https://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Unprecedented views of the interior of cells and other nanoscale structures are now possible thanks to innovations in expansion microscopy. The advancements could help provide future insight into neuroscience, pathology, and many other biological and medical fields. https://phys.org/news/2023-01-expansion-microscopy-methods-magnify-impact.html Biotechnology Mon, 02 Jan 2023 11:48:17 EST news591882381 A new method can illuminate the identities and activities of cells throughout an organ or a tumor at unprecedented resolution, according to a study co-led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine, NewYork-Presbyterian and the New York Genome Center. https://phys.org/news/2023-01-method-precisely-gene-proteins-tissues.html Biotechnology Molecular & Computational biology Mon, 02 Jan 2023 11:45:31 EST news591882319 As cells perform their everyday functions, they turn on a variety of genes and cellular pathways. MIT engineers have now coaxed cells to inscribe the history of these events in a long protein chain that can be imaged using a light microscope. https://phys.org/news/2022-12-self-assembling-proteins-cellular-memories.html Cell & Microbiology Biotechnology Mon, 02 Jan 2023 11:00:03 EST news591548133 New research in the journal Nature Aging takes a page from the field of renewable energy and shows that genetically engineered mitochondria can convert light energy into chemical energy that cells can use, ultimately extending the life of the roundworm C. elegans. While the prospect of sunlight-charged cells in humans is more science fiction than science, the findings shed light on important mechanisms in the aging process. https://phys.org/news/2022-12-solar-powered-cells-light-activated-proton-generate.html Cell & Microbiology Biotechnology Fri, 30 Dec 2022 11:55:03 EST news591623701 Nanophotonic light emitters are compact and versatile devices with wide-ranging applications in applied physics. In a new report now published on Science Advances, Ki Young Lee and a research team in physics and engineering in China and the UK, proposed to develop a topological beam emitter structure of a submicron-footprint size and high efficiency, with adaptable beam shaping capacity. https://phys.org/news/2022-12-explores-topological.html Optics & Photonics Fri, 30 Dec 2022 11:00:01 EST news591617491 A team of researchers at Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, has discovered that the film that makes up ordinary soap bubbles is cooler than the surrounding air. In their paper published in the journal Physical Review Letters, the group describes experiments they conducted with soap bubbles. https://phys.org/news/2022-12-soap-cooler-air.html General Physics Soft Matter Fri, 30 Dec 2022 10:30:03 EST news591617907 A team of researchers from Università di Firenze, the University of South Florida, California Institute of Technology and Princeton University has found an incidence of a quasicrystal formed during an accidental electrical discharge. https://phys.org/news/2022-12-quasicrystal-accidental-electrical-discharge.html Earth Sciences Fri, 30 Dec 2022 10:11:45 EST news591617502 By analyzing the data from ESA's Gaia satellite, astronomers from the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory (SHAO) in China have detected 101 new open clusters in the Milky Way galaxy. The discovery was presented in a paper published December 21 on the arXiv pre-print repository. https://phys.org/news/2022-12-chinese-astronomers-clusters.html Astronomy Fri, 30 Dec 2022 10:11:26 EST news591617481 Although dark matter is a central part of the standard cosmological model, it's not without its issues. There continue to be nagging mysteries about the stuff, not the least of which is the fact that scientists have found no direct particle evidence of it. https://phys.org/news/2022-12-galaxy-rotation-gravity-explanation-dark.html Astronomy Fri, 30 Dec 2022 10:07:26 EST news591617241 While conducting an otherwise straightforward investigation into the assembly mechanism of calcium-phosphate clusters, researchers at UC Santa Barbara and New York University (NYU) made a surprising discovery: Phosphate ions in water have a curious habit of spontaneously alternating between their commonly encountered hydrated state and a mysterious, previously unreported 'dark' state. https://phys.org/news/2022-12-uncover-evidence-hidden-state-involving.html Biochemistry Analytical Chemistry Fri, 30 Dec 2022 09:33:04 EST news591615181 Poor old Venera 9, the Soviet Union's Venus lander, separated from its orbiter and made a hot, violent descent through the dense Venusian atmosphere on October 22, 1975, landing hard on a circular shield designed to crumple and absorb the impact. It only survived the intense surface conditions for 53 minutes, transmitting data regarding clouds, light irradiance, temperature and atmospheric chemistry, as well as the first image ever taken of the surface of another planet. And then it died. But its