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. Why do parasites harm their hosts? That's a question evolutionary biologists ask as they try to predict how a parasite might evolve and perhaps become more lethal in response to control methods, such as vaccines or drug treatments. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-reveals-tradeoffs-limit-malaria-parasite.html Evolution Wed, 17 Dec 2025 11:55:19 EST news685194901 During the first 72 hours in particular, extracellular vesicles—nanoparticles enclosed in cell membranes—play a significant role in the embryonic development of zebrafish. https://phys.org/news/2025-03-extracellular-vesicles-zebrafish-embryonic-potential.html Bio & Medicine Mon, 03 Mar 2025 15:38:03 EST news660238681 Scientists have found that an increase in water salinity in the cells of the marine diatom Nitzschia weakens the connections between the components of the photosynthetic apparatus and disrupts the formation of the cell shell. https://phys.org/news/2025-02-salinity-affects-diatom-metabolism.html Cell & Microbiology Fri, 21 Feb 2025 09:52:05 EST news659353921 Combining a deep curiosity and "recreational biology," Stanford researchers have discovered how a simple cell produces remarkably complex behavior, all without a nervous system. It's origami, they say. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-cellular-origami-protist.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 06 Jun 2024 14:00:01 EDT news636883392 In a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Umeå researchers describe a natural product-like molecule, Tantalosin, that inhibits interaction between two proteins in complexes that reshape membranes inside the cell. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-chemical-tool-membrane-remodeling-cell.html Biochemistry Fri, 03 May 2024 10:07:03 EDT news633949621 Researchers with the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford University and the DOE's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) have grown a twisted multilayer crystal structure for the first time and measured the structure's key properties. The twisted structure could help researchers develop next-generation materials for solar cells, quantum computers, lasers and other devices. https://phys.org/news/2024-01-multilayer-crystal-gen-materials.html Nanomaterials Wed, 24 Jan 2024 12:45:03 EST news625322701 The origin of the vertebrate skull is a topic of much debate among evolutionary biologists. Some believe that the vertebrate head has developed as a result of modification of the segmental elements of the trunk, such as the vertebrae and somites. On the other hand, others believe that the vertebrate head has evolved as a new, unsegmented body part, unrelated to other widely observed embryonic segments somites. https://phys.org/news/2024-01-lamprey-embryos-evolutionary-vertebrate.html Evolution Wed, 10 Jan 2024 12:11:03 EST news624111061 In a study published on 7 November 2023 in the journal Microsystems & Nanoengineering, researchers from the Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Shanghai Tech University, have developed an innovative microfluidic magnetic detection system (μFMS) for analyzing tumor-derived exosomes (TDEs), potential biomarkers for cancer diagnosis. This groundbreaking system could greatly enhance the early detection and treatment of cancer. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-microfluidic-magnetic-tumor-derived-exosome-analysis.html Bio & Medicine Tue, 19 Dec 2023 10:49:37 EST news622205373 No one had ever seen one virus latching onto another virus, until anomalous sequencing results sent a UMBC team down a rabbit hole leading to a first-of-its-kind discovery. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-first-ever-virus.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 02 Nov 2023 14:59:22 EDT news618155959 A team led by Professor Choi Hong-Soo in the Department of Robotics and Mechatronics Engineering at DGIST has discovered a method to enhance the penetration of magnetic nanoparticles into cancer cells and their magnetic hyperthermia effects through research on chain disassembly and magnetic propulsion mechanisms using a rotational magnetic field. https://phys.org/news/2023-09-team-elucidates-mechanism-maximizing-therapeutic.html Bio & Medicine Wed, 20 Sep 2023 11:24:03 EDT news614427841 The electronic and optical devices that we use on a daily basis, such as mobile phones, LEDs and solar cells use transistors and other parts that are consistently getting smaller and more compact. With an ever-growing need for computing power, storage, and energy efficiency, this trend will only continue to new extremes. https://phys.org/news/2023-01-laser-induced-periodic-surface-lipss-silicon.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 10 Jan 2023 08:40:04 EST news592562402 Scientists have discovered a new chain-like structure that helps single-celled organisms survive in the sulfur-rich hot acid springs of Yellowstone National Park in the U.S. https://phys.org/news/2022-12-ultra-strong-threads-proteins-tiny-acid.html Cell & Microbiology Tue, 20 Dec 2022 08:42:34 EST news590748150 Charging and discharging a battery cell transforms its electrode material into a "super" material. https://phys.org/news/2022-09-scientists-method-battery-material.html Materials Science Thu, 08 Sep 2022 15:51:10 EDT news581871065 Researchers at Kanazawa University report in Communications Biology that using common chemicals for fixing living cell samples for microscopy studies causes membrane proteins to aggregate. https://phys.org/news/2022-08-commonly-chemical-fixation-aggregation-artifact.html Biochemistry Wed, 10 Aug 2022 09:33:52 EDT news579342829 Researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison have described the way an enzyme and proteins interact to maintain the protective caps, called telomeres, at the end of chromosomes, a new insight into how a human cell preserves the integrity of its DNA through repeated cell division. https://phys.org/news/2022-08-enzyme-proteins-tidy-tail-dna.html Cell & Microbiology Mon, 01 Aug 2022 13:35:39 EDT news578579736 At first glance, the slightly murky waters in the tube look like a scoop of stormwater, complete with leaves, debris, and even lighter threads in the mix. But in the Petri dish, the thin vermicelli-like threads floating delicately above the leaf debris are revealed to be single bacterial cells, visible to the naked eye. https://phys.org/news/2022-06-giant-bacteria-guadeloupe-mangroves-traditional.