Phys.org news
Phys.org / Bronze Age DNA from Calabria reveals a distinct mountain community
An international team of researchers led by scientists from the Max Planck Harvard Research Center for the Ancient Mediterranean (Leipzig, Germany) and the University of Bologna (Italy) has reconstructed, for the first time, ...
Phys.org / Gut bacteria rapidly adapt to digest starches in ultra-processed foods, study finds
Gut bacteria evolve rapidly in response to different diets, UCLA evolutionary biologists report in a new study. The researchers found that gene variants that help microbes digest starches found in ultra-processed foods have ...
Phys.org / Soil molecular diversity spikes as microbes decompose plants, researchers discover
Globally, soils contain three times as much carbon as exists in the atmosphere and all plants, combined. Which means that understanding how soil microbes recycle organic materials—sometimes sending CO2 back into the atmosphere, ...
Phys.org / Rate of US coastal sea level rise doubled in the past century, study finds
A July 2025 report from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) claims that U.S. tide gauge measurements "in aggregate show no obvious acceleration in sea level rise beyond the historical average rate." However, a new study by ...
Phys.org / Carbon-based filter removes PFAS from groundwater in field tests
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have been mass produced for decades in consumer products like frying pans, water-resistant clothing, food packaging and cosmetics. They have also been used in a range of industrial ...
Phys.org / Q&A: Climate shifts drove carnivores' evolution from mongoose-like ancestors to diverse forms
The ancestors of our furry cats and dogs once looked similar to today's modern mongoose, a mammal with a long body and small, round ears. In fact, all members of the order Carnivora, which includes a variety of mammalian ...
Phys.org / A 'scientific sandbox' lets researchers explore the evolution of vision systems
Why did humans evolve the eyes we have today? While scientists can't go back in time to study the environmental pressures that shaped the evolution of the diverse vision systems that exist in nature, a new computational framework ...
Phys.org / Color-superconducting quark matter may explain stability of massive neutron stars
Describing matter under extreme conditions, such as those found inside neutron stars, remains an unsolved problem. The density of such matter is equivalent to compressing around 100,000 Eiffel Towers into a single cubic centimeter. ...
Phys.org / This genetic trick gives woodrats an evolutionary advantage against rattlesnake venom
Woodrats weigh less than half a pound but can survive venomous rattlesnake bites that would hospitalize, or even kill, a full-grown human.
Phys.org / In echo of Jurassic Park, mosquitoes capture entire ecosystems in their blood meals
Jurassic Park—and its never-ending sequels and spinoffs—starts with a basic premise: extracting the DNA of long-dead dinosaurs from mosquitoes frozen in amber.
Phys.org / New fossil study illuminates the evolutionary success of frogs
A new study led by UCC paleontologists discovered that frogs have conserved their ecology in the last 45 million years. The research is published in the journal iScience.
Phys.org / Genetic teamwork may be the secret to climate-resilient plants
A plant's success may depend on how well the three sets of genetic instructions it carries in its cells cooperate, according to a new study led by plant scientists at Penn State. In an analysis of the hybrids of two crossbred ...
