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. The structural and functional characteristics of mitochondria shape their role as signaling organelles, with far-reaching effects regarding immune responses, inflammatory processes, and diseases. A research team led by Professor Konstanze F. Winklhofer at the Institute of Biochemistry and Pathobiochemistry at Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, provides an overview of the many functions of mitochondria in intracellular signaling. The researchers have reported their findings in the journal Molecular Cell. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-metabolism-disease-mitochondria-hidden-networks.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 29 Jan 2026 13:11:25 EST news688914601 A study led by Prof. Zhang Daoyuan from the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has uncovered the phosphorylation-mediated regulatory mechanisms of desiccation tolerance of Syntrichia caninervis, a model moss for desiccation tolerance research. Their work was published in The Plant Journal. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-uncover-molecular-mechanisms-desiccation-tolerance.html Plants & Animals Tue, 02 Sep 2025 16:30:02 EDT news676049401 The light of someone's life might not be just another person, but light in the literal sense. According to a recent study by researchers from University of Calgary, every living system emits light without requiring external excitation due to a biological phenomenon known as ultraweak photon emission (UPE). https://phys.org/news/2025-05-emit-faint-extinguishes-death.html Biochemistry Sat, 17 May 2025 10:00:01 EDT news666588036 While the impact of wildfires on terrestrial life has been well studied, only recently has research started to examine the effects of wildfire ash on aquatic organisms. New research reveals that wildfire ash can have lethal consequences on Australian water ecosystems. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-australian-bushfire-ash-deadly-aquatic.html Plants & Animals Tue, 02 Jul 2024 09:00:02 EDT news639070201 Coral reef fish, like the fish in other marine and freshwater ecosystems, are likely to reach smaller maximum sizes and start reproducing earlier with smaller and fewer eggs as climate change continues to warm up the ocean. https://phys.org/news/2024-04-respiratory-stress-response-stunts-temperate.html Plants & Animals Thu, 18 Apr 2024 16:07:46 EDT news632675256 It's the perfect fuel for storms: warm ocean water, at least 80° Fahrenheit. Without it, powerful storms like Andrew, Katrina, and Ian would never have formed. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-oceanic-oxygen-hard-fish.html Plants & Animals Sun, 27 Aug 2023 12:40:01 EDT news612185996 A typical human cell is metabolically active, roaring with chemical reactions that convert nutrients into energy and useful products that sustain life. These reactions also create reactive oxygen species, dangerous by-products like hydrogen peroxide which damage the building blocks of DNA in the same way oxygen and water corrode metal and form rust. Similar to how buildings collapse from the cumulative effect of rust, reactive oxygen species threaten a genome's integrity. https://phys.org/news/2023-05-dna-antioxidant-enzymes.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 01 Jun 2023 06:00:01 EDT news604769649 Scientists often act as detectives, piecing together clues that alone may seem meaningless but together crack the case. Professor Reuben Shaw has spent nearly two decades piecing together such clues to understand the cellular response to metabolic stress, which occurs when cellular energy levels dip. Whether energy levels fall because the cell's powerhouses (mitochondria) are failing or due to a lack of necessary energy-making supplies, the response is the same: get rid of the damaged mitochondria and create new ones. https://phys.org/news/2023-04-case-mitochondrial-metabolic-stress.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 20 Apr 2023 14:00:08 EDT news601213897 Asian diets feature rice as a staple grain, contributing towards nearly 90% of the world's rice consumption. Brown rice, in particular, is known to have several health benefits. As a regular addition to the diet, it can help reduce body weight, lower cholesterol, and suppress inflammation. The ability of brown rice to neutralize reactive oxygen species and prevent cellular damage is vital to many of its health-promoting effects. Although previous studies have shown that the antioxidant compounds in brown rice can protect cells against oxidative stress, knowledge regarding which major compound contributes towards these beneficial properties has long remained a mystery. https://phys.org/news/2023-01-brown-rice-healthy-decoding-chemistry.html Biochemistry Thu, 19 Jan 2023 13:09:28 EST news593356165 The costliness of drug development and the limitations of studying physiological processes in the lab are two separate scientific