Phys.org news
Phys.org / Which came first: The sponge or the comb jelly? Scientists weigh in
In the world of phylogenetics, there's team sponge and team comb jelly. Which creature roots the animal tree of life—the simple sponge or the more complex comb jelly—has stirred fierce debate among phylogeneticists, researchers ...
Phys.org / Eggplant pangenome and panphenome reveal diversity and adaptation potential
An international research collaboration, including INRAE, has published the complete set of genes (pangenome) and agronomic traits (panphenome) of the eggplant. Beyond the genome, this comprehensive collection encompasses ...
Phys.org / Mechanistic model can predict biological community development across ecosystems
Biological communities are rarely stable. Their composition is constantly changing, depending on the environmental conditions in the respective ecosystems—and sometimes this change is so vast that individual species completely ...
Phys.org / Bacterial scents from sick oaks attract beetles that worsen tree decline
The deadly decline of Britain's native oak trees may be driven by an unexpected accomplice: their own smell.
Phys.org / Coastal ocean acidification advancing faster than expected, threatening local economies
New research from the University of St Andrews has found that some coastal areas will become much more acidic than previously anticipated. With added atmospheric CO2, these areas are acidifying more quickly than thought, ...
Phys.org / Microbial network restructuring mitigates long-term soil carbon emissions from warming, decade-long study finds
Soils release approximately 40–60 petagrams (Pg) of carbon annually into the atmosphere through microbial metabolism. Climate warming is projected to further enhance soil microbial respiration, intensifying positive carbon–climate ...
Phys.org / Robust 'Huber mean' for geometric data protects against noise and outliers
In an era driven by complex data, scientists are increasingly encountering information that doesn't lie neatly on flat, Euclidean surfaces. From 3D medical scans to robot orientations and AI transformations, much of today's ...
Phys.org / Genomes of 24,000 previously unknown microbes revealed by new tools
QUT researchers have recovered the genomes of more than 24,000 previously unknown microbial species—some from entirely new branches of life that likely evolved before plants and animals. The microbes are detailed in two ...
Phys.org / How chromosomes separate accurately: Molecular 'scissors' caught in action
Cell division is a process of remarkable precision: during each cycle, the genetic material must be evenly distributed between the two daughter cells. To achieve this, duplicated chromosomes, known as sister chromatids, are ...
Phys.org / Microfluidic MISO platform enables high-resolution cryo-EM from minimal starting material
Researchers at the VIB-VUB Center for Structural Biology have developed a new microfluidics-based workflow that enables high-resolution cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM) structure determination from extremely small ...
Phys.org / Imaging method pinpoints microplastics in intact human tissue samples
While microplastic pollution continues to advance, research into its possible effects on health remains hampered by technical hurdles. To date, there are no suitable methods for precisely identifying the particles in the ...
Phys.org / Hybridization helps mountain birds adapt to climate change, study finds
Climate change is driving drastic environmental shifts and accelerating global biodiversity loss. Hybrid introgression has recently emerged as a key mechanism enabling rapid adaptation to historical climate change. Yet empirical ...
