Phys.org news
Phys.org / Robots could help kids conquer reading anxiety, a new study suggests
For many children, the transition from learning to read to reading to learn is a crucial and sometimes nervewracking milestone. Reading aloud in class is intended to foster fluency and confidence, but for many students, it ...
Phys.org / Research reveals how microplastics threaten Gulf of Mexico marine life
Critical wildlife habitats are exposed to pollution risk in the seas off the southern United States, with implications for human health and food security. "Most of the pollution comes from rivers and not from wastewater treatment ...
Phys.org / Climate change is driving fish stocks from countries' waters to the high seas, study finds
Fish and other marine organisms, though deeply affected by human activities, don't respect human borders. The ranges of many commercially important species in fact straddle the borders of countries' exclusive economic zones ...
Phys.org / Measuring electron pulses for future compact ultra-bright X-ray sources
In a step toward making ultra-bright X-ray sources more widely available, an international collaboration led by the University of Michigan—with experiments at the U.K.'s Central Laser Facility—has mapped key aspects of ...
Phys.org / Triggering RNA activation on demand: Strategy expands options for therapeutics and gene editing
National University of Singapore (NUS) researchers have devised a method to safely and temporarily "switch off" and then "turn on" ribonucleic acid (RNA) inside cells. This is achieved using structurally optimized disulfide-containing ...
Phys.org / Enzyme analysis shows how microbes regulate methane balance
Research by microbiologists Martijn Wissink and Cornelia Welte of Radboud University, among others, is helping us understand how microorganisms regulate the methane balance. The scientists have demonstrated how a methane-converting ...
Phys.org / As farm jobs decline worldwide, food industry work holds surprisingly steady
As economies expand, people don't just eat more food—they eat differently. A sweeping new study covering nearly three decades and 189 countries finds that while traditional farm jobs decline as nations grow wealthier, employment ...
Phys.org / When magnets cannot agree: Quantum mechanics deciphers iron catalyst
Catalysts are indispensable for the large-scale production of many chemicals, as they accelerate chemical reactions. Some of them contain metal atoms such as iron as key building blocks. The electrons of each individual iron ...
Phys.org / Crowded conditions muddle frogs' mating choices
Female treefrogs prefer a mate with an impressive call, but the crowded environments give unattractive males an edge, according to a new international study led by Assistant Professor Jessie Tanner of the University of Tennessee, ...
Phys.org / Unusual molecular conformation could help explain RNA's versatility
Despite being made from a relatively simple set of building blocks, ribonucleic acid (RNA) has a broad array of complex responsibilities. From providing structure to carrying the instructions for regulating genes and translating ...
Phys.org / Researchers capture new antibiotic resistance mechanisms with trace amounts of DNA
Scientists from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have developed a method to isolate genes from amounts of microbial DNA so tiny that it would take 20,000 samples to weigh as much as a single grain of sugar.
Phys.org / Converging development: How cell paths unite in the embryo
By tracking the fate of individual embryonic stem cells, researchers have found that endoderm cells—early embryonic cells that give rise to tissues such as the gut and lungs—originate from multiple converging developmental ...
