Phys.org news
Phys.org / Uncovering how Cryptococcus shifts from silent infection to killer fungus
For most healthy people, Cryptococcus is an unnoticed infection. The immune system walls it off in the lungs and keeps it dormant for life. But in patients undergoing cancer chemotherapy, recovering from an organ transplant, ...
Phys.org / 'Lying mirror' uses structured surfaces to conceal optical information
Mirrors normally reveal what is placed in front of them, even when their curvature distorts a reflection. Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) have introduced a different optical concept: a "lying ...
Phys.org / New species of mountain horned dragon identified in Thailand's high-altitude forests
Scientists have described a new species of lizard from the high mountain forests of western Thailand and have given it a name straight out of an American fantasy drama television series: Acanthosaura syrax, named after Syrax, ...
Phys.org / Real-time measurements reveal antiferromagnetic skyrmions move in line with an applied current
Skyrmions—essentially magnetic vortices—represent a promising approach in spintronics; in the future, they could serve as components in storage media or computers, potentially complementing established CMOS technologies. ...
Phys.org / Climate change could mean four extra hours of extreme heat on hot days
Hot days could gain more than four additional hours of extreme heat by the end of the 21st century under a high-emissions scenario, according to a modeling study published in Nature Climate Change. The findings show that ...
Phys.org / Fermentation emerges as key pathway for ammonium production beneath the Pearl River Delta
A study led by Professor Jimmy Jiujiu Jiao from the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at The University of Hong Kong (HKU) and Professor Meng Li from Shenzhen University has identified microbial fermentation as the ...
Phys.org / Slow spin could explain why planets become hellish
Hundreds of Venus-like planets could soon help determine why some worlds become sweltering greenhouse hellscapes while others remain capable of supporting life. But before answering that question, scientists first need to ...
Phys.org / Ticklish spots are shared across cultures, but why they are ticklish is more complex than it seems
People from different cultural backgrounds are tickled in remarkably similar ways. They laugh, resist and are usually tickled by family members or friends. They are also ticklish in the same body regions. These are among ...
Phys.org / Vitamin B12 corrects developmental defects in Verheij syndrome worm model
Verheij syndrome is a rare genetic disorder caused by the impairment of splicing, a critical process in RNA processing. Using the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Biology ...
Phys.org / Corn-stalk sugars feed new bacterial strain designed to make useful chemicals
Engineers have developed a strain of a common bacterial species that can feed exclusively on the three major sugars present in corn stalks. While the new multiple-sugar-consuming strain of the bacterium Pseudomonas putida ...
Phys.org / Using salt to drive drug-carrying particles deeper into difficult-to-treat biofilms
Biofilms—bacterial communities encased in a sticky, polymer-rich matrix—can be difficult to treat because that matrix slows antibiotics and drug-carrying particles. With help from salt, though, Yale researchers have found ...
Phys.org / When fever isn't the answer: Infected tadpoles cool themselves to fight viruses
Fever is one of the best-known mechanisms by which animals combat infectious diseases. Sick animals can increase their body temperature in two ways: through physiological regulation, by altering internal metabolic processes, ...