findings were significant because Venus and Earth are similar terrestrial planets believed to have formed through similar processes. https://phys.org/news/2022-12-venus-earth-like-lithospheric-thickness.html Planetary Sciences Fri, 30 Dec 2022 09:30:02 EST news591548106 A new paper, published in the ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering journal, found that pine needles could be used to produce renewable fuels and value-added chemicals, such as preservatives used in agriculture, using only water as a solvent. https://phys.org/news/2022-12-trees-renewable-fuels-christmas.html Materials Science Thu, 29 Dec 2022 13:16:03 EST news591542161 The higher the temperatures, the faster physiological processes are. But there is an exception: the so-called circadian clock, which regulates the sleep-wake cycle in organisms. A fascinating question for scientists is why the inner clock runs in an almost unchanging way despite fluctuations in temperatures. This is a phenomenon known as temperature compensation. Studies indicate that different molecular mechanisms contribute to this. https://phys.org/news/2022-12-reveals-fruit-fly-circadian-clock.html Cell & Microbiology Molecular & Computational biology Thu, 29 Dec 2022 13:09:03 EST news591541741 Professor Park Chi-Young's team successfully developed an atypical porous polymer material that can completely remove phenolic organic contaminants in water at ultra-high speeds. The porous material developed can efficiently remove not only microplastics in the water but also very small-sized volatile organic compounds (VOCs) based on photothermal effect. At the same time, it is expected to be utilized as a high-efficiency adsorption material that can be commercialized in the future as it has cost competitiveness based on raw materials and enables a solar-based water purification process. https://phys.org/news/2022-12-eco-friendly-materials-capable-purifying.html Polymers Materials Science Thu, 29 Dec 2022 12:41:03 EST news591540061 Using NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), an international team of astronomers has detected a new "hot Jupiter" exoplanet. The newfound alien world, estimated to be nearly three times as massive as Jupiter, orbits a rapidly rotating star known as TOI-778. The finding is reported in a paper published December 16 on the arXiv pre-print server. https://phys.org/news/2022-12-tess-hot-jupiter-exoplanet-orbiting.html Astronomy Planetary Sciences Thu, 29 Dec 2022 11:50:01 EST news591529040 A team of researchers at Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, working with a colleague at the University of Texas at Austin and another from Green Bank Observatory in West Virginia, has found evidence of ripe conditions for planet formation in the vicinity of two closely orbiting protostars. https://phys.org/news/2022-12-action-protostars-conditions-planet-formation.html Astronomy Thu, 29 Dec 2022 11:30:01 EST news591534942 To find out how many scientists a region needs to become a leader in a discipline, researchers at Complexity Science Hub tracked millions of scientists moving across the globe. Their result: there is no critical mass of scientists, but you have to be a pioneer. Regions can catch up later, but this costs a lot. https://phys.org/news/2022-12-scientists-region-dominance-field.html Economics & Business Education Thu, 29 Dec 2022 11:15:57 EST news591534953 Scientists from the Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO) have presented roughly 1.5 years of observational data, calculating new limits on the lifetime of heavy dark matter particles that have masses between 105 and 109 giga-electron volts. https://phys.org/news/2022-12-results-lhaaso-tighter-constraints-dark.html Astronomy Thu, 29 Dec 2022 10:56:03 EST news591533761 A study conducted by researchers from the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin revealed the evolution of ossification patterns in the backbones of four-legged vertebrates. Antoine Verrière and his colleagues were able to reconstruct the patterns of how the bones in the vertebral column formed in the ancestor to all land vertebrates based on a large dataset of modern and fossil vertebrates with the inclusion of rare new data from the 300-million-year-old reptile Mesosaurus tenuidens. The results are published this week in Scientific Reports. https://phys.org/news/2022-12-vertebral-column-modern-animals-million.html Evolution Paleontology & Fossils Thu, 29 Dec 2022 10:51:03 EST news591533461 What if there were a gadget that could within short order check whether you have COVID or the flu—or maybe it would even pick up that you have diabetes without knowing it? The device could figure all this out without you having to go to a doctor or a laboratory. https://phys.org/news/2022-12-high-quality-microresonators-longwave-infrared-based.