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A newly identified Arctic Ocean bacterium may have an unusual way of making the building blocks it needs to grow. Using acetone, a common chemical in seawater, the bacteria incorporate carbon dioxide (CO₂) into their metabolisms, allowing them to survive in waters where nutrients and usable organic matter are scarce.
Phys.org ResearchRead article →During his renowned excavations at the Shanidar Cave in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, American archaeologist Ralph Solecki located burial sites containing pollen and flower fragments from various species of wildflowers. He interpreted this as evidence that Neanderthals may have placed flowers around their dead at their burial sites around 60,000 years ago.
Phys.org ResearchRead article →University at Buffalo scientists have found evidence that different species of yeast have shared genes originally acquired from an ancient virus—and the guts and droppings of beetles may have helped make it happen.
Phys.org ResearchRead article →New publication from Phys.org Research. View the publisher for full details.
Phys.org ResearchRead article →Yale research scientist Saúl Domínguez-Guerrero didn't set out to catch "evolution in the act" when he traveled to the Caribbean with a team of Yale researchers a few years ago. At the time, the team from the lab of evolutionary biologist Martha Muñoz planned to do fieldwork on Caribbean anoles, colorful, tree-dwelling lizards native to warmer regions of the Americas.
Phys.org ResearchRead article →Researchers at The University of Queensland have developed a way to quantify how wheat varieties capture and convert soil water. Dr. Raul Gimenez from the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation said the technique could be used to identify drought-tolerant crops.
Phys.org ResearchRead article →A faint red object spotted by the James Webb Space Telescope originally appeared to offer a possible glimpse of the universe's first galaxies. But images taken about 3½ years apart revealed a giveaway: The object, nicknamed Capotauro, had moved.
Phys.org ResearchRead article →WA Police are using live facial recognition technology to help identify and arrest criminals, with significant results. The trial is the first of its kind in Australia.
Phys.org ResearchRead article →Stanford engineers and colleagues designed a chip that can take a muddled mixture of light from multiple lasers and output clean beams of light. It's the first time researchers have demonstrated a device that can take in mixed, or partially coherent, light and sort its photons into a clear set of separate beams.
Phys.org ResearchRead article →When fishers are out working their boats, they are typically targeting a specific type of fish. However, other species often end up in their nets or trawls as well. This is known as "bycatch"—seafood for which the fishers receive no payment. Although it is illegal to discard bycatch back into the sea, it still happens.
Phys.org ResearchRead article →Eating an avocado and a cup of mango every day may provide surprising benefits for heart health, according to a new study involving adults with prediabetes. After just eight weeks, participants experienced significant improvements in blood vessel function and diastolic blood pressure, particularly among men.
ScienceDaily AllRead article →Scientists have uncovered an unexpected connection between inflammation during pregnancy, placental damage, and autism-like traits in male mice, while females appeared naturally protected. The discovery could help explain why autism is diagnosed more frequently in boys and reveal new opportunities for early intervention.
ScienceDaily AllRead article →NASA’s Voyager 1 is approaching an extraordinary milestone nearly 50 years after its launch, even as engineers battle dwindling power and mysterious technical problems. A clever energy-saving maneuver has extended the spacecraft’s scientific mission, while an unexplained 48-hour communications blackout recently gave NASA a scare.
ScienceDaily AllRead article →Scientists have discovered all five essential nucleobases used in DNA and RNA in pristine samples from asteroid Ryugu, revealing that key ingredients for life existed in space billions of years ago. The remarkable finding adds to growing evidence from other asteroids and meteorites that these molecules were widespread throughout the early Solar System.
ScienceDailyRead article →A surprising new discovery suggests that fear may cause the brain to blur the line between danger and safety rather than distinguish them more clearly. By observing brain activity in mice using augmented reality, scientists found that memories of threatening and harmless environments began to overlap, potentially allowing faster responses to danger.
ScienceDailyRead article →A nearly 50-year-old mystery involving disappearing frogs in Brazil may finally be solved, with scientists uncovering evidence that a deadly fungus swept through the region and devastated vulnerable species. Remarkably, many frog populations have since rebounded, suggesting they developed greater tolerance to the disease that once threatened their survival.
ScienceDailyRead article →A massive new study reveals that intelligence plays a surprisingly limited role in children's reading success, while visual processing showed no meaningful connection at all. Instead, the strongest predictors are sound recognition, vocabulary, and background knowledge, offering new clues about how to help struggling readers.
ScienceDailyRead article →Europe’s Hera spacecraft has captured its first clear view of two asteroids involved in NASA’s historic 2022 experiment to redirect a potentially dangerous space rock. Now approaching the pair, Hera will investigate the mysterious aftermath of the collision and uncover why the asteroid shifted far more than scientists predicted.
ScienceDailyRead article →Consumers often protect their sentimentally valuable possessions by storing them away, which precludes them from being used. Across five studies, research from the University of Missouri-St. Louis and the University of Oregon shows that usage of sentimentally valuable objects increases their sentimental value.
Phys.org ResearchRead article →People experiencing unsheltered homelessness in Salt Lake City face hours of dangerous daytime heat and hot nights that offer little relief, according to a University of Utah study. Researchers also found that tree shade helps people feel measurably cooler, making it a critical resource for those without access to shelter.
Phys.org ResearchRead article →Diabetes and weight-loss medications may have economic effects beyond health care spending, according to new research from NYU Abu Dhabi. Using population-wide data from Denmark, the study found that diabetes treatment caused an increased likelihood of employment, while weight-management treatment caused longer working hours among people already employed.
Phys.org ResearchRead article →A survey of 50,000 people across 92 countries finds global mental health may be languishing, including in the wealthiest countries, and especially among young people, who in previous generations had comparatively higher levels of mental health.
Phys.org ResearchRead article →Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have confirmed a massive, dust-rich galaxy called Leviathan in the early universe. Seen when the universe was roughly 1.5 billion years old, the galaxy has its stars spread out rather than in a concentrated fashion. A paper, describing its strange stellar distribution, was posted to the arXiv preprint server on Oct. 19.
Phys.org ResearchRead article →For animals that can produce vocalizations, choosing to emit a sound involves various neural processes. For instance, it entails controlling when to emit a sound and how loud and high-pitched the sound will be, while also adaptively switching between vocalizations and other behaviors in response to changing circumstances.
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