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 23 Jun 2022 14:00:06 EDT news575184754 The virus that causes COVID-19 has adopted some stealth moves to stay alive and kicking, and one secret to its success is hiding from the immune system by spreading through cell-to-cell transmission, a new study has found. https://phys.org/news/2021-12-sars-cov-underground-cell.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 23 Dec 2021 07:13:26 EST news559466002 University of Idaho researchers partnered with other scientists from the United States and Australia to study the evolution of Tasmanian devils in response to a unique transmissible cancer. https://phys.org/news/2021-05-ongoing-evolution-tasmanian-devils-response.html Plants & Animals Wed, 26 May 2021 15:53:50 EDT news541263225 An international team, led by Stefan Raunser, Director at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology in Dortmund, in collaboration with Mathias Gautel at the King's College in London, has produced the first high-resolution 3D image of the sarcomere, the basic contractile unit of skeletal and heart muscle cells, by using electron cryo-tomography. Electron cryo-tomography capability of imaging structures directly in frozen muscle cells could translate into future medical treatments for muscle diseases and a better understanding of the aging process. https://phys.org/news/2021-03-muscle-cells-high-resolution-3d-image.html Biotechnology Wed, 24 Mar 2021 10:23:40 EDT news535800216 Scientists at the University of Virginia School of Medicine have developed a tool to monitor communications within the brain in a way never before possible, and it has already offered an explanation for why Alzheimer's drugs have limited effectiveness and why patients get much worse after going off of them. https://phys.org/news/2021-03-brain-sensor-alzheimer.html Bio & Medicine Tue, 09 Mar 2021 08:52:03 EST news534502319 Northwestern researchers have developed a new microscopy method that allows scientists to see the building blocks of "smart" materials being formed at the nanoscale. https://phys.org/news/2020-12-electron-microscopy-technique-previously-hidden.html Materials Science Tue, 22 Dec 2020 15:40:37 EST news527874032 A transmissible cancer in the Tasmanian devil has evolved over the past two decades, with some lineages spreading and replacing others, according to a new study in the open access journal PLOS Biology by Young Mi Kwon, Kevin Gori, and Elizabeth Murchison of the University of Cambridge (UK) and colleagues. The evolutionary dynamics of the cancer help explain how this Australian marsupial has become so quickly endangered, and may shed light on the evolution of other forms of cancer. https://phys.org/news/2020-11-infectious-tumor-tasmanian-devils-evolved.html Evolution Tue, 24 Nov 2020 14:00:01 EST news525424093 Researchers have demonstrated a new method for testing microscopic aeronautical materials at ultra-high temperatures. By combining electron microscopy and laser heating, scientists can evaluate these materials much more quickly and inexpensively than with traditional testing. https://phys.org/news/2020-02-temperature-barrier-small-scale-materials.html Nanomaterials Tue, 25 Feb 2020 10:52:34 EST news501850352 A new catalyst breaks carbon dioxide into useful chemicals faster, cheaper, and more efficiently than the standard method, reports a team of researchers in this week's issue of PNAS. The discovery could make it possible to economically turn carbon dioxide into fuels. https://phys.org/news/2019-11-carbon-dioxide-faster-cheaper-efficiently.html Analytical Chemistry Fri, 15 Nov 2019 10:02:52 EST news493034566 Single celled organisms in the environment are protecting pathogenic bacteria and priming them for human infection, an international team of researchers has discovered. https://phys.org/news/2019-10-protozoans-pathogens-infectious.html Cell & Microbiology Tue, 01 Oct 2019 09:06:37 EDT news489139591 To reduce transmission of dengue to humans, scientists have introduced Wolbachia bacteria to A. aegypti mosquitoes. Now a team of international researchers has found that Wolbachia's ability to block virus transmission may be maintained by natural selection, alleviating concern that this benefit could diminish over time. https://phys.org/news/2019-08-stability-mosquito-borne-disease.html Cell & Microbiology Mon, 26 Aug 2019 11:00:05 EDT news486016725 Researchers employed multiple microbiology and omics techniques to experimentally determine that Nanohaloarchaeota are symbionts, rather than free-living organisms as had been originally thought. https://phys.org/news/2019-07-nanohaloarchaeota-cultures-reveal-symbionts-free-living.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 11 Jul 2019 08:36:05 EDT news482052953 From energy materials to disease diagnostics, new microscopy techniques can provide more nuanced insight. Researchers first need to understand the effects of radiation on samples. https://phys.org/news/2018-04-liquid-cell-transmission-electron-microscopy.html General Physics Mon, 23 Apr 2018 16:25:51 EDT news443719529 Transmissible cancers are incredibly rare in nature, yet have arisen in Tasmanian devils on at least two separate occasions. New research from the University of Cambridge identifies key anti-cancer drugs which could be trialled as a treatment for these diseases, which are threatening Tasmanian devils with extinction. https://phys.org/news/2018-04-human-drugs-transmissible-cancers-tasmanian.html Plants & Animals Mon, 09 Apr 2018 12:00:04 EDT news442479910 A research team led by a scientist from the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory has demonstrated for the first time that the magnetic fields of bacterial cells and magnetic nano-objects in liquid can be studied at high resolution using electron microscopy. This proof-of-principle capability allows first-hand observation of liquid environment phenomena, and has the potential to vastly increase knowledge in a number of scientific fields, including many areas of physics, nanotechnology, biofuels conversion, biomedical engineering, catalysis, batteries and pharmacology. https://phys.org/news/2017-12-team-magnetic-fields-bacterial-cells.html General Physics Thu, 21 Dec 2017 17:23:54 EST news433099425