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 hemoglobin in the red blood cells ensures that our body cells receive sufficient oxygen. When the blood pigment is broken down, heme is produced, which in turn can influence the protein cocktail in the blood. Researchers at the University of Bonn have now discovered in complex detective work that the activated protein C (APC) can be commandeered by heme. At the same time, APC can also reduce the toxic effect of heme. Perspectively, the findings may provide the basis for better diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to blood diseases. The study has been published online in advance in the journal Antioxidants & Redox Signaling. The print version will be published soon. https://phys.org/news/2020-09-blood-breakdown-product-important-enzyme.html Cell & Microbiology Molecular & Computational biology Fri, 04 Sep 2020 12:43:38 EDT news518442212 Materials scientists at Duke University have uncovered an atomic mechanism that makes certain thermoelectric materials incredibly efficient near high-temperature phase transitions. The information will help fill critical knowledge gaps in the computational modeling of such materials, potentially allowing researchers to discover new and better options for technologies that rely on transforming heat into electricity. https://phys.org/news/2020-09-floppy-atomic-dynamics-electricity.html General Physics Fri, 04 Sep 2020 12:43:06 EDT news518442181 A research collaboration based at Kumamoto University (Japan) has found that activation of PPARα, a fatty acid receptor that detects fatty acids in cells and regulates physiological functions, causes masculinization of Japanese rice fish (medaka). The discovery of this molecular mechanism is expected to advance the development of new sex control technologies. https://phys.org/news/2020-09-fatty-acid-receptor-involved-temperature-induced.html Plants & Animals Biotechnology Fri, 04 Sep 2020 11:17:18 EDT news518437035 A team of researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena, Germany, and the University of Virginia, USA, has studied the impact of high ozone air pollution on the chemical communication between flowers and pollinators. They showed that tobacco hawkmoths lost attraction to the scent of their preferred flowers when that scent had been altered by ozone. This oxidizing pollutant thus disturbs the interaction between a plant and its pollinator, a relationship that has evolved over millions of years. However, when given the chance, hawkmoths quickly learn that an unpleasantly polluted scent may lead to nutritious nectar. The study is published in the Journal of Chemical Ecology. https://phys.org/news/2020-09-air-pollution-odors-unattractive-moths.html Plants & Animals Ecology Fri, 04 Sep 2020 11:08:10 EDT news518436485 Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have identified a small neutralizing antibody, a so-called nanobody, that has the capacity to block SARS-CoV-2 from entering human cells. The researchers believe this nanobody has the potential to be developed as an antiviral treatment against COVID-19. The results are published in the journal Nature Communications. https://phys.org/news/2020-09-nanobody-covid-infection.html Bio & Medicine Fri, 04 Sep 2020 09:50:04 EDT news518429913 Search teams looking for human remains are often slowed by painstaking on-foot pursuits or aerial searches that are obscured by forest cover. In a Science & Society article appearing September 3 in the journal Trends in Plant Science, the authors discuss utilizing tree cover in body recovery missions to our advantage, by detecting changes in the plant's chemistry as signals of nearby human remains. Though the impact of human decomposition on plants has not yet been thoroughly explored, the researchers outline the steps needed to make body recovery using vegetation more of a reality. https://phys.org/news/2020-09-dead-bodies-forensic-botanists.html Plants & Animals Other Thu, 03 Sep 2020 11:00:04 EDT news518343238 Over the past few decades, scientists have become increasingly aware of the adverse effects that human activities are having on the environment and climate on Earth. These environmental and climatic changes have several consequences, impacting both the health of living organisms and more practical aspects of society. https://phys.org/news/2020-09-exploring-impact-climate-energy-global.html Environment Thu, 03 Sep 2020 09:20:01 EDT news518338439 One in three marriages in the United States now starts with a virtual connection, and algorithms have supplanted traditional dating and matchmaking agencies. The choices are seemingly endless: If you're looking for a lasting relationship, eHarmony promises bliss. If it's just a quick fling you're after, there's Tinder or Bumble. If your preferences are more specific, GlutenFreeSingles or ClownDating might appeal. https://phys.org/news/2020-09-economics-dating-sites.html Social Sciences Thu, 03 Sep 2020 08:04:01 EDT news518338990 Demand continues for plastics and solvents made from petrochemicals, which are mainly produced by refining oil despite diminishing global oil reserves, driving forward the search for new ways to produce the chemicals we need. https://phys.org/news/2020-09-methane.html Materials Science Thu, 03 Sep 2020 07:55:43 EDT news518338540 Scalable nanoparticle-based computing architectures