Phys.org news
Phys.org / Fungal allies arm plant roots against disease by rewriting the rules of infection
Scientists have discovered that beneficial root-dwelling fungi boost plant resilience to disease by remodeling the plant cell membrane at pathogen infection sites—offering critical new insights into how plants coordinate ...
Phys.org / Tracing a path through photosynthesis to food security
The energy that plants capture from sunlight through photosynthesis provides the source of nearly all of humanity's food. Yet the process of photosynthesis has inefficiencies that limit crop productivity, especially in a ...
Phys.org / How to build a genome: Scientists release troubleshooting manual for synthetic life
Leading synthetic biologists have shared hard-won lessons from their decade-long quest to build the world's first synthetic eukaryotic genome in a Nature Biotechnology paper. Their insights could accelerate development of ...
Phys.org / Astronomers create first map of the sun's outer boundary
Astronomers have produced the first continuous, two-dimensional maps of the outer edge of the sun's atmosphere, a shifting, frothy boundary that marks where solar winds escape the sun's magnetic grasp. By combining the maps ...
Phys.org / Popular song lyrics have become more negative since 1973, analysis reveals
Over the past 50 years, the lyrics of popular songs in the U.S. have become simpler, more negative, and contain more stress-related words, according to an analysis published in Scientific Reports. The authors suggest that ...
Phys.org / Chinese intertidal shellfish farming: An unexpected fuel station for millions of migrating shorebirds
China's tidal flats feed people and mollusk-eating migrating shorebirds such as red knots, great knots and Eurasian oystercatchers. Under good management, these flats used for aquaculture markedly reduce human disturbance ...
Phys.org / Widespread sediments beneath Greenland make its ice more vulnerable to warming
In an age of rising sea levels, as polar ice sheets melt in a climate warmed by fossil fuel emissions, climate modelers are racing to understand what the future might hold for coastlines around the world. But uncertainties ...
Phys.org / How extreme weather events affect agricultural trade between US states
The U.S. is largely self-sufficient in agricultural food production, supported by a well-developed storage and interstate trade system. However, extreme weather events put increasing pressure on agriculture, potentially impacting ...
Phys.org / A biochip built for the next pandemic can test dozens of viral antigens at once
In 2020, as scientists around the world were racing to understand COVID-19, Prof. Roy Bar-Ziv and his team at the Weizmann Institute of Science started developing a DNA chip that could not only quickly show how our immune ...
Phys.org / Orca tail dolphins to hunt salmon—and may share the catch
Killer whales or orca (Orcinus orca) have been observed hunting with Pacific white-sided dolphins (Lagenorhynchus obliquidens) in the waters off British Columbia, Canada, and sharing fish scraps with them after making a kill, ...
Phys.org / Twisting spins: Researchers explore chemical boundaries to create new magnetic material
Florida State University researchers have created a new crystalline material with unusual magnetic patterns that could be used for breakthroughs in data storage and quantum technologies.
Phys.org / Lab-developed mosquitoes prevent malaria parasite development, paving way for future field trials
In a new study published in Nature, scientists have successfully developed genetically modified mosquitoes in Tanzania that block the transmission of malaria. The team includes researchers from the Ifakara Health Institute ...
