Phys.org news
Phys.org / Life speaks one universal language to activate genes: It speaks many more to silence them
The signals that cells use to switch genes on have remained almost unchanged across 2 billion years of evolution, but the ones used to switch genes off vary dramatically from one branch of life to another, according to a ...
Phys.org / How simple amber lights could make nights safer for insects
Approximately 40% of insect species worldwide are thought to be in decline and under threat of extinction. Among the key causes are habitat loss, pollution and climate change. Another threat is artificial light from sources ...
Phys.org / Laid to rest with care: Ancient infants, perhaps twins, found in 1,200-year-old latrine
More than 1,000 years ago, two babies were tucked away in an abandoned Roman toilet channel. Yet, despite what the location suggests, they were cherished, not discarded.
Phys.org / Webb reveals warped structure in nearby TW Hydrae's protoplanetary disk
Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers obtained high-contrast coronagraphic images of the protoplanetary disk around the young, nearby star TW Hydrae. Results of the observational campaign, published July ...
Phys.org / DESI side project reveals the spectra of disintegrated exoplanets
Using spectral data from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), astronomers have gained some of the clearest evidence yet that white dwarf stars are accreting debris from disintegrating exoplanets. Captured while ...
Phys.org / Newly unearthed mechanism that helps plants 'feel full' could help crops use fertilizer more efficiently
New York University researchers have pinpointed the molecular players responsible for plants "feeling full" once they've taken up enough nitrogen—a finding that could help scientists develop plants that absorb more nitrogen ...
Phys.org / A cooperative approach to reproductive success
Fertilization is often imagined as a frantic race, with millions of sperm competing for a single prize. But new research by a team of evolutionary biologists from Syracuse University, the University of Siena in Italy and ...
Phys.org / New microscopy method achieves angstrom-scale localization precision with one laser
Researchers in the lab of Sam Peng, the Pfizer Inc.–Gerald Laubach Career Development Assistant Professor of Chemistry at MIT and a core institute member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, have developed a super-resolution ...
Phys.org / Climate change could dramatically reduce water flowing from the West's headwaters
The small mountain streams that feed many of the West's rivers may face a much drier future. A new study led by NAU researchers found that groundwater-fed streamflow, known as base flow, has been steadily declining across ...
Phys.org / Supergene solves evolutionary puzzle of mirror-image flowers
The left-right asymmetry of South African butterfly lilies (genus Wachendorfia) has been regarded as a classic evolutionary puzzle for more than a century. Due to the mirror-image arrangement of the floral parts, the plants ...
Phys.org / Why some nitrogen-processing enzymes are more efficient than others
Nitrogen gas is abundant in Earth's atmosphere, but most living organisms can't readily use it. Only a subset of microbes with enzymes known as nitrogenases can break nitrogen gas apart and convert it into ammonia.
Phys.org / Smart sensor identifies present molecules by remembering the past
Most sensors are designed to do only one thing: detect what passes through them. But what if a sensor could do more? To create a new generation of technology, researchers have looked to living systems for inspiration. If ...