issues that may share the same solution. https://phys.org/news/2022-11-platform-vitro-vascular-possibilities-drug.html Cell & Microbiology Tue, 08 Nov 2022 09:36:08 EST news587122565 In recent work published in the journal Horticulture Research, researchers from Northeast Agricultural University and Huazhong Agricultural University characterized a negative regulator of late blight resistance in potato. https://phys.org/news/2022-08-scientists-characterize-potato-l-type-lectin.html Molecular & Computational biology Fri, 05 Aug 2022 13:00:02 EDT news578923200 Immature human egg cells skip a fundamental metabolic reaction thought to be essential for generating energy, according to the findings of a study by researchers at the Center for Genomic Regulation (CRG) published today in the journal Nature. https://phys.org/news/2022-07-human-eggs-healthy-decades-batteries.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 20 Jul 2022 11:00:01 EDT news577525919 Any animal ascending a mountain experiences a double whammy of impediments: The air gets thinner as it also becomes colder, which is particularly problematic for creatures struggling to keep warm when less oxygen is available. For tiny animals with the highest-octane lifestyles, such as hovering hummingbirds, the challenges of relocating to higher levels to evade climate change may be too much, but no one knew whether these extraordinary aviators may have more gas in the tank to keep them aloft at higher altitudes. https://phys.org/news/2022-05-hummingbirds-struggle-uphill.html Plants & Animals Fri, 27 May 2022 13:00:52 EDT news572875250 Open water swimming is not for the fainthearted, especially when air and water temperatures are frigid. So how do furry Weddell seal pups born on the Antarctic sea ice keep on swimming? https://phys.org/news/2022-04-weddell-pups-fluff.html Plants & Animals Mon, 25 Apr 2022 16:21:10 EDT news570122466 Much of life on planet Earth today relies on oxygen to exist, but before oxygen was present on our blue planet, lifeforms likely used arsenic instead. These findings are detailed in research published today in Communications Earth and Environment. https://phys.org/news/2020-09-oxygen-earth-early-microbes-arsenic.html Earth Sciences Tue, 22 Sep 2020 09:28:25 EDT news519985698 Early life forms on Earth may have been able to generate metabolic energy from sunlight using a purple-pigmented molecule called retinal that possibly predates the evolution of chlorophyll and photosynthesis. If retinal has evolved on other worlds, it could create a a distinctive biosignature as it absorbs green light in the same way that vegetation on Earth absorbs red and blue light. https://phys.org/news/2018-10-life-early-earth-purple.html Earth Sciences Tue, 16 Oct 2018 07:46:03 EDT news458894738 A new method enables non-invasive monitoring of oxygen metabolism in cells that are 3-D bioprinted into complex living structures. This could contribute to studies of cell growth and interactions under tissue-like conditions, as well as for the design of 3-D printed constructs facilitating higher productivity of microalgae in biofilms or better oxygen supply for stem cells used in bone and tissue reconstruction efforts. https://phys.org/news/2018-10-d-bioprinting-built-in-chemical-sensors.html Biochemistry Tue, 02 Oct 2018 07:18:11 EDT news457683485 In the course of global climate change, scientists are observing the increase of low-oxygen areas in the ocean, also termed oxygen minimum zones (OMZs). Large-scale OMZs exist, for example, in the Pacific off the coast of South America or in the Indian Ocean. Since little to no oxygen is present in these regions—depending on the depth of the water—organisms whose metabolisms are independent of oxygen have a distinct advantage. These organisms include some representatives of the foraminifera: unicellular, shell-forming microorganisms, which have a nucleus and thus belong to the eukaryotes. Their lifestyle involves a particular metabolic pathway termed anaerobic respiration. In the absence of oxygen, they convert nitrate present in the water into molecular nitrogen. https://phys.org/news/2018-08-nutrients-oxygen-depleted-regions-ocean.html Cell & Microbiology Fri, 03 Aug 2018 10:39:16 EDT news452511546 In human cells, vitamins often serve as the precursors of cofactors—non-proteins that are an essential part of enzymes. Among them are the flavins, derived from vitamin B2. https://phys.org/news/2018-04-flavins-handy-helper-pocket.html Biochemistry Wed, 25 Apr 2018 06:29:17 EDT news443856548 Researchers from the Genomic Instability and Cancer Laboratory at Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) have identified a key role for EXD2 in protein production in the mitochondria, the cellular organelles responsible for the majority of energy generation. https://phys.org/news/2018-01-key-player-cell-metabolism.html Cell & Microbiology Tue, 16 Jan 2018 06:47:43 EST news435307651 We might not think of our circadian clock until we are jetlagged, but scientists continue to puzzle over what drives our biological timepiece. Now, a study published October 20 in Cell Metabolism has found that variations in surrounding oxygen levels can reset circadian clocks of mice. If confirmed in humans, the research could help inform how airlines moderate cabin air pressure. https://phys.org/news/2016-10-blast-thin-air-reset-circadian.