Phys.org news
Phys.org / Origin of lowest density super-puff planet remains a hazy mystery
A thick layer of haze around the ultra-low-density planet Kepler-51d likely obscures not only the strange planet's composition, but also its origin, according to a new study. A team led by Penn State researchers used NASA's ...
Phys.org / Planning Titan entry? New lab tests flag nitrogen-driven heat shield debris risks
Heat shields are designed to protect the surface and cargo of a spacecraft as it enters an atmosphere. Aerospace engineers in The Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign recently observed ...
Phys.org / High-resolution electron microscopy sheds light on the cellular responses to stress
An international team led by researchers from the University Medical Center Göttingen (UMG), Germany, has used advanced electron microscopy technologies to capture key cellular mechanisms of stress resistance with near-atomic ...
Phys.org / Climate action could prevent over 13 million premature deaths, but equity choices matter for global health
A new study published in The Lancet Global Health reveals a previously underappreciated tension at the heart of international climate negotiations: policies designed to protect developing countries from bearing an unfair ...
Phys.org / Microbes in Antarctica survive the freezing and dark winter by living on air
Winter in Antarctica is long and dark. Temperatures remain well below freezing. In many places, the sun sets in April and does not rise above the horizon again until August. Without sunlight, photosynthetic life such as plants, ...
Phys.org / Gold nanoclusters could selectively recognize chiral biomolecules to help detect certain diseases
An extensive computational study by researchers from Finland's University of Jyväskylä predicts that gold nanoclusters could selectively recognize chiral biomolecules. This property may help in detecting certain diseases ...
Phys.org / New study offers insight into tissue-specific gene regulation of sheep
Livestock breeders could soon have more tools to improve the health and quality of their animals, thanks to a recent study that sheds new light on regulatory elements in the sheep genome.
Phys.org / Coastal ocean chemistry now substantially shaped by humans
A global analysis of more than 2,300 seawater samples from more than 20 field studies around the globe indicates that human-made chemicals make up a significant portion of organic matter in coastal oceans. The international ...
Phys.org / Light-controlled hydrogel mimics soft human tissue for more realistic cell studies
For decades, lab-grown cells have been studied in materials that don't reflect the softness and flexibility of human tissue. Now researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder have developed a water-rich, Jell-O-like material ...
Phys.org / Sugar-processing enzyme has a hidden second job—controlling when cells divide
A metabolic enzyme studied for over seven decades has a hidden second function—it can unwind RNA and promote cell cycle progression, an additional function beyond its role in energy production, according to a new study ...
Phys.org / Whale song remix: Study shows that humpbacks shift pitch when a neighbor joins in
A humpback whale alters the pitch of its song when joined by a neighboring singer, a finding that opens a new chapter in the ongoing effort to understand whale song, some of the most structurally and acoustically complex ...
Phys.org / Structural modeling reveals phage proteins that manipulate bacterial immune signaling
The genomes of phages—viruses that infect bacteria—are largely composed of "dark matter": genes that encode proteins whose functions remain unknown. Less than four years ago, a team led by Prof. Rotem Sorek at the Weizmann ...
