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Working as a Christian minister years ago, Landon Schnabel noticed a paradox common to many U.S. churches: Men filled leadership roles, implying that religion is masculine and patriarchal, but many more women participated in services, Bible study and other activities.
Phys.org ResearchRead article →The Lincoln Laboratory scholar developed a hardware platform inspired by proprietary infrastructure, allowing researchers to design and evaluate their cloud technology in a realistic environment.
MIT Computer ScienceRead article →A genome contains all of the DNA of every living organism, but its contents don't stop there—most of these structures also contain snippets of DNA that can copy and paste themselves to "infect" a genome, expanding its size. Precisely why that happens remains a mystery.
Phys.org ResearchRead article →How do some people experience work as meaningful? Organizational researcher Rachel Waldo at Lund University argues that one important answer has been largely overlooked: the brand itself.
Phys.org ResearchRead article →Whether it's gushing from a bumped nose or pooling atop a pricked finger, our blood is some hue of red. But red-bloodedness isn't universal in the animal kingdom. In some creatures, the vital fluid is purple; in others it's yellow, green or even white.
Phys.org ResearchRead article →Research led by atmospheric scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory sheds new light on one of the fundamental challenges of weather forecasting: determining the conditions under which a cloud will produce rain—and how much rain it will produce.
Phys.org ResearchRead article →Scientists examining data collected by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have found that dozens of small galaxies contain far less oxygen than their stars are estimated to have produced. The researchers, including a Rutgers astrophysicist, studied 37 dwarf galaxies, which are much smaller than the Milky Way and considered to be nearby, within 22 million light-years of Earth.
Phys.org ResearchRead article →People who speak with an accent know it can lead to discrimination. It can cost them in job interviews, at work and in everyday exchanges. But what they usually have to go on is anecdote: their own experiences and those of people they know.
Phys.org ResearchRead article →From a nuclear revival to qubits, the MIT Energy Initiative’s annual research conference tracked deployment of today’s technologies to discovery of tomorrow’s breakthroughs.
MIT Artificial IntelligenceRead article →A new study from NYU Abu Dhabi has revealed how coral-associated bacteria help corals withstand extreme heat by producing steroid hormones that strengthen their immune response.
Phys.org ResearchRead article →Zombies have taken many forms in popular culture. In Michael Jackson's "Thriller" music video, corpses climb out of their graves and perform an impressively coordinated dance. In HBO's "The Last of Us," a fungus infects humans, takes over their bodies and turns them into hosts that help spread the infection. Even Plankton has tried his hand at taking control of another organism in "SpongeBob SquarePants."
Phys.org ResearchRead article →It's a dizzyingly busy time for scientists searching for life on distant planets. To date, astronomers have cataloged more than 6,000 planets beyond our solar system and are searching the atmospheres of the most promising worlds for chemicals that might be byproducts of life.
Phys.org ResearchRead article →Exceeding 1.5C of global warming will have "irreversible" consequences for glaciers, sea ice and the Earth's frozen regions, two U.N. reports warned on Monday, calling for urgent action.
Phys.org ResearchRead article →Mars shares many landforms and weather patterns with Earth, including changing seasons, volcanoes, canyons, dust storms, dust devils and water ice. Another feature that Earth and Mars share is polar ice caps. These are among each planet's striking features, but the major difference is that Earth's polar ice caps are both composed of water, while Mars' north polar ice cap is composed only of water and its southern…
Phys.org ResearchRead article →An international research team led by Curtin University has for the first time uncovered unequivocal evidence of fossilized red blood cells and amino acids of collagen, reshaping our understanding of fossil preservation and molecular longevity in deep time.
Phys.org ResearchRead article →University of Cape Town (UCT) researchers recently named a series of approximately 400,000-year-old fossilized underground nests of an extinct termite species after Calitzdorp, the Little Karoo town near which they were found. In October 2026, the research team returned to the town to donate a poster documenting their discovery to the Calitzdorp Museum, helping to connect local communities with the region's fossil…
Phys.org ResearchRead article →Scientists have discovered that lysosomes, structures traditionally viewed as the cell's recycling centers, also play a role in regulating the heart's natural rhythm. Researchers at the University of Liverpool and University of Oxford, working with national and international collaborators, found that lysosomes act as signaling centers in heart cells, helping the heart's natural pacemaker respond when the heart needs…
Phys.org ResearchRead article →Some genetic diseases leave cells without a crucial protein. One possible treatment is to persuade genes already inside those cells to work harder, but the necessary machinery can be difficult to deliver, especially when researchers want to target several genes at once.
Phys.org ResearchRead article →Wishing really hard for something won't necessarily make it come true, but a new study from a UConn researcher indicates up to 90% of voters expect their side to win an election, a percentage that's significantly increased over the last 15 years.
Phys.org ResearchRead article →One approach to making information storage in quantum computing less prone to errors is known as topological quantum computing. It relies on special quantum states that are expected to be more resistant to local disturbances.
Phys.org ResearchRead article →Quantum computers rely on qubits as their units of information. To connect them into a larger network across long distances, they need to transmit quantum information using light.
Phys.org ResearchRead article →Overtourism has become a growing concern in popular tourist destinations, where large numbers of visitors can put pressure on local communities and attractions. However, not all destinations face the same challenges. While busy city centers may struggle to manage crowds, less-visited suburban areas often face the opposite problem: attracting enough visitors.
Phys.org ResearchRead article →Scientists spend their careers trying to understand how the world works. Yet even in their own specialties, complete understanding may remain elusive. That idea lies at the center of a new article by Richard Shiffrin, distinguished and Luther Dana Waterman professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences at Indiana University Bloomington, Stephen Stigler of the University of Chicago…
Phys.org ResearchRead article →Enzymes are essential to a wide range of industrial processes. As biocatalysts, they play a key role in producing active pharmaceutical ingredients, specialty chemicals and ingredients for cosmetics, besides being vital to the food industry. Enzymes allow many chemical reactions to occur under milder conditions, thereby saving energy and making existing processes more efficient and environmentally friendly.
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