Plant engineered for more efficient photosynthesis
Credit: Alessandro Occhialini, Rothamsted Research (Phys.org) —A genetically engineered tobacco plant, developed with two genes from blue-green algae (cyanobacteria), holds promise ...
Physicists demonstrate a quantum Fredkin gate
Researchers from Griffith University and the University of Queensland have overcome one of the key challenges to quantum computing by simplifying a complex quantum logic operation. W...
NASA selects nine space radiobiology research proposals
NASA’s space radiobiology research aims to mitigate the harmful effects of the space radiation environment on astronaut health outside of the relative protection of the Van Allen bel...
Miranda: An icy moon deformed by tidal heating
Visible from left to right are Elsinore, Inverness, and Arden coronae. These coronae are visible in Miranda’s southern hemisphere, and each one is at least 200 km across. During conv...
Liquid DNA behind virus attacks
Viruses can convert their DNA from solid to fluid form, which explains how viruses manage to eject DNA into the cells of their victims. Both research studies are about the same disco...
Finding supports model on cause of DNA’s right-handed double helix
New research by University of Nebraska-Lincoln physicists and published in the Sept. 12 online edition of Physical Review Letters now gives support to a long-posited but never-proven...
Fermilab’s 500-mile neutrino experiment up and running
A view across the top of the NOvA far detector in Ash River, Minnesota. Electronics that make up part of the data acquisition system are installed along the top and sides of the dete...
Brain Changes Signal Alzheimer’s 20 Years Before Symptoms Appear
Top image and above: These illustrations show neurons with amyloid plaques. Neuron with amyloid plaques (yellow). Researchers in Sweden have uncovered changes in the brain that foret...
Are leaders born or made? New study shows how leadership develops
The new study shows that science is involved in teaching leadership development, Rosch said. If students enter the course with low levels of self-efficacy—saying ‘I don’t really thin...
Scientists part the clouds on how droplets form: Researchers find new mechanism to explain the birth of cloud droplets, could influence climate models
Conventional wisdom says that the water solubility of the aerosol is the key factor in the formation of cloud droplets, said study senior author Kevin Wilson, the deputy director of ...
Scientists generate a new type of human stem cell that has half a genome
Scientists from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) and The New York Stem Cell Foundation Research Institute (NYSCF) have succeeded in gener...
Pioneering Psychologist William James on Attention, Multitasking, and the Mental Habit That Sets Great Minds Apart
Because they have no interest for me. Only those items which I notice shape my mind — without selective interest, experience is an utter chaos. […] When expectant attention is concen...
International Space Station panoramic tour
Node-3 Tranquillity provides life-support for the International Space Station. Previous releases: Explore Zvezda module via Flickr, Facebook or Youtube. Explore Unity module via Fli...
Coral on a chip cracks coral mysteries
The tiny - often less than a millimeter in diameter - animals that build coral reefs create a thin layer of living tissue surrounding the calcium-based skeleton. For the first time, ...
Beyond DNA: TGen points the way to enhanced precision medicine with RNA sequencing
Deeper genetic analysis with RNA sequencing provides better diagnostics and treatments for patients with everything from cancer to deadly viruses PHOENIX, Ariz. – March 21, 2016 – U...
Young sun-like star shows a magnetic field was critical for life on the early Earth
Life appeared because our planet had a rocky surface, liquid water, and a blanketing atmosphere. A new study of the young, Sun-like star Kappa Ceti shows that a magnetic field plays ...
Two defining features of quantum mechanics never appear together
Representation of measurements that demonstrate the contextuality-nonlocality tradeoff. Previously, physicists have theoretically shown that both of these phenomena cannot simultaneo...
Study reveals evolution of malaria
Credit: © Holly Lutz Malaria affects close to 500 million people every year, but we’re not the only ones—different species of malaria parasite can infect birds, bats, and other mamm...
New gravity map gives best view yet inside Mars
The map was derived using Doppler and range tracking data collected by NASA’s Deep Space Network from three NASA spacecraft in orbit around Mars: Mars Global Surveyor (MGS), Mars Ody...
INFOGRAPHIC: How wind turbines actually work
What makes these contraptions so interesting is their mystique. What’s their purpose? Why do they only exist in the middle of nowhere? To uncover the mystery, Save On Energy put toge...
China’s first dark matter satellite concludes in-orbit testing
China’s first dark matter detection satellite has completed three months of in-orbit testing and found 460 million high energy particles in a 92-day flight, officials said on Friday....
A new picture of the last ice age
A new reconstruction of this ice sheet shows the interaction between climate and glaciers—how the ice sheet grows and retreats It has been several years of painstaking research. The...
Variability of major oceanic currents driven by climate change
For example, one such oceanic conveyor is the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC-IV), which drives warm water poleward from the equator, cooling toward the North, and ...
Spelling mutations and evolutionary advantages
Similarly, DNA codes carrying instructions for creating a protein can sometimes be ‘spelt’ differently, although they specify the exact same sequence information to create that prote...
Pterodactyl: Facts about pteranodon & other pterosaurs
Rather, pterosaurs were flying reptiles. The remains of this flying reptile revealed that over half of the length of its wing was occupied by a long finger, which anchored the membra...