All News
Phys.org / New 'devil flower' species discovered in Thai national park
Researchers have described a new species of leafless flowering plant found on the forest floor of a national park in western Thailand, and its otherworldly appearance has earned it a fittingly dramatic name: Thismia daemona, ...
Phys.org / Mammalian genes can combine to make previously unknown mRNAs and proteins
For decades, scientists have understood that each of the roughly 20,000 genes in the human body carries instructions for a single kind of protein. Now, researchers at Harvard Medical School have discovered that instructions ...
Phys.org / 'Pac-Man' enzyme breaks down bioplastics and penicillin in laboratory tests
In the ocean, plastic waste collects to form large garbage patches that endanger marine life. This is partly because the synthetic plastic polymers used today can only be broken down biologically—that is, by microorganisms—at ...
Phys.org / What's in an 'O'? Unusual Greek spelling may unlock mystery of ring tied to Pontius Pilate
It's a small, simple ring made of copper alloy and engraved with a handful of Greek letters and the image of a pottery vessel. But its unremarkable appearance belies a remarkable history: The signet was likely connected in ...
Phys.org / PACMAN AI framework for controlling fusion systems safely makes key decisions in milliseconds
Inside some fusion energy systems, particles hotter than the core of the sun can become unruly in a few thousandths of a second, far faster than any human operator can react. A new software framework developed by researchers ...
Phys.org / Cellular maintenance crew may miss as much as half of certain misfolded proteins
As proteins are made in a cell, they are folded into the 3D structure that allows them to work, but sometimes this process can go wrong. When it does, the misfolded proteins lose some or all of their function and usually ...
Phys.org / AI-designed proteins enable a new generation of RNA transporters
RNA-based therapeutics use RNA as a blueprint that enables cells to produce specific proteins—including proteins that can precisely modify genes. For this to work, the RNA must reach the inside of the cell intact. Delivery ...
Tech Xplore / A new kind of AI that does its thinking cheaply without words
There may soon be a new kind of artificial intelligence in town, one that uses a novel approach to thinking that could save massive amounts of computing power and money.
Phys.org / A supermassive black hole erupted in X-rays, and its radio jets followed 300 days later
By combining roughly two decades of observations from NASA's Swift X-ray Telescope with radio monitoring, astronomers have caught a supermassive black hole at the heart of the Perseus Cluster suddenly flaring in X-rays, and ...
Phys.org / New nanostructure makes non-linear light conversion 72,000 times more efficient
Researchers from Graz University of Technology (TU Graz), Harvard and the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin) have developed an innovative method for coupling light non-linearly. This opens up new possibilities for ...
Phys.org / Eight-letter DNA alphabet is accurately transcribed by a natural enzyme
All known life on Earth uses the same genetic alphabet, consisting of four letters. Now, researchers at the University of California San Diego have demonstrated that one of biology's most essential enzymes can accurately ...
Dialog / When we eat helps set the liver's metabolic rhythms
When we think about metabolism, we usually ask, "What did I eat? How much sugar, fat or protein was in the meal?" But through our research, we have become interested in another question: "When did I eat it?" This matters ...