Phys.org news
Phys.org / 70-year field study finds fertilizer imbalance can halve mycorrhizal fungi
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 ...
Phys.org / Paternal mitochondria in plants can rescue defective maternal DNA, study reveals
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 ...
Phys.org / Life forms can planet hop on asteroid debris—and survive
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 ...
Phys.org / HETDEX data reveal a vast 'sea of light' between early galaxies
Astronomers with the Hobby-Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX) have used data from the project to make the largest, most accurate 3D map yet of the light emitted by excited hydrogen in the early universe, 9 billion ...
Phys.org / Ancient zircon crystals provide a window into early Earth history
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 ...
Phys.org / Deadly soil fungal pathogen puts Australia's reptiles at risk of extinction
University of Queensland researchers say Australia's reptiles are at risk of extinction because a little understood fungus is infecting species throughout the environment. Associate Professor Celine Frere from UQ's School ...
Phys.org / The 'Bloom cycle' is a newly described biochemical pathway that explains key plant processes
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 ...
Phys.org / Hard-to-make diastereomers: How a cage-like allyl reagent changes the outcome
Diastereomers are structurally identical molecules that are not mirror images of each other. Diastereomers can have different biological activities, potencies or toxicities, which means they can influence biological systems, ...
Phys.org / Liquid crystal phase in antiferromagnets can be detected electrically
The best candidate for next-generation magnetic devices—technology that can power, store, sense or transport information—may be, counterintuitively, antiferromagnets. Today, the most widely used magnetic materials are ...
Phys.org / Jackdaw chicks listen to adults to learn about predators
Jackdaw chicks learn about predators by listening to adults, new research shows. Scientists played recordings of predator calls to chicks in their nests—and paired the sounds with either adult jackdaw "alarm" calls or "contact" ...
Dialog / The wetland puzzle that stumped hydrology for decades—how physics and AI joined forces to predict unmeasured regions
For years, the Prairie Pothole Region has bothered me in a very specific way. On a map, it looks like a normal landscape: fields, gentle slopes, small streams. But hydrologically, it behaves like something else entirely. ...
Phys.org / Did plants nearly wipe out all marine life on Earth—twice?
UC College of Arts and Sciences Professor Thomas Algeo has been studying the planet's five major mass extinctions since the Ordovician Period, when global sea levels were much higher than today. In a paper published in Nature ...
