Phys.org news
Phys.org / Table sugar could hold a cheaper, quicker key to making vital drugs
Pioneering research has developed a new way of creating carbohydrate-based medicines that could ultimately replace costly drugs for common health conditions, using two cheap basic ingredients—table sugar and vinegar.
Phys.org / Cochlea network model reveals how inner ear may sort sound from noise
Over 70 million people in the U.S. are impacted by hearing loss, and age-related hearing loss is the second most common health problem in older adults, according to the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health. However, ...
Phys.org / This tiny organism contracts 200 times faster than we can blink—here's how
A tiny, aquatic, single-celled organism can contract to one-quarter of its body length in less than 5 milliseconds—hundreds of times faster than a human can blink. Researchers have discovered that the organism, Spirostomum ...
Phys.org / Urban growth may slow by 2100, leaving big cities smaller than expected
The world is urbanizing fast. In 1975, about 11% of the global population lived in cities with more than 1 million inhabitants. "Today, we estimate that share to be about 24%," says Andrea Musso, junior fellow at the Complexity ...
Phys.org / New cellular model for rare and deadly melanomas enables study of immunotherapy resistance
A research team at the University of Turku in Finland has developed a reliable laboratory model to study BAP1-deficient melanomas, which are a rare type of melanoma that evade the immune system once they have metastasized ...
Phys.org / Why people worldwide see some mental abilities as inborn and others as learned
When does a child begin to reason? When do they develop self-control? Are some mental abilities present from birth, while others are acquired through experience? Questions like these have fascinated philosophers, educators ...
Phys.org / When mitochondria grow abnormally long, leaked RNA may activate anti-tumor immune responses
Researchers from the University of Osaka have demonstrated that mitochondrial hyperfusion, when induced by low levels of DRP1 or cellular stress, activates an immune response through the RIG-I–MAVS pathway. Dependent on the ...
Phys.org / Nova V612 Scuti's light curve becomes audio, revealing how stellar shocks evolved
Researchers in the Department of Physics & Astronomy at Texas Tech University recently used audio to represent the spectacular explosion of a star in deep space while also delving into the data to better understand how the ...
Phys.org / Spiders benefit from seemingly monotonous forests
In ecology, the principle holds that the more diverse and heterogeneous a habitat is, the more different species it supports. To promote species diversity in forests, clearings are therefore created for nature conservation ...
Phys.org / UV light patterns thermochromic crystals without damage, unlocking color-changing designs
Color-changing mood rings, forehead fever strips and car-shade indicators all change hues as they warm and cool, thanks to a phenomenon called thermochromism. On a smaller scale, thermochromism is used in nanotechnologies ...
Phys.org / Cyclic sealing and drainage on the Gofar Oceanic Transform Fault revealed
Oceanic transform faults are strike-slip boundaries—faults that move horizontally rather than up and down and connect offset mid-ocean ridge segments. They have long been regarded as simple "conservative" plate boundaries ...
Phys.org / Understudied enzyme helps S. aureus pathogen prosper, study finds
A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has offered insight into how Staphylococcus aureus, a major human pathogen, fine-tunes its internal machinery to survive stress and potentially ...
