Phys.org news
Phys.org / Big broods, better manners: What a fish study suggests about siblings and social skills
For many animals, siblings are a key component of their social environment during early life. Previous research has shown that the early social environment is important, but it has not yet been clear whether the number of ...
Phys.org / EPA criminal sanctions align with a county's wealth, not pollution, study finds
When the federal government brings its toughest environmental enforcement actions against polluters, they tend to be in communities of greater wealth, not the most polluted places. That's the takeaway from a new paper co-authored ...
Phys.org / Study reveals hidden climate impact of digital industries
Digital technologies are widely viewed as drivers of efficiency, growth, and innovation. However, their contribution to climate change is significantly greater than previously understood. A new study published in the journal ...
Phys.org / Scientists isolate climatic fingerprints of wildfires and volcanic eruptions
Volcanoes and wildfires can inject millions of tons of gases and aerosol particles into the air, affecting temperatures on a global scale. But picking out the specific impact of individual events against a background of many ...
Phys.org / Breadcrumbs offer fossil fuel–free production of everyday goods
The humble breadcrumb could hold the key to cutting out fossil fuels from one of the chemical industry's most widely used reactions, according to a new study. Scientists have found a one-pot microbial formula that uses waste ...
Phys.org / Plant hormone therapy could improve global food security by balancing growth with immunity
Plants have an immune system, like people, and when it is triggered by threats like disease or pests, a plant's defenses are activated. But there's a downside to this protective mechanism: the plant's growth is suppressed ...
Phys.org / A new method reveals hidden rules of gene control
Inside every cell, thousands of molecular signals collide, overlap, and compensate, obscuring the true drivers of gene expression. Scientists have now developed a way to silence that cellular noise, revealing transcription ...
Phys.org / How cells manage nitric oxide: Research uncovers dynamic 'gate' that tames powerful signaling molecule
Cornell researchers have uncovered a built-in molecular "gate" that controls the production of the molecule nitric oxide, a crucial signaling molecule throughout biology that in humans helps regulate blood pressure, brain ...
Phys.org / Missing geomagnetic reversals: Earth's past may be incomplete
Several studies have predicted that not all geomagnetic reversals have been discovered, but it was unknown in which periods they might be hidden. Researchers led by the National Institute of Polar Research used a statistical ...
Phys.org / Ultrafast X-rays reveal physical principles behind lipoprotein motion within egg yolk plasma
Egg yolk may appear runny and uniform, but on the nanoscale, it is one of the most crowded biological fluids in nature. Packed with proteins and fats, it serves as a dense storage reservoir for a developing embryo. Yet the ...
Phys.org / Between flood and drought: The metric that could better explain what happens to water in the age of climate change
A key question in any discussion about climate is "How much rain fell?" But perhaps there is an even more important one. Like any household budget, the global water economy is based on "income," that is, water entering the ...
Phys.org / Electrochemical signals can reshape bacterial protein patterns, boosting electron transfer
Sometimes, transporting electrons from one cell to another is a team effort. In electroactive bacteria, that team is a group of proteins that shepherds electrons forward, passing them along like a relay baton, so they can ...
