Phys.org news

Nearly 660 kilometers (410 miles) beneath Earth's surface lies one of the planet's most important internal boundaries. Known as the 660-km seismic discontinuity, it separates the mantle transition zone from the lower mantle ...

In the study of bacteria, a longstanding dogma has held that two molecular machines—RNA polymerase, which leads the way in transcribing DNA into RNA, and ribosomes, which bring up the rear translating RNA into proteins—worked ...

Due to increasing heat and drought, forests are turning brown more often before autumn, when leaf senescence normally occurs. It is often unclear whether the trees are actively shedding foliage to avoid a breakdown in water ...

Inside every cell are lipid molecules that make up cellular membranes, helping organelles communicate and respond to stress. Researchers have struggled to observe lipids in action because current detection tools lack sufficient ...

The transmission of optical information through random scattering media is a major challenge in optics, biomedical imaging, telecommunications and remote sensing. When light passes through a turbid or diffusive medium, such ...

Imagine opening a difficult book in a quiet room. The first page is dense. You read one paragraph, then reread it. Nothing "clicks" yet. Your brain is doing what learning often requires: spending effort before the reward ...

Quantum properties of light are extremely delicate. When researchers attempt to measure them, even small losses on the way to a detector can make them invisible, limiting their use outside carefully controlled environments. ...

Prescribed fires are vital for reducing wildfire risk and sustaining forest biodiversity. But they also contribute significantly to air pollution and smoke exposure, according to new research from the University of Georgia. ...

Embedded in the boundary between the inside and outside of each cell are membrane proteins. They act as first responders by sensing signals, regulating which molecules enter and leave the cell, and enabling cells to quickly ...

Relationships are all about compromise. From deciding on where to eat dinner with a friend to negotiating chore lists at home, we often experience situations that require some flexibility. But what happens when we must work ...

Due to their high porosity, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are regarded as promising materials for innovative applications, which is why the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded in 2025 for their discovery. They are used, ...

For more than a decade, residents of Austin's Colony, a neighborhood in an unincorporated area of southeast Austin outside the city service area, have voiced concern about their tap water's intermittent discoloration and ...