Phys.org news

Phys.org / New molecular view of cholera 'tail' could inform better treatment

Cholera is a deadly bacterial disease that kills about 95,000 people every year. Vibrio cholerae bacteria infect cells in the small intestine, which the bacteria can do in part due to their flagella—powerful tail-like structures ...

Dec 4, 2025 in Biology
Phys.org / Common aldehydes transformed by light could accelerate drug discovery and material development

A new chemical method that could speed up the creation of medicines, materials and products people rely on every day has been developed by University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Department of Chemistry researchers. The work, published ...

Dec 4, 2025 in Chemistry
Phys.org / Seeing inside smart gels: Scientists capture dynamic behavior under stress

Advances in materials science have led to the development of "smart materials," whose properties do not remain static but change in response to external stimuli. One such material is poly(N-isopropylacrylamide), or PNIPAM, ...

Dec 4, 2025 in Chemistry
Phys.org / C-Compass: AI-based software maps proteins and lipids within cells

A new tool developed by Helmholtz Munich and the German Center for Diabetes Research and the University of Bonn makes spatial proteomics and lipidomics easier to use—no coding required. C-COMPASS allows scientists to profile ...

Dec 4, 2025 in Biology
Phys.org / Fullerenes could improve MRI clarity by enabling more efficient dynamic nuclear polarization

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is invaluable in the medical world. But despite all the good it does, there is room for improvement. One way to enhance the sensitivity of MRI is dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP), where ...

Dec 4, 2025 in Chemistry
Phys.org / From static papers to living models: Turning limb development research into interactive science

The choreographed movements that cells perform to form complex biological shapes, like our hands, have fascinated scientists for centuries. Now, researchers at EMBL Barcelona have launched LimbNET, an open-access online platform ...

Dec 4, 2025 in Biology
Phys.org / Debris disk gallery shows tell-tale signs of asteroids and comets in distant solar systems

Observations with the instrument SPHERE at ESO's Very Large Telescope have produced an unprecedented gallery of "debris disks" in exoplanetary systems.

Dec 3, 2025 in Astronomy & Space
Phys.org / 10-thousand-year-old genomes from southern Africa change picture of human evolution

In southern Africa, a group of people lived in partial isolation for hundreds of thousands of years. This is shown in a new study based on analyses of the genomes of 28 people who lived between 10,200 and 150 years ago in ...

Dec 3, 2025 in Biology
Phys.org / Free climbers discover remnants of ancient sea turtle stampede in Italy

Rocks have been found to hold many traces of Earth's ancient history, but usually geologists have to seek them out. Every once in a while, however, these imprints of times past are found by unsuspecting visitors. This occurred ...

Dec 3, 2025 in Biology
Phys.org / Interstellar object covered in 'icy volcanoes' could rewrite our understanding of how comets formed

Analysis of the second confirmed interstellar comet to visit our solar system suggests that the alien body could be covered in erupting icy, volcano-like structures called cryovolcanoes. Researchers also discovered that the ...

Dec 3, 2025 in Astronomy & Space
Phys.org / Smart material instantly changes colors on demand for use in textiles and consumer products

Scientists have developed a revolutionary technique for creating colors that can change on command. These are structural colors that don't rely on dyes or pigments and can be used for display signage, adaptive camouflage ...

Dec 3, 2025 in Nanotechnology
Phys.org / First evidence of lost-wax casting for silver in Bronze Age Western Europe uncovered

In a recent study, Dr. Linda Boutoille uncovered the first evidence of lost-wax casting of silver objects in Bronze Age Iberia and, to date, Western Europe. Published in the Oxford Journal of Archaeology, the study examines ...

Dec 3, 2025 in Other Sciences