Phys.org news
Phys.org / Bigger is not always better: Smaller leaves optimize light use in soybeans
In efforts to better understand how soybean plants capture and use light, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign investigated how leaf size and shape affect light distribution within the crop canopy. Using ...
Phys.org / As Rubin's survey gets underway, simulations suggest it could find about six lunar-origin asteroids per year
Most near-Earth asteroids are thought to drift in from the main asteroid belt. But a small subset may have a much closer origin: the moon. One intriguing example is 469219 Kamoʻoalewa (2016 HO3), an Earth quasi-satellite ...
Phys.org / Mapping how Arctic groundwater will respond to thawing permafrost
Dalhousie researchers have revealed how Arctic aquifers—permeable layers of the ground that store and transmit water to rivers, lakes and terrestrial ecosystems—behave today and how these vital resources will change with ...
Phys.org / Nanotubes with lids mimic real biology
When water and ions move together through channels only a nanometer wide, they behave in unusual ways. In these tight spaces, water molecules line up in single file. This forces ions to shed some of the water molecules that ...
Phys.org / Analyzing an enigmatic enzyme with potential for new antibiotic drug discovery
An analysis of an unusual enzyme could result in a new generation of antimicrobial medicines to counter antibiotic resistance. Key details in the enzyme-driven biosynthesis of a natural molecule with potent antibiotic activity ...
Phys.org / 'Northwest Passage' mechanism of bile acid transport reveals a voltage-dependent pathway
In a study published in Nature on January 28, a research team led by Eric H. Xu (Xu Huaqiang) from the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, along with Ma Xiong from Renji Hospital, determined ...
Phys.org / North Sea sandstone could be used to store carbon dioxide, report suggests
Sandstone beneath the North Sea could be used to store carbon dioxide, a study has claimed. The British Geological Survey (BGS) report shows how sandstone beneath the North Sea could assist with the U.K.'s plans for carbon ...
Phys.org / New formula unravels vines' parasitic nature
Twisting upwardly on trees and other plants—along with houses and even lampposts—vines are a wonder of nature. However, their marvels mask their parasitic behavior: in attaching to other life forms, vines block sunlight ...
Phys.org / Biologists discover alternative systems that help cells control genes
Researchers at the School of Biological Sciences of The University of Hong Kong (HKU) have uncovered how eukaryotic cells can control gene activity even after losing one of their major gene-regulatory systems during evolution. ...
Phys.org / Strategic tree planting could help Canada become carbon neutral by mid-century
A new study finds that Canada could remove at least five times its annual carbon emissions with strategic planting of more than six million trees along the northern edge of the boreal forest. The paper, "Substantial carbon ...
Phys.org / Imaging the Wigner crystal state in a new type of quantum material
In some solid materials under specific conditions, mutual Coulomb interactions shape electrons into many-body correlated states, such as Wigner crystals, which are essentially solids made of electrons. So far, the Wigner ...
Phys.org / Two rare 5th millennium BC fetal burials in Iran reveal variable prehistoric practices
In a study conducted by Dr. Mahdi Alirezazadeh and Dr. Hanan Bahranipoor, published in Archaeological Research in Asia, two exceptionally well-preserved fetal burials from Chaparabad, Iran, dating to the mid-5th millennium ...
