Phys.org news

In a dry riverbed in Brazil, in a dense forest near the Amazon, a team of paleontologists found a fossilized jawbone from an ancient animal. Over the course of their fieldwork, they found eight similar bones, each around ...

Past civilizations have been significantly affected by climate change, but how they adapted to new conditions centuries ago is less clear. In research newly published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, ...

Snakes may be best known for slithering. But consider that these animals also perform one of the most extreme feats of posture control found in nature: They can stand nearly straight upright on a narrow perch without falling, ...

Researchers have found that the size of the amygdala—a region of the brain involved in processing emotions—could be linked to social tolerance in macaque monkeys. Their research, published today in eLife, is described ...

Recently-revealed notebooks belonging to a late paleontologist contain the missing information needed to help researchers finish their study of a remarkable fossil discovered nearly three decades ago.

For decades, scientists have relied on tree rings to estimate how long trees can live. But new research suggests that this widely used method may have been underestimating the lifespan of many flowering trees—sometimes ...

After more than a decade of research, scientists have discovered the natural mechanism behind a novel form of cell death called ferroptosis. The work, described in the current issue of Cell, points toward an entirely new ...

When you reach the bottom of a container of milk or honey, you might be tempted to tip the container over to get that last pesky little bit out. After all, you only need another teaspoon for that recipe, and you're sure it's ...

Almost all plants live in close symbiosis with so-called mycorrhizal fungi—an important symbiosis for absorbing essential nutrients. In their new study, a team led by ecologist Christina Kaiser from the Center for Microbiology ...

University of Queensland researchers say Australia's reptiles are at risk of extinction because a little understood fungus is infecting species throughout the environment. Associate Professor Celine Frere from UQ's School ...

Scientists have analyzed more than 40 years of astronomical data to uncover evidence that the sun's internal structure subtly changes from one solar cycle minimum to the next. Publishing their findings in Monthly Notices ...

Scientists at TU Delft have designed a nanostring that, when poked, doesn't lose its energy to the environment immediately. Instead, the energy leaks out within the string, triggering a cascade of distinct vibrational modes. ...