Phys.org news
Phys.org / From single queens to mega-colonies: How ant societies are shaped by the environment
A single queen in the tropics; large colonies in deserts; workers with uniform morphology in temperate regions; ant social structures vary according to environmental conditions. This is shown, for the first time at a global ...
Phys.org / Analysis reveals interhemispheric thermal imbalance as key to Asian-Australian monsoon variability
The Asian-Australian monsoon system (A-AuMS) is the world's most typical cross-equatorial coupled monsoon system. On a seasonal timescale, the summer monsoon in one hemisphere is usually linked to the winter monsoon in the ...
Phys.org / Engineered antibody targets bacteria-specific sugar, clears lethal drug-resistant infection in mice
Australian researchers have developed a powerful new way to target deadly, drug-resistant bacteria by designing antibodies that recognize a sugar found only on bacterial cells—an advance that could underpin a new generation ...
Phys.org / From sea to space: Turning the tide on microplastic pollution with satellite technology
What do microplastics, water color, and satellites have in common? Dr. Karl Kaiser, professor of marine and coastal environmental science in the College of Marine Sciences and Maritime Studies at Texas A&M University at Galveston ...
Phys.org / Orange, camphor-smelling solid could be a key to the next generation grid-storage batteries
An orange solid with a camphor-like odor has helped aqueous zinc-iodide batteries move a large step closer to supplying safe and economic grid and household energy storage.
Phys.org / Friendly bacteria can unlock hidden metabolic pathways in plant cell cultures
Plants are a rich and renewable source of compounds used in medicines, food ingredients, and cosmetics. Since growing an entire plant just to extract a few specific compounds is rather inefficient, scientists are turning ...
Phys.org / Hard to recycle packaging? This glue could let plastics peel apart on cue
Newcastle University engineers are at the forefront of adhesive technology that promises to change how we recycle. They have developed a reversible glue that sticks things together like any other glue but can debond on demand. ...
Phys.org / Cracking the rules of gene regulation with experimental elegance and AI
Gene regulation is far more predictable than previously believed, scientists conclude after developing the deep learning model PARM. This might bring an end to a scientific mystery: how genes know when to switch on or off.
Phys.org / Hadean zircons reveal crust recycling and continent formation more than 4 billion years ago
Parts of ancient Earth may have formed continents and recycled crust through subduction far earlier than previously thought. New research led by scientists at the University of Wisconsin–Madison has uncovered chemical signatures ...
Phys.org / Researchers uncover a one-hour 'crown' checkpoint that enables malaria reproduction
A new study has uncovered a hidden step that helps the deadliest malaria parasite survive and multiply inside the human body. Researchers studying Plasmodium falciparum found that the parasite relies on a brief but essential ...
Phys.org / Experiments with 1,600 volunteers link social exclusion to higher interest in gossip
Ages ago, when societies were organized around small villages, a person's security and sense of belonging depended partly on how close they were to the village chiefs and elders. If the village was attacked, those closest ...
Phys.org / A minimalist bacterial defense strategy: Scientists discover single protein that disrupts viral assembly
University of Toronto researchers have expanded our understanding of bacterial immunity with the discovery of a new protein that can both sense and counteract viral infections. In the study, published in Nature, researchers ...
