Phys.org news
Phys.org / Without bacteria or chemicals: How methanol and formaldehyde form abiotically in nature
The biopolymer lignin—one of the most important carbon reservoirs in plants and soils—not only decays through fungi or bacteria but can also be chemically attacked by iron linked to reactive oxygen species, without the involvement ...
Phys.org / A world 20 light-years away reveals surprisingly organized, Jupiter-like weather
Scientists from Trinity College Dublin have developed a way to unravel changing weather patterns on distant worlds. Using this approach, they discovered that the weather on a well-studied brown dwarf, SIMP 0136, previously ...
Phys.org / First-of-its-kind preventive phage therapy provides promising results against Salmonella
The mammalian gut microbiome teems with a delicate balance of bacteria and the viruses that keep them in check, called bacteriophages, or phages. Each bacterial species usually has its own set of phage partners.
Phys.org / Henry VIII's dissolution enforcer stashed Catholic manuscript—its lost pages have just been rediscovered
Sir John Gage, a key figure in Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries, saved a dangerous Catholic book from likely destruction, a new study suggests. The identification of six lost pages of a medieval bestseller—illicitly ...
Phys.org / Thinking outside the binding site: Drug molecule makes a square peg fit a round hole
A square peg doesn't fit a round hole. But what if the peg could change the shape of the hole? A newly developed drug molecule can do something surprisingly similar when binding to its target protein, according to a University ...
Phys.org / New method reveals how virus particles can build themselves, molecule by molecule
Oxford University researchers have captured the step-by-step assembly of individual virus-like particles, revealing how simple molecular interactions can reliably build these complex biological structures. The results were ...
Phys.org / Snow, monsoons and oceans shift Earth's center of mass each year, satellite tracking shows
Seasonal changes redistribute enough water around Earth to shift the planet's center of mass back and forth by fractions of an inch relative to its geometric center. NASA scientists are on the case, tracking the oscillations ...
Phys.org / Aqueduct deposits suggest Plague of Cyprian may have emptied Nîmes around 270 A.D.
Researchers at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) have gleaned new insights into ancient water management in the French region around Nîmes by analyzing carbonate deposits within the Roman aqueduct that features the ...
Phys.org / Why do some chimpanzee mothers carry their dead infants for months?
Chimpanzee and bonobo mothers sometimes continue to carry their infants after they have died, a behavior known as infant corpse carrying (ICC). It is widely documented, and many explanations have been proposed, but few have ...
Phys.org / Well-preserved tooth from Pacific mastodon found in a creek in San Francisco Bay Area
Brigid Lynch was working along a wooded creek in a mountainous part of the San Francisco Bay Area when something that didn't look like the rocks she'd been studying caught her eye. It turned out to be the fossilized tooth ...
Phys.org / A 16-minute train delay shows how a solar storm disrupted Victorian technology
A 178-year-old mystery surrounding one of the earliest recorded examples of space weather affecting technology has been solved by an international team led by Lancaster University.
Phys.org / The local costs of remote sensing: Examining the ethics of laser scanning in tropical forests
Laser scanning, often referred to as lidar, has rapidly transformed how tropical forest regions are studied, monitored and understood across academic disciplines. The technology enables researchers to peer through dense forest ...
