Phys.org news
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 ...
Phys.org / Medieval images may have triggered imagined soundscapes, reshaping how viewers experienced saints
In cathedrals, such as Canterbury Cathedral in England, colorful stained glass and illustrated hagiographies tell the stories of saints through vivid visual narratives, inviting viewers into richly detailed scenes. Sometimes, ...
Phys.org / One overlooked mineral may have quietly powered a crucial step toward life on early Earth
Manganese dioxide can convert amino acids into hydrogen cyanide (HCN) without requiring methane, a finding that solves a long-standing puzzle about the origin of this key prebiotic molecule on early Earth. Although HCN is ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
Phys.org / Standardized runoff dataset could improve forecasts of urban microplastic pollution
As rain falls, lurking within stormwater runoff are hidden microplastics, polluting the water sources they drain into. Even though microplastics originate in urban environments such as cities, existing data sets focus on ...
Phys.org / Massive reef expansion 20 million years ago may explain modern coral life's origins
New research published in Science Advances reveals that the largest expansion of coral reefs in the past 100 million years happened about 20 to 10 million years ago, between Australia and Southeast Asia.
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 ...
Phys.org / Feeding shift may have steered 55 pilot whales toward Scotland mass stranding
New research, focused on the feeding behavior of long-finned pilot whales, has shed light on one of Scotland's largest mass stranding events. The study, led by the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme (SMASS) based at ...
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 ...
Phys.org / Snow cover on Greek mountains has more than halved in four decades, study finds
Snow cover in the mountains of Greece—an important water source for communities, agriculture and natural ecosystems during the dry summer months—has more than halved over the past four decades, a study has found.
