Phys.org news

Phys.org / Solar-powered system converts waste to ammonia and glycolic acid

A team of researchers from UNIST has developed a new technology that uses solar energy to produce ammonia and glycolic acid—an essential component in cosmetics—while eliminating carbon dioxide emissions.

Mar 28, 2025 in Chemistry
Phys.org / Bird genome study offers insights into pandemic disease evolution

Evolution is nature's engine, driving and shaping genetic change and the diversity around us. Charles Darwin famously unveiled this process through his theory of natural selection, revealing how species adapt and evolve over ...

Mar 28, 2025 in Biology
Phys.org / How climate and barriers shape global patterns in seed plant distribution over millions of years

Why do some plants thrive in specific regions but not in others? A study led by researchers at the University of Göttingen explores the factors shaping plant distributions and how these patterns have changed over millions ...

Mar 28, 2025 in Biology
Phys.org / Quality assurance in the cell: Preventing defective protein blueprints

Two molecular control factors play a decisive role in what is known as splicing, the cutting and assembly of mature messenger RNA—a prerequisite for protein synthesis in the cell. The poorly characterized factors are crucial ...

Mar 28, 2025 in Biology
Phys.org / Earth's storage of water in soil, lakes and rivers is dwindling. And it's especially bad for farming

University of Melbourne hydrology professor Dongryeol Ryu and his collaborator Ki-Weon Seo were on a train to visit Ryu's family when they found something startling. Stopped at a station for technical issues, Seo had pulled ...

Mar 27, 2025 in Earth
Phys.org / Four new gamma-ray millisecond pulsars discovered

An international team of astronomers reports the detection of four new gamma-ray millisecond pulsars using the Murriyang radio telescope at the Parkes Observatory in Australia. The discovery was detailed in a research paper ...

Mar 27, 2025 in Astronomy & Space
Phys.org / Study uncovers origin of the large neutron-capture cross section in ⁸⁸Zr using new methodology

Studies that explore how the denser sections of atoms, known as atomic nuclei, interact with neutrons (i.e., particles with no electric charge) can have valuable implications both for the understanding of these atoms' underlying ...

Mar 27, 2025 in Physics
Phys.org / Assumptions about genomic diversity may create conservation illusions of population health

Researchers at the University of Copenhagen have found that the critically endangered regent honeyeater faces hidden genetic risks while still retaining relatively high genetic diversity, risks that become apparent when combining ...

Mar 27, 2025 in Biology
Phys.org / Physicists discover a copper-free high-temperature superconducting oxide

Professor Ariando and Dr. Stephen Lin Er Chow from the National University of Singapore (NUS) Department of Physics have designed and synthesized a groundbreaking new material—a copper-free superconducting oxide—capable ...

Mar 27, 2025 in Physics
Phys.org / 'Inside out' fossil reveals a new species with a perfectly preserved interior

A new species of fossil from 444 million years ago that has perfectly preserved insides has been affectionately named "Sue" after its discoverer's mom.

Mar 27, 2025 in Biology
Phys.org / A genetic tree as a movie: Moving beyond the still portrait of ancestry

University of Michigan researchers have developed a statistical method that can be used for such wide-ranging applications as tracing your ancestry, modeling disease spread and studying how animals spread through geographic ...

Mar 27, 2025 in Biology
Phys.org / Small star, mighty flares: ALMA shares new view of Proxima Centauri

At a distance of just over four light years, Proxima Centauri is our nearest stellar neighbor and is known to be a very active M dwarf star. Its flare activity has been well-known to astronomers using visible wavelengths ...

Mar 27, 2025 in Astronomy & Space