Phys.org news

Phys.org / Drone-mounted lab monitors fertilizer runoff in real time

What if, instead of taking a water or soil sample to the lab, you could take the lab to the sample? That's what a team of researchers reporting in ACS Sensors did with a new nitrate-monitoring "lab-on-a-drone" system. The ...

Dec 17, 2025 in Earth
Phys.org / From prey to predator: How carnivores spread beneficial fungi

Animals help disperse seeds and spores for many plant and fungal species. This typically happens when animals eat the fruiting bodies of plants and fungi and pass seeds and spores through their digestive systems.

Dec 17, 2025 in Biology
Phys.org / Chemists develop unique tool for studying RNA in live cells

An innovative three-color method for capturing images of mRNA inside live mammalian cells has been developed by UMass Amherst chemists. Because RNA is both incredibly important to human life and health and poorly understood, ...

Dec 17, 2025 in Chemistry
Phys.org / Detailed cell map unlocks secrets of how reproductive organs form

New research has mapped the cell types that specialize to form reproductive organs in both sexes, identifying key genes and signals that drive this process. The findings offer important insights into conditions affecting ...

Dec 17, 2025 in Biology
Phys.org / Enzyme disables bacterial toxin by cleaving key chemical ring structure

A research team at Leibniz-HKI has described a new enzyme that renders the highly toxic molecule malleicyprol harmless. Malleicyprol is considered an important virulence factor of Burkholderia bacteria, which causes, among ...

Dec 17, 2025 in Chemistry
Phys.org / Data bias reduces reliability of AI models predicting antimicrobial resistance

Experts are increasingly turning to machine learning to predict antibiotic resistance in pathogens. With its help, resistance mechanisms can be identified based on a pathogen's genetics. However, the results should be viewed ...

Dec 17, 2025 in Biology
Phys.org / Low-temperature greenhouse gas conversion: Direct current reveals charge-driven mechanism

Catalytic dry reforming of methane (DRM) offers a promising strategy for the sustainable utilization of greenhouse gases, CH4 and CO2. However, its practical application has long been hampered by severe catalyst deactivation ...

Dec 17, 2025 in Chemistry
Phys.org / Model reveals tradeoffs that limit harm caused by malaria parasite

Why do parasites harm their hosts? That's a question evolutionary biologists ask as they try to predict how a parasite might evolve and perhaps become more lethal in response to control methods, such as vaccines or drug treatments.

Dec 17, 2025 in Biology
Phys.org / How the ocean's most abundant bacteria diversify into ecologically distinct groups

A study led by the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa's Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB) has revealed critical new details about one of the ocean's most abundant life forms—SAR11 marine bacteria. Understanding ...

Dec 17, 2025 in Biology
Phys.org / Possible 'superkilonova' exploded not once but twice

When the most massive stars reach the ends of their lives, they blow up in spectacular supernova explosions, which seed the universe with heavy elements such as carbon and iron. Another type of explosion—the kilonova—occurs ...

Dec 16, 2025 in Astronomy & Space
Phys.org / What's powering these mysterious, bright blue cosmic flashes? Astronomers find a clue

Among the more puzzling cosmic phenomena discovered over the past few decades are brief and very bright flashes of blue and ultraviolet light that gradually fade away, leaving behind faint X-ray and radio emissions. With ...

Dec 16, 2025 in Astronomy & Space
Phys.org / Pahon Cave provides a look into 5,000 years of surprisingly stable Stone Age tool use

The Pahon Cave in Gabon offers archaeologists a well-preserved look into the Late Stone Age time period in central Africa, thanks to the stratified layers of guano-based sediment. This is in contrast with much of the surrounding ...

Dec 16, 2025 in Other Sciences