Phys.org news

Phys.org / Compound in ginger and turmeric may disarm drug-resistant bacteria

Every year, antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, commonly known as staph, causes serious infections and outbreaks in hospitals and community settings, disproportionately affecting vulnerable populations, including ...

Apr 30, 2026
Phys.org / Water molecules found to actively drive gene transcription process

Researchers have uncovered a previously hidden layer of complexity in how genes are activated, showing that water molecules play a direct and essential role in one of the most fundamental processes in biology: DNA transcription.

Apr 30, 2026
Phys.org / Human cell map uncovers 90,000 interactions among 4 million gene pairs

How do our genes determine our appearance and our susceptibility to disease? This question is central to biomedical research, and today we can sequence thousands of human genomes to identify these genes. However, genes work ...

Apr 30, 2026
Phys.org / Light-activated protein illuminates when embryos can cope with disruptions to cell division

Cell division during the early stage of embryo development is a trade-off between speed and accuracy; the cells need to divide quickly to enable rapid growth, but it's important not to introduce errors that could be fatal ...

Apr 30, 2026
Phys.org / LHAASO discovers new extreme particle accelerator in the Milky Way

The Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO) has made a breakthrough in exploring the extreme universe. For the first time, the LHAASO collaboration has detected ultra-high-energy (UHE) gamma rays—with energies ...

Apr 30, 2026
Phys.org / Malaria parasite sneaks mRNA into immune cell nuclei, disrupting defenses

RNA technology is regarded as one of the newest frontiers in medicine, but in fact a primordial innovator got there way before we did. The malaria parasite, an ancient single-celled organism, has been using sophisticated ...

Apr 30, 2026
Phys.org / Superconducting quantum circuit simulates proton tunneling phenomenon in chemical systems

Researchers at Yale, Google, and the University of California-Santa Barbara have created a device that simulates the quantum "tunneling" behavior of protons that occurs in chemistry, a process so common it occurs in everything ...

Apr 30, 2026
Phys.org / Gene circuits reshape DNA folding and affect how genes are expressed, study finds

When a gene is turned on in a cell, it creates a ripple effect along the DNA strand, changing the physical structure of the strand. A new study by MIT researchers, appearing in Science, shows that these ripples can stimulate ...

Apr 30, 2026
Phys.org / Fungi utilize ancient antimicrobial proteins to attack hosts and their microbiomes, plant researchers discover

An international research team led by Cologne-based plant scientist Professor Dr. Bart Thomma from the Institute for Plant Sciences, the Collaborative Research Center MiBiNet and the CEPLAS Cluster of Excellence for Plant ...

Apr 30, 2026
Phys.org / Kangaroos chart 'upside-down' evolution

New research led by Flinders University argues thick tooth enamel helped kangaroos chart an unconventional evolution story, compared to the animals of other continents. A 50-million-year natural "experiment" among Australia's ...

Apr 30, 2026
Phys.org / Buried in soil, a 100-million-year-old bacterial toxin could reshape pest control and antibiotic discovery

In every backyard, park, and playground on Earth, the ground is teeming with a type of bacteria called Streptomyces—one of the most abundant organisms on the planet. While these dirt-dwelling microbes are known for producing ...

Apr 30, 2026
Phys.org / Rare Tyrian purple reveals elite Roman infant burials in York

Two infants buried in Roman York were laid to rest in costly purple cloth normally reserved for emperors and members of the aristocracy, new research reveals. The babies were wrapped in a fine textile of Tyrian purple embellished ...

Apr 30, 2026