Phys.org news

Imagine a sloth. You probably picture a medium-sized, tree-dwelling creature hanging from a branch. Today's sloths—commonly featured on children's backpacks, stationery and lunch boxes—are slow-moving creatures, living ...

The secretory pathway in eukaryotic cells is crucial for maintaining cellular function and physiological activities, as it ensures the accurate transport of proteins to specific subcellular locations or for secretion outside ...

Unless you've owned reptiles, you might not know that many of them "pee" crystals. Researchers publishing in the Journal of the American Chemical Society investigated the solid urine of more than 20 reptile species and found ...

A research group led by The University of Osaka has achieved a world-first in catalytic asymmetric synthesis, developing an innovative method for efficiently producing NOBIN, a valuable molecule used in pharmaceuticals.

Ants have evolved an acute sense of smell, which requires each sensory neuron to choose one scent receptor out of hundreds. In a new study published in Nature, researchers at New York University have discovered what ants ...

A radio pulsar is like a cosmic lighthouse, a highly dense, rapidly rotating star that emits beams of radio waves. If Earth happens to be in the path, a "pulse" of radio waves will be detected.

Farm size plays a crucial role in shaping food production systems and environmental outcomes. However, its long-term global trends have remained poorly understood.

One of the enduring ichthyological mysteries is how migratory fish know when it is time to move from their winter to summer habitats. The ability to tell when the seasons are changing is crucial for a wide range of major ...

The goal of gene therapy is to permanently cure hereditary diseases. One of the most promising technologies for this is the CRISPR/Cas system, colloquially known as gene scissors. These can cut and modify DNA in a targeted ...

Too much sun can ruin photosynthesis, scorching plants and other organisms that depend on capturing sunlight for energy. Beneath the waves, though, algae have found a clever shield.

Using simulations, robots, and live fish, scientists at EPFL and Duke University have replicated the neural circuitry that allows zebrafish to react to visual stimuli and maintain their position in flowing water. They provide ...

The pH, or the acidity or alkalinity of an environment, has long been known to affect how efficiently catalysts drive key electrochemical reactions. Yet despite decades of research, the atomic-scale mechanisms behind these ...