Phys.org news
Phys.org / Toward experiment-guided AlphaFold: Researchers overcome AI tool's single-conformation limitation
The AI-based program AlphaFold predicts a protein's 3D structure with remarkable accuracy. However, it tends to reduce heterogeneous structures to a single dominant conformation, or shape, and overlooks experimental conditions ...
Phys.org / Childbirth is not uniquely difficult to humans
The tight fit of a baby's head through a mother's birth canal, which causes great difficulty in childbirth, is not unique to humans, as previously understood. Instead, some small-bodied primate babies have heads almost twice ...
Phys.org / A goat's tooth may have solved a 100‑year debate about ancient Greek farming
The agricultural economy was the backbone of wealth in ancient Greece. Food brought people together, whether in smaller groups at a wine-drinking symposium or the entire community in a sacrificial feast of epic proportions. ...
Phys.org / Great Barrier Reef drilling reveals repeated collapse, regrowth and migration since last ice age
An international expedition including University of Sydney researchers has pieced together the clearest picture yet of how the Great Barrier Reef responded to dramatic environmental change over the past 30,000 years. Multiple ...
Phys.org / Analyzing avalanches on asteroid Vesta offers new method for understanding regolith processes
A study conducted at the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris uses images from NASA's Dawn mission and a Bayesian inversion of the Hapke photometric model to analyze avalanches and ejecta deposits on the asteroid Vesta. ...
Phys.org / There may be 3 times more insect species than previously thought
A new estimate of insect species globally finds that there may be 8 million to 14 million more species than people thought, with few of them discovered.
Phys.org / Cultural values may decide when comforting others feels like real support
When someone you love is upset, your first instinct may be to comfort them. To reassure them. To make them feel better. But what if that instinct isn't universal?
Phys.org / Decline in plankton across Northeast Atlantic sends stark warning for ocean health
Microscopic plankton are among the most important organisms on Earth. Phytoplankton produce around half of the oxygen we breathe, while plankton as a whole underpin marine food webs, support fisheries, help regulate carbon ...
Phys.org / Cochlea network model reveals how inner ear may sort sound from noise
Over 70 million people in the U.S. are impacted by hearing loss, and age-related hearing loss is the second most common health problem in older adults, according to the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health. However, ...
Phys.org / Table sugar could hold a cheaper, quicker key to making vital drugs
Pioneering research has developed a new way of creating carbohydrate-based medicines that could ultimately replace costly drugs for common health conditions, using two cheap basic ingredients—table sugar and vinegar.
Phys.org / Urban growth may slow by 2100, leaving big cities smaller than expected
The world is urbanizing fast. In 1975, about 11% of the global population lived in cities with more than 1 million inhabitants. "Today, we estimate that share to be about 24%," says Andrea Musso, junior fellow at the Complexity ...
Phys.org / This tiny organism contracts 200 times faster than we can blink—here's how
A tiny, aquatic, single-celled organism can contract to one-quarter of its body length in less than 5 milliseconds—hundreds of times faster than a human can blink. Researchers have discovered that the organism, Spirostomum ...
