Phys.org news
Phys.org / This genetic trick gives woodrats an evolutionary advantage against rattlesnake venom
Woodrats weigh less than half a pound but can survive venomous rattlesnake bites that would hospitalize, or even kill, a full-grown human.
Phys.org / A 'scientific sandbox' lets researchers explore the evolution of vision systems
Why did humans evolve the eyes we have today? While scientists can't go back in time to study the environmental pressures that shaped the evolution of the diverse vision systems that exist in nature, a new computational framework ...
Phys.org / Q&A: Climate shifts drove carnivores' evolution from mongoose-like ancestors to diverse forms
The ancestors of our furry cats and dogs once looked similar to today's modern mongoose, a mammal with a long body and small, round ears. In fact, all members of the order Carnivora, which includes a variety of mammalian ...
Phys.org / Decaying dark matter: Unidentified X-ray emission lines in galaxy cluster spectra may point the way
Scientists search for "decaying" dark matter (DDM) because it offers unique signatures like specific X-ray or gamma-ray lines or neutrino signals not seen in normal matter, potentially revealing dark matter's particle nature, ...
Phys.org / New fossil study illuminates the evolutionary success of frogs
A new study led by UCC paleontologists discovered that frogs have conserved their ecology in the last 45 million years. The research is published in the journal iScience.
Phys.org / In echo of Jurassic Park, mosquitoes capture entire ecosystems in their blood meals
Jurassic Park—and its never-ending sequels and spinoffs—starts with a basic premise: extracting the DNA of long-dead dinosaurs from mosquitoes frozen in amber.
Phys.org / Warmer ocean currents significantly destabilize ice sheets, driving their retreat
New research reveals how ocean warming triggered the large-scale retreat of the Northeast Greenland Ice Stream (NEGIS)—offering vital clues for understanding its modern-day vulnerability.
Phys.org / New fossil lungfish from Yunnan sheds light on critical stage of early vertebrate evolution
A research team led by Prof. Zhu Min—a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and affiliated with the CAS Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP)—has identified a new species of fossil ...
Phys.org / LLMs unleash AI's potential for autonomous and explainable materials discovery
Discovering new inorganic materials is central to advancing technologies in catalysis, energy storage, semiconductors, and more. But finding a material with just the right properties is extremely difficult. What if an AI ...
Phys.org / Listen to grandma—life's not a zero-sum game
Some situations in life are zero-sum. On Super Bowl Sunday, two teams take the field but only one will emerge victorious, Vince Lombardi Trophy in hand. In a presidential election, only one candidate can win enough votes ...
Phys.org / Genetic teamwork may be the secret to climate-resilient plants
A plant's success may depend on how well the three sets of genetic instructions it carries in its cells cooperate, according to a new study led by plant scientists at Penn State. In an analysis of the hybrids of two crossbred ...
Phys.org / Quantum mechanical molecular 'fingerprints' solve machine learning mystery
There is more than one way to describe a water molecule, especially when communicating with a machine learning (ML) model, says chemist Robert DiStasio. You can feed the algorithm the molecule's structural information: two ...
