Phys.org news

The ability to precisely adjust the expression of genes inside the human body—ramping up protective ones and tamping down harmful ones—holds enormous potential for treating and preventing disease. But the standard molecular ...

A Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) study of data from the European Space Agency's (ESA) Solar Orbiter gives the most detailed view of the heliospheric current sheet (HCS) to date. The HCS is a sprawling, undulating surface ...

Resources such as sea level rise viewers, heat maps and flood prediction services are crucial tools in a changing climate. NASA Earth Observations (NASA EO) datasets provide important information on these and other natural ...

Researchers use tightly focused laser beams to image biological samples, shape materials with microscopic precision and generate displays. But using those beams in three dimensions requires more than sweeping light from side ...

Sweet, salty, crunchy or creamy—no matter how it's munched, the Virginia peanut has been a cash crop for the commonwealth for much of the past two centuries. But a fungal disease called Sclerotinia blight has decimated peanut ...

An international team led by Canadian researchers has found evidence explaining why snake embryos form a curious spiral. This ability to coil as embryos enables snakes to hatch with the longest bodies of all vertebrates.

Aerosols have a profound influence on air quality, human health, clouds and climate, but new particle formation in the atmosphere has remained a scientific conundrum. Large fractions of airborne fine particulate matter consist ...

Atlantic herring travel in massive schools that can contain hundreds of millions—and sometimes even billions—of fish. While this abundance is characteristic of one of the most successful vertebrates on Earth, it also creates ...

Fermented cocoa occasionally exhibits off-flavors that can compromise the quality of chocolate and other cocoa products. But what causes these undesirable flavors? Researchers at the Leibniz Institute for Food Systems Biology ...

Whakaari/White Island's sudden eruption in December 2019, which killed 22 people and severely injured 25 others, was New Zealand's deadliest volcanic disaster in recent history.

Growth or immune response? Higher organisms must constantly balance these two priorities. As in humans, hormones regulate this balance in plants. Researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have discovered a mechanism ...

A new way to imprint complex surfaces on low-cost, sustainable polymers could be used in a wide range of industries, including water-repellent coatings, optical devices and data storage disks. The complex nano- and microscale ...