Phys.org news

Phys.org / Fire-footed rope squirrels identified as a natural reservoir for monkeypox virus

Researchers at the Helmholtz Institute for One Health (HIOH), a site of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI), together with an interdisciplinary team of partners, have identified the fire-footed rope squirrel ...

8 minutes ago in Biology
Phys.org / Stiff gels slow germs: Mapping the hydrogel properties that control bacterial growth

Hydrogels are soft, jelly-like materials that can absorb large amounts of water. They are widely used in medical technologies such as contact lenses and wound dressings, and are also a staple of laboratory research, where ...

12 minutes ago in Chemistry
Phys.org / Ancient DNA suggests hunter-gatherers in Europe's lowlands endured until 2500 BCE

Researchers at the University of Huddersfield have used ancient DNA to reveal that hunter-gatherers in one part of Europe survived for thousands of years longer than anywhere else on the continent—and have uncovered the ...

45 minutes ago in Other Sciences
Phys.org / Widespread loss of marine sponges possible if heat waves intensify by just 1°C

New research shows the effects of marine heat waves on sponges could be much more severe as temperatures rise. More intense marine heat waves as a result of climate change could lead to the mass loss of a sponge species found ...

40 minutes ago in Biology
Phys.org / Seeing how atoms vibrate at the Ångström scale

Probing the vibration of atoms provides detailed information on local structure and bonding that define material properties. Tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (TERS) offers extremely high resolution to probe such vibrations. ...

35 minutes ago in Nanotechnology
Phys.org / New lithium-based green phosphors rival today's commercial LED standard

Research results from Innsbruck, Schwabmünchen, and Düsseldorf demonstrate how the most widely used green phosphors in commercial LEDs can be replaced by representatives of an entirely new class of compounds. Green luminescence, ...

1 hour ago in Chemistry
Phys.org / Only humans have chins: Study shows it's an evolutionary accident

Dashiell Hammett mentioned Sam Spade's jutting chin in the opening sentence of his novel, "The Maltese Falcon." Spade's chin was among the facial features Hammett used to describe his fictional detective's appearance, but ...

2 hours ago in Biology
Phys.org / What honey bee brain chemistry tells us about human learning

A multi-institutional team of researchers led by Virginia Tech's Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC has for the first time identified specific patterns of brain chemical activity that predict how quickly individual ...

1 hour ago in Biology
Phys.org / Bird guano powered rise of Chincha Kingdom in Peruvian Andes, archaeologists find

New archaeological evidence reveals that seabird guano—nutrient-rich bird droppings—was not only essential to boosting corn yields and supercharging agriculture in ancient Peru, but it may have been a driving force behind ...

1 hour ago in Biology
Phys.org / Twilight fish study reveals unique hybrid eye cells

Researchers have identified a new type of visual cell in deep-sea fish larvae that challenges a century of knowledge about vertebrate visual systems. Dr. Fabio Cortesi from The University of Queensland's School of the Environment ...

1 hour ago in Biology
Phys.org / How a tiny shrimp could hold the clue to better armor

Modern armor systems do not do a good enough job of protecting humans from blast-induced neurotrauma (brain and eye damage). To improve them, we may have to look to nature. In particular, a tiny shrimp that is able to protect ...

3 hours ago in Biology
Phys.org / The origin of magic numbers: Why some atomic nuclei are unusually stable

For the first time, physicists have developed a model that explains the origins of unusually stable magic nuclei based directly on the interactions between their protons and neutrons. Published in Physical Review Letters, ...

7 hours ago in Physics