Phys.org news
Phys.org / African frogs haven't forgotten the ice ages. Scientists can tell by where they live.
Why are frogs diverse in some parts of Africa's rainforests and less so in others? The patterns of cooling and glaciation during the last ice age would probably not have been your first answer or even your last-ditch guess, ...
Phys.org / Who got the meat? What 10,000 years of European bones suggest about diet inequality
Access to nutritious food is a fundamental pillar of human success, but such access has been unequal throughout history. In pre-industrial European societies, meat was a highly sought-after food, and access to it was often ...
Phys.org / Researchers clarify how cells remove damaged endoplasmic reticulum
The cell's endoplasmic reticulum (ER) plays a central role in protein synthesis, folding, and calcium (Ca²⁺) storage. When damaged, ER-phagy (self-eating) removes affected ER regions via double-membrane vesicles called autophagosomes. ...
Phys.org / Parabolic flight test shows lasers can propel graphene aerogels in microgravity
Lasers could one day steer solar sails and adjust a satellite's position in outer space, thanks to graphene. An experiment on a gravity rollercoaster ride showed how this innovative material has the potential to revolutionize ...
Phys.org / Fly ball: Drosophila can learn while playing with tiny spheres
For more than a century, the fruit fly has been a workhorse of the biological sciences that has helped scientists to make fundamental breakthroughs in fields such as genetics and neuroscience. As it turns out, human scientists ...
Phys.org / Molecular editing tool relocates alcohol groups to neighboring sites while preserving 3D structure
In a discovery recently published in Nature, MIT chemists led by Professor Alison Wendlandt have developed a precision technique that allows scientists to seamlessly relocate alcohol functional groups from one spot on a molecule ...
Phys.org / New spider species in the Amazon mimics parasitic fungus
An international research team, including the Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change (LIB), has described a new species of spider from the Ecuadorian Amazon: Taczanowskia waska. The species is characterized ...
Phys.org / When trees get 'sunburn': Study shows how young trees can handle the heat
Can our forests adapt to a hotter and drier future climate? Temperatures are predicted to rise up to 5°C compared to pre-industrial times. Forest management needs to adapt to these conditions, which requires a better understanding ...
Phys.org / Molecular 'leash' measures force-sensing protein activation at about 15 piconewtons
Researchers at the National University of Singapore (NUS) have built a molecular "leash" to pull directly on a force-sensing protein called Piezo1, and discovered it switches on at about 15 piconewtons, proving that it can ...
Phys.org / Phengite identified as key carrier of halogens into Earth's deep mantle
Surface volatiles—chemical substances that easily become gases or fluids at relatively low temperatures and pressures—are transported into Earth through subduction zones, with some being transported into the deep mantle and ...
Phys.org / Would you spread pain to be fair? fMRI study tests moral choices in ice water
When making ethical decisions, university students appear to prioritize fairness and the fate of the worst-off over either reducing total harm or obeying unconditional moral precepts, according to a study published in PNAS ...
Phys.org / How stem cell descendants preserve flexibility while maintaining distinct identities
Stem cells are the body's ultimate shape-shifters, sustaining tissues by balancing two competing demands: maintaining their own population and generating specialized descendants. In many tissues, some early descendants can ...
