Phys.org news

Researchers have found that the size of the amygdala—a region of the brain involved in processing emotions—could be linked to social tolerance in macaque monkeys. Their research, published today in eLife, is described ...

Past civilizations have been significantly affected by climate change, but how they adapted to new conditions centuries ago is less clear. In research newly published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, ...

Recently-revealed notebooks belonging to a late paleontologist contain the missing information needed to help researchers finish their study of a remarkable fossil discovered nearly three decades ago.

After more than a decade of research, scientists have discovered the natural mechanism behind a novel form of cell death called ferroptosis. The work, described in the current issue of Cell, points toward an entirely new ...

New minuscule fossils of Purgatorius, the earliest-known relative of all primates—including humans—have been unearthed in a more southern region of North America than ever before, and the breakthrough is providing paleontologists ...

Scientists at TU Delft have designed a nanostring that, when poked, doesn't lose its energy to the environment immediately. Instead, the energy leaks out within the string, triggering a cascade of distinct vibrational modes. ...

When you reach the bottom of a container of milk or honey, you might be tempted to tip the container over to get that last pesky little bit out. After all, you only need another teaspoon for that recipe, and you're sure it's ...

In most plants and animals, including humans, mitochondria are inherited exclusively, or nearly exclusively, from the mother. By contrast, paternal transmission is observed only occasionally, and the mechanisms behind this ...

Almost all plants live in close symbiosis with so-called mycorrhizal fungi—an important symbiosis for absorbing essential nutrients. In their new study, a team led by ecologist Christina Kaiser from the Center for Microbiology ...

For decades, the basics of plant growth have been taught in grade school: Plants make their food out of water from the soil, light from the sun and carbon dioxide from the air in a process called photosynthesis. What gets ...

Tiny life forms tucked into debris from an asteroid hit could catapult to other planets—including Earth—and survive, a new Johns Hopkins University study finds. The work demonstrates that a certain hardy bacterium easily ...

There are many open questions about how our planet formed 4.55 billion years ago: When did plate tectonics start? When did the Earth's mantle begin to vigorously circulate in a process called convection? What was Earth like ...