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 20 Oct 2016 12:46:50 EDT news396186403 In a discovery that holds promise for future drug development, scientists have detected for the first time how nature performs an impressive trick to produce key chemicals similar to those in drugs that fight malaria, bacterial infections and cancer. https://phys.org/news/2015-11-chemistry-mold-reveals-important-clue.html Materials Science Mon, 02 Nov 2015 11:00:10 EST news365682803 Dr. Jun Zou, an associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Texas A&M University, and several co-authors recently had their paper published in the prestigious research publication Nature Methods. https://phys.org/news/2015-04-liquid-immersible-micro-electromechanical-scanning-mirror.html Optics & Photonics Fri, 10 Apr 2015 08:23:25 EDT news347872989 Researchers studying cancer and other invasive diseases rely on high-resolution imaging to see tumors and other activity deep within the body's tissues. Using a new high-speed, high-resolution imaging method, Lihong Wang, PhD, and his team at Washington University in St. Louis were able to see blood flow, blood oxygenation, oxygen metabolism and other functions inside a living mouse brain at faster rates than ever before. https://phys.org/news/2015-03-high-tech-method-rapid-imaging-functions.html Optics & Photonics Mon, 30 Mar 2015 11:10:06 EDT news346932597 Take a wild, common forest-dwelling mouse-like rodent, known as a vole, and subject it to 13 rounds of selection for increased aerobic exercise metabolism, and what do you get? A mighty "mouse" with a 48 percent higher peak rate of oxygen consumption and an increased basal metabolic rate, compared to unselected controls. https://phys.org/news/2015-03-vole-mighty-rodent.html Evolution Thu, 05 Mar 2015 09:09:14 EST news344768948 Studies of the effects of oxygen deprivation in the body fat of obese animals have revealed links with the regulation of fat cell generation. Researchers at Kanazawa University have identified the role of the protein TIS7 in processes that regulate adipogenesis, whereby non-specialised cells become adipose or fat cells. They add, "TIS7 could be a target for the discovery and development of a drug useful for the treatment and therapy of obesity or a variety of obesity-related metabolic diseases including type-2 diabetes and atherosclerosis." https://phys.org/news/2013-09-feast-famine-oxygen-starvation-fat.html Biochemistry Wed, 25 Sep 2013 08:50:01 EDT news299316540 (Phys.org) —A pair of researchers from the University of Zurich in Switzerland has found that pre-adaptive traits, (which they call exaptations) appear to be far more common than adaptive traits. In their paper published in the journal Nature, Aditya Barve and Andreas Wagner describe how they created simulated metabolic networks to show that exaptations are far more common than has been thought. https://phys.org/news/2013-07-simulated-metabolic-networks-exaptations-outnumber.html Evolution Mon, 15 Jul 2013 09:20:01 EDT news293097819 How active a living cell is can be seen by its oxygen consumption. The method for determining this consumption has now been significantly improved by chemists in Bochum. The problem up to now was that the measuring electrode altered the oxygen consumption in the cell's environment much more than the cell itself. "We already found that out twelve years ago," says Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schuhmann from the Department of Analytical Chemistry at the Ruhr-Universität. "Now we have finally managed to make the measuring electrode an spectator." Together with his team, he reports in the "International Edition" of the journal Angewandte Chemie. https://phys.org/news/2013-05-scanning-electrochemical-microscopy-decisively-optimised.html Analytical Chemistry Mon, 13 May 2013 08:00:01 EDT news287649543 Scientists are reporting an advance in re-engineering photosynthesis to transform plants into bio-factories that manufacture high-value ingredients for medicines, fabrics, fuels and other products. They report on the research in the journal ACS Synthetic Biology. https://phys.org/news/2013-03-advance-re-engineering-photosynthesis-drugs-compounds.html Biochemistry Wed, 06 Mar 2013 09:11:26 EST news281783474 A team of scientists just won a battle in the war against antibiotic-resistant "superbugs"—and only time will tell if their feat is akin to the bacterial "Battle of Gettysburg" that turns the tide toward victory. https://phys.org/news/2013-02-scientists-notch-war-antibiotic-resistant-bacteria.html Biotechnology Mon, 04 Feb 2013 09:55:48 EST news279194066