Phys.org news
Phys.org / Earliest Americans specialized in megafauna hunting from Alaska to South America, analysis of 50 sites reveals
New research led by a University of Alaska Fairbanks archaeologist reveals that the earliest Native Americans had highly specialized diets, primarily hunting the largest animals on the landscape, and they targeted these megafauna ...
Phys.org / Italy displays paintings from an ancient Etruscan tomb, its latest cultural acquisition
Italy on Tuesday put on display one of the best known examples of Etruscan painting, panels from a tomb that it acquired for 15 million euros ($17 million) in the Culture Ministry's buying spree of big-ticket pieces of the ...
Phys.org / Fish in a polluted Mexican river may mate with the wrong species, leading to hybrid offspring
The byproducts of modern society appear to be messing with the love life of two tiny fish species that have long coexisted in Mexican rivers.
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 / 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 / Baker's yeast shows potential in treatment of persistent fungal infection
Millions of women worldwide suffer from vaginal yeast infections. These infections are most commonly caused by the fungus Candida albicans and can lead to symptoms ranging from itching and burning to recurrent inflammation. ...
Phys.org / World's first synthetic cell with a complete life cycle could revolutionize biological engineering
While many of life's mysteries remain unsolved, every biologist can describe the basic processes performed by a living organism, including energy use, reproduction, growth and development. While these characteristics can ...
Phys.org / Acceptor molecule upconverts low-energy green light to high-energy purple with high efficiency
Solar cells and photocatalysts can be surprisingly inefficient. Despite light consisting of many wavelengths, the range that even highly efficient devices use is limited. Other wavelengths, especially long wavelengths, simply ...
Phys.org / Ancient gum disease may have helped reshape jaws before human brains expanded
Human evolution is generally explained through changes in brain size, locomotion or tool use, but new research from Wits University suggests that gum disease and changes in facial structure may have been important factors ...
Phys.org / Cosmic dust could play key role in cracking long-standing mystery of solar corona heating
A researcher at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), a part of The University of Alabama System, has published a new study in The Astrophysical Journal suggesting that tiny charged dust grains near the sun may significantly ...
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 / 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 ...