have several limitations that can severely compromise the use of nanoparticles to manipulate and process information through molecular computing schemes. The von Neumann architecture (VNA) underlies the operations of multiple arbitrary molecular logic operations in a single chip without rewiring the device. In a new report, Sungi Kim and a team of scientists at the Seoul National University in South Korea developed the nanoparticle-based VNA (NVNA) on a lipid chip. The nanoparticles on the lipid chip functioned as the hardware—featuring memories, processors and output units. The team used DNA strands as the software to provide molecular instructions to program the logic circuits. The nanoparticle-based von Neuman architecture (NVNA) allowed a group of nanoparticles to form a feed-forward neural network known as a perceptron (a type of artificial neural network). The system can implement functionally complete Boolean logical operations to provide a programmable, resettable and scalable computing architecture and circuit board to form nanoparticle neural networks and make logical decisions. The work is now published on Science Advances. https://phys.org/news/2020-09-nanoparticle-based-architecture-nanoparticle-neural-networks.html Nanophysics Wed, 02 Sep 2020 10:20:01 EDT news518259993 Researchers and conservationists who have been tracking turtle migration for over a decade believe a new study highlights the need for investment and conservation of vital marine habitats which play a key role in turtle's formative years. https://phys.org/news/2020-09-reveals-migratory-habits-teenage-green.html Ecology Wed, 02 Sep 2020 10:04:31 EDT news518259868 Federal agencies required a minimum criteria of 96 percent of spring-migrating and 93 percent of summer-migrating juvenile salmon had to survive passage over Lower Granite Dam, located in southeastern Washington. Because it's impossible to count each fish, scientists rely on mathematical models. These models rely on tracking a sub-sample of salmon that is designed to represent the larger population. However, traditional models have been expensive and time consuming. https://phys.org/news/2020-09-stock-salmon-survival-science.html Plants & Animals Ecology Wed, 02 Sep 2020 09:50:01 EDT news518257895 An analytical breakthrough that could significantly improve our chances of finding extra-terrestrial life in our galaxy has been discovered by a team at The University of Manchester. https://phys.org/news/2020-09-breakthrough-narrows-intelligent-life-milky.html Astronomy Wed, 02 Sep 2020 09:30:01 EDT news518257353 For all its vast emptiness, the universe is humming with activity in the form of gravitational waves. Produced by extreme astrophysical phenomena, these reverberations ripple forth and shake the fabric of space-time, like the clang of a cosmic bell. https://phys.org/news/2020-09-ligo-virgo-detectors-massive-gravitational-wave.html Astronomy Wed, 02 Sep 2020 08:00:03 EDT news518238766 An alert pops up in your email: The latest spacecraft observations are ready. You now have 24 hours to scour 84 hours-worth of data, selecting the most promising split-second moments you can find. The data points you choose, depending on how you rank them, will download from the spacecraft in the highest possible resolution; researchers may spend months analyzing them. Everything else will be overwritten like it was never collected at all. https://phys.org/news/2020-09-magnetic-eruptions-space-ai.html Astronomy Space Exploration Wed, 02 Sep 2020 07:46:16 EDT news518251570 Animal species that are at home in the high mountains are finding their habitats reduced and fragmented by roads. In addition, they face competition from scavengers from lower boreal areas that find their way to the mountains. https://phys.org/news/2020-09-red-fox-displaces-arctic-littering.html Plants & Animals Ecology Tue, 01 Sep 2020 09:58:55 EDT news518173131 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) astronomers have detected 18 very metal-poor stars in the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy. They found that one of the stars from the sample has an extremely low metallicity, slightly below -3.0. The study was reported in a paper published August 22 on the arXiv preprint repository. https://phys.org/news/2020-09-astronomers-metal-poor-stars-sagittarius-dwarf.html Astronomy Tue, 01 Sep 2020 09:00:01 EDT news518163610 It is very hard to take a photo of a hummingbird flapping its wings 50 times per second. The exposure time has to be much shorter than the characteristic time scale of the wing beat, otherwise you will only see a colorful blur. A similar problem is encountered in solid-state physics, where the aim is to determine the magnetic properties of a material. The magnetic moment at a certain location can change very quickly. Therefore, researchers require measuring methods that are fast enough to resolve these fluctuations. With this basic idea in mind, scientists at TU Wien (Vienna), in collaboration with research groups from Würzburg (Germany), has now succeeded in solving a puzzle of solid-state physics. https://phys.org/news/2020-09-material-properties-results.html General Physics Tue, 01 Sep 2020 07:24:12 EDT news518163803 A consortium of researchers funded by Brazil's National Council for Scientific and Technological Development and FAPESP has sequenced the genome of Frieseomelitta