Phys.org news

Phys.org / Ecological factors, not social behavior, explain brain size in cephalopods

Octopuses, squid and cuttlefish may have evolved large brains because of the challenges posed by their environments rather than the demands of social life, according to a new study published in iScience today.

13 hours ago
Phys.org / Nanozymes map nanoparticle routes inside live cells without genetic engineering

Nanoparticles are widely used in medicine to deliver drugs, genes or imaging agents to specific parts of the body. Once a nanoparticle reaches a cell, however, many things can happen—it can reach its target, be degraded, ...

12 hours ago
Phys.org / Coral loss may erase up to $3 billion in Hawaiʻi reef recreation by 2100

Coral reef decline driven by climate change could cost Hawaiʻi residents between $1.8 billion and $3 billion in lost reef-related activities by 2100, according to a new study published in Ecological Economics. The research ...

13 hours ago
Phys.org / More Canadian than the beaver? Scientists discover a western toad found only in Canada

The beaver and moose may be enduring symbols of Canadian wildlife, but neither is uniquely Canadian from a genetic perspective. But a team of researchers from the University of Ottawa has now discovered something rare: a ...

13 hours ago
Phys.org / Zero-waste plastic and color recycling: The end of colored plastic downgrading could be near

In the world of market competition, having the best and brightest package could send company sales into the millions. On the other hand, the amount of colored plastic waste increases, adding to the growing challenge of recycling ...

13 hours ago
Phys.org / Scientists uncover why Antarctica became engulfed by ice millions of years before the Arctic

Scientists have uncovered why Antarctica became engulfed by ice millions of years before the Arctic. The international research, published in Science, helps solve one of climate science's longest-standing puzzles: how a vast ...

18 hours ago
Phys.org / Could 'Trojan horse'-type microorganisms that exploit symbiotic systems be candidates for new biological pesticides?

Researchers at National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), in collaboration with researchers from The University of Electro-Communications (UEC) and Akita Prefectural University, have discovered ...

14 hours ago
Phys.org / Synchronized infrared lasers control molecular shape changes and expose hidden fingerprints

Researchers from the Molecular Physics and Physical Chemistry departments of the Fritz Haber Institute have shown how two highly synchronized infrared (IR) laser beams can control molecules as they switch between different ...

13 hours ago
Phys.org / Single ion maps 3D electromagnetic fields above chips with record sensitivity

Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a method that uses a single ion to detect electromagnetic fields above a surface and to create a three-dimensional map of them. In the future, this approach can be used to improve ...

13 hours ago
Phys.org / How signals in the embryo tell cells what to become: A lab's final discovery

Getting it over the finish line was a labor of love—and now, more than five years after her death, the lab of former Sloan Kettering Institute Developmental Biology Chair Kathryn Anderson, Ph.D., is publishing its final study.

15 hours ago
Phys.org / Purine-heavy DNA sequences protect Bacillus subtilis genes from Rho termination

In the study of bacteria, a longstanding dogma has held that two molecular machines—RNA polymerase, which leads the way in transcribing DNA into RNA, and ribosomes, which bring up the rear translating RNA into proteins—worked ...

14 hours ago
Phys.org / Brown leaves before fall could signal lasting heat damage, researchers warn

Due to increasing heat and drought, forests are turning brown more often before autumn, when leaf senescence normally occurs. It is often unclear whether the trees are actively shedding foliage to avoid a breakdown in water ...

14 hours ago