Genomic and computational tools provide window to distant past
Out of the estimated 23,000 or more genes in the human genome, about 100 of them will differ—they will be present or not—between any two individuals. Genes lost or gained over time result from...
View ArticleDisorder creates rust protection
Corrosion eats away 75 billion euros of economic output annually in Germany alone. But it may soon be possible to better assess which steels and other alloys will be affected, and how to limit the...
View ArticleHelper cells aptly named in battle with invading pathogens
By tracking the previously unknown movements of a set of specialized cells, Whitehead Institute scientists are shedding new light on how the immune system mounts a successful defense against hostile,...
View ArticleConstructing a 3-D map of the large-scale structure of the universe
An international team led by astronomers from Kyoto University, the University of Tokyo and the University of Oxford has released its first version of a 3D map of the Universe from its FastSound...
View ArticleNew analysis shows how proteins shift into working mode
In an advance that will help scientists design and engineer proteins, a team including researchers from SLAC and Stanford has found a way to identify how protein molecules flex into specific atomic...
View ArticleSeasonal carbon dioxide range expanding as more is added to Earth's atmosphere
Levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere rise and fall each year as plants, through photosynthesis and respiration, take up the gas in spring and summer, and release it in fall and winter.
View ArticleFive times less platinum: Fuel cells could become economically more...
Fuel cells that convert hydrogen into power and only produce pure water as a by-product have the potential to lead individual mobility into an environmentally friendly future. The Paul Scherrer...
View ArticleThe world according to Itskov: Futurists convene at GF2045 (Part 2)
As many Phys.org readers undoubtedly know, Einstein famously said that imagination is more important than knowledge – but there's more to it. The full quote reads: I believe in intuition and...
View ArticleResearchers discover midair collisions enhance the strength of sandstorms
(Phys.org) —A small team of researchers from China, Brazil and Switzerland has found that midair collisions that occur between grains of sand during a sandstorm lead to an increase in storm strength...
View ArticleResearchers speed up transistors by embedding tunneling field-effect transistor
(Phys.org) —Researchers at Fudan University in China have discovered a way to speed up traditional computer transistors by embedding tunneling field-effect transistors (TFETs) in them. In their paper...
View ArticleResearchers devise a way to measure volatile organic compound exchange in the...
(Phys.org) —A team of researchers from the U.S., the Netherlands, and Italy has found a way to detect and measure the exchange of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the atmosphere. In their paper...
View ArticleThe day before death: A new archaeological technique gives insight into the...
The day before the child's death was not a pleasant one, because it was not a sudden injury that killed the 10-13 year old child who was buried in the medieval town of Ribe in Denmark 800 years ago....
View ArticleGerman companies to automatically encrypt emails (Update)
Two of Germany's biggest Internet service providers said Friday they will start encrypting customers' emails by default in response to user concerns about online snooping after reports that the U.S....
View ArticleNew insights into the polymer mystique for conducting charges
For most of us, a modern lifestyle without polymers is unthinkable… if only we knew what they were. The ordinary hardware-store terms we use for them include "plastics, polyethylene, epoxy resins,...
View ArticleThe 'genetics of sand' may shed new light on evolutionary process over...
An evolutionary ecologist at the University of Southampton, is using 'grains of sand' to understand more about the process of evolution. Dr Thomas Ezard is using the fossils of microscopic aquatic...
View ArticleCells eat themselves into shape
The process cells use to 'swallow' up nutrients, hormones and other signals from their environment – called endocytosis – can play a crucial role in shaping the cells themselves, scientists at the...
View ArticleChemists design 'smart' nanoparticles to improve drug delivery, DNA...
A team of chemists in SU's College of Arts and Scientists has used a temperature-sensitive polymer to regulate DNA interactions in both a DNA-mediated assembly system and a DNA-encoded drug-delivery...
View ArticlePhysicists propose Higgs boson 'portal' as the source of this elusive entity
One of the biggest mysteries in contemporary particle physics and cosmology is why dark energy, which is observed to dominate energy density of the universe, has a remarkably small (but not zero)...
View ArticleChemists develop 'fresh, new' approach to making alloy nanomaterials
Chemists in The College of Arts and Sciences have figured out how to synthesize nanomaterials with stainless steel-like interfaces. Their discovery may change how the form and structure of...
View ArticleNASA 'fire towers' in space watch for wildfires on the rise
(Phys.org) —The Black Forest wildfire this June was one of the most destructive in Colorado history, in terms of homes lost. It started close to houses and quickly spread through the ponderosa pine...
View Article