly flexible system has future potential for wearable technology and integrated biomedical optical sensing technology when combined with flexible light-emitting diodes.

About a tenth of overall global greenhouse-gas emissions from agriculture could be traced back to food waste by mid-century, a new study shows. A team from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research for the first time provides comprehensive food loss projections for countries around the world while also calculating the associated emissions. Currently, one third of global food production never finds its way onto our plates. This share will increase drastically, if emerging countries like China and India adopt Western nutrition lifestyles, the analyses shows.