varia, a native stingless bee (common name: marmelada). The feat extends scientists' understanding of the evolution of stingless bees (Meliponini) and paves the way for the breeding of commercially useful species. https://phys.org/news/2020-09-brazilian-sequencing-native-stingless-bee.html Plants & Animals Molecular & Computational biology Tue, 01 Sep 2020 07:20:06 EDT news518163601 In 2019, Google claimed it was the first to demonstrate a quantum computer performing a calculation beyond the abilities of today's most powerful supercomputers. https://phys.org/news/2020-08-theory-hints-efficient-quantum-algorithms.html Quantum Physics Mon, 31 Aug 2020 10:41:45 EDT news518089300 Radio astronomers have detected jets of hot gas blasted out by a black hole in the galaxy at the heart of the Phoenix Galaxy Cluster, located 5.9 billion light-years away in the constellation Phoenix. This is an important result for understanding the coevolution of galaxies, gas, and black holes in galaxy clusters. https://phys.org/news/2020-08-black-hole-cold-heart-phoenix.html Astronomy Mon, 31 Aug 2020 09:32:47 EDT news518085164 It shouldn't be any secret that mitochondria can make their own fatty acids. The enzymes mitochondria use to do it were discovered decades ago. Unfortunately, only a few individuals among the biologically literate masses have come to appreciate this critical fact about mitochondrial behavior. Perhaps the bigger issue is why mitochondria would go to all the trouble when cells can already make all the fatty acids they need. https://phys.org/news/2020-08-mitochondria-cells-fatty-acid-synthesis.html Cell & Microbiology Molecular & Computational biology Mon, 31 Aug 2020 07:37:23 EDT news518078235 Ammonia (NH3) is a colorless, gaseous and water-soluble compound used in several sectors, including agriculture, the energy sector, and a variety of industries. For over a century, the main way of producing large quantities of ammonia has been via the Haber-Bosch process, which entails the use of high pressure to produce a chemical reaction that enables the direct synthesis of ammonia from hydrogen and nitrogen. https://phys.org/news/2020-08-strategy-electrochemical-reduction-nitrate-ammonia.html Materials Science Mon, 31 Aug 2020 07:35:02 EDT news518078093 The remnants of Hurricane Laura unleashed heavy rain and twisters hundreds of miles inland from a path of death and mangled buildings along the Gulf Coast, and forecasters warn of new dangers as the tropical weather blows toward the Eastern Seaboard this weekend. https://phys.org/news/2020-08-laura-leftovers-east-disaster-louisiana.html Environment Fri, 28 Aug 2020 09:34:03 EDT news517826039 One of the strongest hurricanes ever to strike the U.S., Laura barreled across Louisiana on Thursday, shearing off roofs and killing at least six people while carving a destructive path hundreds of miles inland. https://phys.org/news/2020-08-laura-thrashes-louisiana-nearby-states.html Environment Fri, 28 Aug 2020 04:23:39 EDT news517807416 If you've ever seen a bat flying around at sunset, chances are good it was a vesper bat. They're the biggest bat family, made up of 500 species, found on every continent except Antarctica. And most of them look a lot alike—they're little, with fuzzy grayish-brown fur, sort of the sparrows of the bat world. That can make it hard to tell the different species apart. But scientists just discovered three new species and two new genera of vesper bats in Africa by comparing the bats' genes, their teeth and skulls, the high-frequency calls they make when echolocating, and the tiny bones in their penises. https://phys.org/news/2020-08-penis-bones-echolocation-genes-reveal.html Plants & Animals Ecology Thu, 27 Aug 2020 14:14:40 EDT news517756473 An international team of scientists has succeeded in using the signature whistles of individual bottlenose dolphins to estimate the size of the population and track their movement. https://phys.org/news/2020-08-wild-individual-dolphin-population-size.html Plants & Animals Ecology Thu, 27 Aug 2020 10:42:46 EDT news517743763 Topological superconductors (TSCs) are new kind of topological quantum states with fully superconducting gapped band structure in the bulk, but they support gapless excitations called Majorana zero modes (MZMs) at the boundaries. Because of their nonlocal correlation and non-Abelian statistic nature, MZMs are proposed as the qubits of topological quantum computation. Hence, searching and operating the MZMs in TSC materials is now an important topic in condensed matter physics. https://phys.org/news/2020-08-topological-superconducting-phase-d-local.html Superconductivity Thu, 27 Aug 2020 10:34:07 EDT news517743244 A team of researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences has found a way to speed up photosynthesis in algae by applying a conjugated polymer. In their paper published in the journal Science Advances, the group describes experiments with applying polymers to algae and what they learned from them. https://phys.org/news/2020-08-light-harvesting-polymers-photosynthesis-algae.html Biotechnology Thu, 27 Aug 2020 10:00:02 EDT news517740637 Genes from a tiny shrimp-like crustacean could help in the search for the origin of insect wings, a new study finds. https://phys.org/news/2020-08-wings-crustacean-insect.html Evolution Ecology Thu, 27 Aug 2020 09:18:54 EDT news517738732