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 29 Dec 2022 10:34:04 EST news591532442 A team of researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research, working with a colleague from Temple University, has found that transcriptional adaptation appears to play a role in inherited epigenetic changes. https://phys.org/news/2022-12-transcriptional-play-role-inherited-epigenetic.html Evolution Molecular & Computational biology Thu, 29 Dec 2022 10:30:01 EST news591528982 Though humans, along with other vertebrate and invertebrate organisms, don't photosynthesize, we're definitely the downstream beneficiaries of the life forms that do. Phototrophic organisms at the bottom of the food chain convert abundant sunlight into the energy that ultimately powers all other life. https://phys.org/news/2022-12-belt-alpine-lake-bacteria-deploy.html Cell & Microbiology Molecular & Computational biology Thu, 29 Dec 2022 09:40:01 EST news591460109 Multiple researchers at the Jackson Laboratory (JAX) are taking part in an ambitious research program spanning several top research institutions to study senescent cells. Senescent cells stop dividing in response to stressors and seemingly have a role to play in human health and the aging process. Recent research with mice suggests that clearing senescent cells delays the onset of age-related dysfunction and disease as well as all-cause mortality. https://phys.org/news/2022-12-consortium-senescent-cells-effect-aging.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 29 Dec 2022 08:50:03 EST news591526201 The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite launched into Earth orbit on Friday, Dec. 16, from Vandenberg Space Force Base in central California, and engineers are working to prepare the mission to begin measuring the height of water on over 90% of Earth's surface, providing a high-definition survey of our planet's water for the first time. https://phys.org/news/2022-12-latest-satellite-unfold-space.html Planetary Sciences Thu, 29 Dec 2022 08:27:02 EST news591524821 A team of researchers at the University of Manchester's Centre for Audiology and Deafness, has found that musicians tend to listen to music at louder volume than non-musicians. Antonia Olivia Dolan, Emanuele Perugia and Karolina Kluk asked volunteers to listen to music at sound levels they found enjoyable and then noted the difference in volume levels between musicians and non-musicians. The findings are published in the journal PLOS ONE. https://phys.org/news/2022-12-musicians-enjoy-louder-music-non-musicians.html Social Sciences Wed, 28 Dec 2022 14:00:01 EST news591456748 This year's Nobel Prize in Physics celebrated the fundamental interest of quantum entanglement, and also envisioned the potential applications in "the second quantum revolution"—a new age when we are able to manipulate the weirdness of quantum mechanics, including quantum superposition and entanglement. A large-scale and fully functional quantum network is the holy grail of quantum information sciences. It will open a new frontier of physics, with new possibilities for quantum computation, communication, and metrology. https://phys.org/news/2022-12-high-visibility-quantum-independent-semiconductor-dots.html Optics & Photonics Quantum Physics Wed, 28 Dec 2022 13:45:03 EST news591457501 Building tissues and organs is one of the most complex and essential tasks that cells must accomplish during embryogenesis. In this collective task, cells communicate through a variety of communication methods, including biochemical signals—similar to a cell's sense of smell—and mechanical cues—the cell's sense of touch. https://phys.org/news/2022-12-glimpse-cells-tissues-embryogenesis.html Biochemistry Materials Science Wed, 28 Dec 2022 13:38:03 EST news591457081 A trio of researchers—one with the Indian government's Ministry of Earth Sciences, another with the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay and the third with the National Institute of Advanced Studies, also in India—has found that some species of wild penguins may have some degree of self-awareness. https://phys.org/news/2022-12-mirror-wild-penguins-self-awareness.html Plants & Animals Ecology Wed, 28 Dec 2022 13:31:58 EST news591456696 Biofilms form when microorganisms such as certain types of bacteria adhere to the surface of objects in a moist environment and begin to reproduce resulting in the excretion of a slimy glue-like substance. https://phys.org/news/2022-12-movement-bacteria-formation-troublesome-biofilms.html General Physics Wed, 28 Dec 2022 13:24:02 EST news591456241 Research at the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (IMBB) of the Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas (FORTH), published today in the journal Nature Aging, reveals a fundamental quality control mechanism that operates in cells to safeguard the integrity and function of the nucleus. By maintaining nuclear homeostasis, this molecular mechanism contributes critically to promote longevity and fertility. https://phys.org/news/2022-12-scientists-uncover-cellular-mechanism-aging.html Cell & Microbiology Molecular & Computational biology Wed, 28 Dec 2022 11:45:03 EST news591450301