Phys.org news
Phys.org / Air pollution causes social instability in ant colonies, triggering attacks on returning nest mates
A research team from the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology has shown in a new study that ants returning from habitats affected by air pollution are attacked when they re-enter the colony. The cause: air pollution, ...
Phys.org / Resilience bonds could serve as an insurance solution to address climate change risks
Researchers with Lehigh University's Center for Catastrophe Modeling and Resilience, led by anthropologist David G. Casagrande, have identified two urgent challenges the United States faces in adapting to climate change: ...
Phys.org / Two-step approach creates more sustainable protein nanostructures for advanced sensing and therapeutics
Gas vesicles are among the largest known protein nanostructures produced and assembled inside microbial cells. These hollow, air-filled cylindrical nanostructures found in certain aquatic microbes have drawn increasing interest ...
Phys.org / AI mapping reveals over 20,000 malaria protein interactions across parasite life cycle
An international research team headed by scientists from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore and the Center for Structural Systems Biology and Bernhard-Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine in Germany has revealed ...
Phys.org / New class of catalysts could dramatically change playing field in nickel catalysis
Researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have reported a breakthrough in nickel catalysis that harnesses a rare oxidation state of nickel that has proved challenging to control yet is highly valued for its ...
Phys.org / How bacteria learned to target numerous cell types
Viruses attack nearly every living organism on Earth. To do so, they rely on highly specialized proteins that recognize and bind to receptors on the surface of target cells, a molecular arms race that drives constant evolution. ...
Phys.org / Nanotubes with lids mimic real biology
When water and ions move together through channels only a nanometer wide, they behave in unusual ways. In these tight spaces, water molecules line up in single file. This forces ions to shed some of the water molecules that ...
Phys.org / Bigger is not always better: Smaller leaves optimize light use in soybeans
In efforts to better understand how soybean plants capture and use light, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign investigated how leaf size and shape affect light distribution within the crop canopy. Using ...
Phys.org / New formula unravels vines' parasitic nature
Twisting upwardly on trees and other plants—along with houses and even lampposts—vines are a wonder of nature. However, their marvels mask their parasitic behavior: in attaching to other life forms, vines block sunlight ...
Phys.org / Analyzing an enigmatic enzyme with potential for new antibiotic drug discovery
An analysis of an unusual enzyme could result in a new generation of antimicrobial medicines to counter antibiotic resistance. Key details in the enzyme-driven biosynthesis of a natural molecule with potent antibiotic activity ...
Phys.org / 'Northwest Passage' mechanism of bile acid transport reveals a voltage-dependent pathway
In a study published in Nature on January 28, a research team led by Eric H. Xu (Xu Huaqiang) from the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, along with Ma Xiong from Renji Hospital, determined ...
Phys.org / Biologists discover alternative systems that help cells control genes
Researchers at the School of Biological Sciences of The University of Hong Kong (HKU) have uncovered how eukaryotic cells can control gene activity even after losing one of their major gene-regulatory systems during evolution. ...
