Phys.org news
Phys.org / Hidden fungus inside desert moss could rewrite 470-million-year story of how plants moved onto land
Mosses are survivors. They can dry into what looks like green dust, only to spring back to life minutes after rain. They can grow on rocks, in deserts, and there's talk of using them to terraform Mars someday. According to ...
Phys.org / Asteroid Donaldjohanson wobbles as it rotates, Lucy flyby reveals
Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) scientists studying the inner main-belt asteroid Donaldjohanson have found that its rotation wobbles. Rather than rolling through space in a steady pattern, Donaldjohanson turns on two ...
Phys.org / Shell too snug? Hermit crabs have a fix
For decades, biologists have known that hermit crabs forced to live in shells that are too small slow their growth. What wasn't clear was how they did it. New research suggests the answer isn't simply that the crabs eat less. ...
Phys.org / Out-of-equilibrium cesium atoms reveal fractional Fermi seas, exposing new critical quantum phase
In a new study published in Physical Review Letters, a team from the Nägerl group, together with theory collaborator Alvise Bastianello from the CNRS and the Université Paris-Dauphine, demonstrates that highly unusual quantum ...
Phys.org / Suburban street design has driven emissions since WWII, study suggests
Half of all Americans live in the suburbs. For decades, planners and policymakers have blamed suburban sprawl's environmental and social costs on one thing: distance. The farther people live from city centers, the more they ...
Phys.org / AI-driven optical tweezers sort hundreds of particles per hour without humans
By teaching an AI to use optical tweezers, researchers from the University of Gothenburg and Chalmers University of Technology have sped up the analysis of life's smallest components. The AI platform captures particles, takes ...
Phys.org / How a telescope's mirror stability makes or breaks exoplanet detection
Finding life beyond our solar system is a major goal of modern astronomy. NASA's planned Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) aims to take direct images of Earth-sized planets around stars other than our sun. This task, however, ...
Phys.org / Beyond bread and beer, alluring yeast species could yield new mosquito traps to combat malaria
An orange-colored yeast species isolated from a Baltimore sidewalk several years ago could be the basis of eco-friendly mosquito traps that reduce malaria transmission, according to a new study from researchers at the Johns ...
Phys.org / Heat waves increase wildfire risk—a new study explains how much, and it's not a small number
When heat waves hit the Western United States, the risk of wildfires quickly rises. The prolonged heat dries out vegetation, but that's only part of the cause—heat waves also play other roles in spreading wildfires.
Phys.org / Mating reveals cholesterol's hidden role in male fruit fly lifespan
Scientists have discovered that the optimal diet for male fruit flies may depend strongly on whether they are reproducing, challenging long-standing assumptions about nutrition and aging. Led by researchers from the University ...
Phys.org / People are marrying holograms and making friends with chatbots. But can AI bring true happiness?
Can technology really replace human relationships? As philosophy scholars who focus on human happiness and on artificial intelligence (AI), we tackle this question in a recent paper.
Phys.org / Long-dismissed moss gene suppresses twins and triplets, reshaping ideas of plant evolution
A moss gene previously thought to have been inactive actually plays a key role in its evolutionary success, researchers from the University of Bristol have discovered. The new paper published in Current Biology investigated ...
