Phys.org news

Why do humans rely on XY chromosomes to determine sex, while birds use ZW—and many reptiles use neither, letting temperature decide instead? Sex determination is remarkably diverse across the animal kingdom. In genotypic ...

Commercially farmed tomatoes taste sweeter when food and garden waste compost is added to their soil, a University of Queensland study has found. Researchers in the School of Agriculture and Food Sustainability grew tomatoes ...

We share our planet with millions of plants and animals. This variety of life is known as biodiversity, a term encompassing everything from microscopic genes to entire ecosystems, such as deserts and vibrant coral reefs.

A protein that sticks cells and tissues together has been found to have a surprising second job: helping cells that are packed into a continuous sealed layer, also known as epithelial cells, engulf nearby dead cells.

Just a few minutes of freezing and thawing can have a decisive impact on how ferrihydrite, the most reactive iron mineral in cold soils, permafrost and glaciers, transforms, according to researchers at Umeå University. As ...

How has offspring dependence on parents evolved over the course of evolution? Researchers at the University of Bayreuth, in collaboration with Kyoto University, Japan, have investigated one possible mechanism by studying ...

Many plant species parasitize other plants by latching on and taking the nutrients their hosts need to survive. But sometimes, plants steal more than nutrients; they take genes.

Researchers have developed a vehicle-mounted spectroscopy system that can reliably detect methane in real time while driving. Using a moving vehicle to detect methane could make it easier to locate hidden methane emissions ...

With Hong Kong recently recording record-breaking high temperatures, extreme weather has once again raised public awareness of global warming and emission-reduction measures. A large-scale international study led by The Hong ...

The capital of any business comes in (at least) two categories. There's the kind that has a price—land, cash holdings, etc.—and a less tangible, priceless kind. Reputational capital falls squarely into the latter category. ...

When cold and flu season comes around, we take steps like getting our flu shots and taking immune supplements to strengthen our bodies' defenses against pathogens. Plants face pathogenic threats, too. Plant pathogens can ...

The genome—which contains genes encoded in DNA—acts as the fundamental blueprint of life. But what you might not know is that, in addition to this genetic information, we have something akin to an "instruction manual" for ...