Phys.org news
Phys.org / Himalayan pangolin emerges as distinct species, confirmed with DNA from 19th-century specimen
The pangolin is a midsize mammal found only in Africa and Asia. The pangolins' scales make them unique, but these scales have become their undoing. Pangolins are poached for their scales, making them the most highly trafficked ...
Phys.org / Woodcock charge deer to defend nests, footage reveals
American woodcock, short, plump shorebirds with long, thin beaks, are widely known for their bobbing stride and nasally "peent" calls, but not for being aggressive. Yet one April afternoon, when a deer sniffed around a woodcock ...
Phys.org / Superworms could be the future of skeleton cleaning
Superworms, a mealworm-like form of beetle larva commonly used as pet food, are efficient cleaners of skeletons, according to a study published in PLOS One by Fatemeh Rastekar of Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran, and ...
Phys.org / What made trees possible? New research points to drought
A study is reframing a fundamental question in plant evolution: What made trees possible? Researchers from Cal Poly Humboldt, Yale University, the University of Hohenheim in Germany and the Czech Academy of Sciences set out ...
Phys.org / Primate brains might have evolved to 'catch up' with larger bodies, but then kept growing
A new analysis supports the previously overlooked "brain lag" hypothesis—the idea that, in some primate lineages, the evolution of larger body size preceded the evolution of larger brain size—while also building on that hypothesis ...
Phys.org / Evolutionary origins of 'junk DNA' may provide new clues to cancer
In cancer research, one person's junk is increasingly becoming another person's treasure. Scientists have uncovered new evidence showing how recently evolved "junk DNA" genetic elements can become integrated into ancient ...
Phys.org / Scrolling for science: How a Twitter post discovered a new wasp in Fukuoka, Japan
The next time you post a nature photo online, you might be contributing to a major scientific breakthrough—just as several citizen scientists did when they helped discover the wasp Eupelmus curvator in Japan.
Phys.org / Beyond 3-D: Data scientists introduce novel AI tool to interpret complex biological data
As humans, our eyes take in two-dimensional images that our brains convert to three-dimensional experiences. This ability enables us to be aware of our position in space, judge distances, possess depth perception, and visually ...
Phys.org / Were Clovis foragers in Late Pleistocene North America big-game hunters, or just big-game scavengers?
There are currently 15 well-documented Late Pleistocene localities in North America in which Clovis points are found associated with proboscidean remains (of mammoth, mastodon and gomphothere). Archaeologists routinely assume ...
Phys.org / Orbit overload could devastate astronomy if 1.7 million proposed satellites brighten night sky
A new European Southern Observatory (ESO) study has found that current proposals to launch more than 1.7 million satellites into orbit, including extremely bright ones, would have "devastating consequences for astronomy." ...
Phys.org / How giant earthquakes can form at fault planes where theory says they should not
A research group led by Satoshi Ide from the University of Tokyo has demonstrated that classic earthquake generation theory does not hold in areas where the angle at which a tectonic plate dips under another is sufficiently ...
Phys.org / Researchers discover novel SRV2 envelope protein for efficient CAR immune cell production
A Korean research team has developed a new viral vector technology that significantly improves the production efficiency of next-generation cell and gene therapies known as CAR immune cell therapies, which are designed to ...
