Phys.org news
Phys.org / Harsh UVB bursts leave tadpoles with more DNA damage than longer exposure
Sunburn is a serious problem in the Southern Hemisphere, where depleted ozone provides less protection from UVB. Tadpoles are at particular risk because they are growing rapidly, making them vulnerable to UVB DNA damage. ...
Phys.org / How much do friends influence teens' mental health? What a new study can (and can't) tell us
During adolescence, young people become especially sensitive to peer influence—more so than at any other time in life. So how does this affect their mental health?
Phys.org / Microtubules in ovarian cell bridges may be key to fertility
Female fertility depends on the successful growth and maturation of eggs (oocytes) within ovarian follicles. Within these follicles, the oocyte is surrounded by granulosa cells that supply nutrients, signaling molecules and ...
Phys.org / More colorful songbirds face higher extinction risk
In the humid jungle of Vietnam, Natalia Ocampo-Peñuela and Monte Neate-Clegg spent hours patiently waiting to spot the rare "Halloween bird." Officially known as the collared laughingthrush, this songbird has striking orange, ...
Phys.org / Light flips bacterial signaling enzyme between two shapes, unlocking how signals travel
Researchers at the University of Bayreuth and Forschungszentrum Jülich have demonstrated that specific light-sensitive enzymes—so-called sensor histidine kinases (SHKs)—transmit their signal through a light-controlled change ...
Phys.org / TESS just found a planet in a new way—and more may be hiding in its eight years of data
For the first time, NASA's TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) mission has identified a planet orbiting a distant star thanks to its warping of space-time. Unlike the star-hugging transiting planets TESS regularly ...
Phys.org / DNA-based nanoswitch can flip in milliseconds and stay in one state for days without continuous forcing
Scientists have engineered a nanoscale switch using DNA "origami." Inspired by macroscale mechanical switches, the device achieves long-term functionality without the continuous forcing mechanism that past versions required ...
Phys.org / 400-year-old painting reveals a bat's secret diet
Natural historians have many observational techniques in their toolkit for learning about the natural world: tagging animals with tracking devices, recording sounds, analyzing droppings or simply watching and counting. As ...
Phys.org / How a giant planet survived its star's death, then migrated inward
When astronomers discovered a giant planet orbiting a dead star in 2020, they wondered how it survived its star's violent demise. Now, observations from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) may finally explain the planet's ...
Phys.org / Algae may have launched coral reefs by hijacking coral cells, genetic experiments suggest
The reefs scattered throughout the tropics arose only after algae took up full-time residence in coral cells, supplying corals with abundant food and enabling them to build extensive shallow-water communities. But with warming ...
Phys.org / Mismatched work–life boundaries while working from home can push couples toward breaking up
The COVID-19 pandemic transformed the way people work, making remote and work-from-home (WFH) jobs far more common than ever before. Even after social distancing ended, many companies and employees chose to stick with this ...
Phys.org / Hidden for decades, hospital superbug built resistance in waves, peaking in the mid‑2000s
Decades-old hospital samples have helped University of East Anglia (UEA) researchers uncover how a deadly antibiotic-resistant "superbug" quietly tightened its grip across the globe. It lurked in hospital corridors for decades, ...
