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. Many cellular functions in the human body are controlled by biological droplets called liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) droplets. These droplets, made of soft biological materials, exist inside living cells but are not enclosed by membranes like most cell structures. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-scientists-method-synthetic-dna-droplet.html Bio & Medicine Thu, 26 Sep 2024 14:00:10 EDT news646578001 The Arctic frequently experiences temperatures that support the formation of mixed-phase clouds that contain supercooled liquid droplets and ice crystals. The composition of such clouds plays a crucial role in the region's energy balance and climate system. Clouds with more liquid last longer and reflect more sunlight than those with more ice crystals. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-arctic-fuel-ice-formation-clouds.html Earth Sciences Environment Thu, 19 Sep 2024 09:16:28 EDT news645956179 Kumamoto University's research team, led by Assistant Professor Kazuto Hatakeyama and Professor Shintaro Ida of Institute of Industrial Nanomaterials, has announced a groundbreaking development in hydrogen ion barrier films using graphene oxide (GO) that lacks internal pores. This innovative approach, published in Small, promises significant advancements in protective coatings for various applications. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-proton-barrier-pore-free-graphene.html Nanomaterials Thu, 12 Sep 2024 10:30:40 EDT news645355830 With the flick of a light, researchers have found a way to rearrange life's basic tapestry, bending DNA strands back on themselves to reveal the material nature of the genome. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-dna-strands-revealing-genome.html Biotechnology Molecular & Computational biology Tue, 10 Sep 2024 10:33:05 EDT news645183182 Science ideas are everywhere. Some of the greatest discoveries have come from tinkering and toying with new concepts and ideas. NASA astronaut Don Pettit is no stranger to inventing and discovering. During his previous missions, Pettit has contributed to advancements for human space exploration aboard the International Space Station resulting in several published scientific papers and breakthroughs. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-astronaut-science-opportunity-international-space.html Space Exploration Wed, 04 Sep 2024 15:57:49 EDT news644684266 Mathematicians at Loughborough University have turned their attention to a fascinating observation that has intrigued scientists and cocktail enthusiasts alike: the mysterious way ouzo, a popular anise-flavored liquor, turns cloudy when water is added. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-mathematicians-secrets-ouzo-cloudy.html Mathematics Thu, 22 Aug 2024 13:27:40 EDT news643552049 One of the major unanswered questions about the origin of life is how droplets of RNA floating around the primordial soup turned into the membrane-protected packets of life we call cells. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-life-rainwater-protocell-walls.html Biochemistry Analytical Chemistry Wed, 21 Aug 2024 14:00:01 EDT news643449481 Thanks to observations by the Solar Occultation in the Infrared (SOIR) instrument on the Venus Express space probe of the European Space Agency (ESA), researchers have discovered an unexpected increase in the abundances of two water molecule variants—H2O and HDO—and their ratio HDO/H2O in Venus's mesosphere. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-astronomers-spectacular-deuterium-hydrogen-ratio.html Planetary Sciences Tue, 20 Aug 2024 10:17:03 EDT news643367821 In a study published in Device has reported a new self-powered electrostatic tweezer that offers superior accumulation and tunability of triboelectric charges, enabling unprecedented flexibility and adaptability for manipulating objects in various working scenarios. The research team was led by Dr. Du Xuemin from the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology (SIAT) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences https://phys.org/news/2024-07-powered-electrostatic-tweezer-microfluidics.html Soft Matter Fri, 26 Jul 2024 13:43:31 EDT news641220201 Scientists for decades have attempted to learn more about the complex and mysterious chain of events by which tiny droplets in clouds grow large enough to begin falling toward the ground. Better understanding this process, known as the "rain formation bottleneck," is fundamental to improving computer model simulations of weather and climate and ultimately generating better forecasts. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-raindrops-turbulence-clouds-weather-climate.html Earth Sciences Environment Thu, 25 Jul 2024 12:58:43 EDT news641131119 A series of experiments with highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza (HPAI H5N1) viruses circulating in infected U.S. dairy cattle found that viruses derived from lactating dairy cattle induced severe disease in mice and ferrets when administered via intranasal inoculation. The virus from the H5N1-infected cows bound to both avian (bird) and human-type cellular receptors, but, importantly, did not transmit efficiently among ferrets exposed via respiratory droplets. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-features-h5n1-influenza-viruses-dairy.html Ecology Veterinary medicine Mon, 08 Jul 2024 12:16:02 EDT news639659759 A key to improving climate prediction is to improve understanding of the impact of aerosol on clouds, commonly known as the aerosol-cloud-interaction, according to a new study led by Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center (ESSIC) researchers published in Science Advances. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-aerosols-affect-climate-previously-thought.html Earth Sciences Environment Wed, 12 Jun 2024 10:21:49 EDT news637406505 A team of chemists at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, working with a pair of colleagues from the Jawaharlal Nehru Center for Advanced Scientific Research, both in India, has found that particles of minerals sometimes break down spontaneously when immersed in charged microdroplets, leading to the formation of nanoparticles. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-chemists-spontaneous-nanoparticle-formation-microdroplets.html Nanomaterials Tue, 11 Jun 2024 09:06:06 EDT news637315555 RNA droplets can now be used to perform logical operations that take microRNA sequences as inputs, report scientists from Tokyo Tech. By self-assembling into network-like structures, RNA molecules form liquid-state droplets. These RNA droplets disperse only when the correct microRNA sequences are present by performing the logical AND operation. This innovative strategy could pave the way to advances in biomolecular sensing, artificial cells, and computational biodevices. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-untapped-power-logical-rna-droplets.html Bio & Medicine Fri, 07 Jun 2024 11:34:28 EDT news636978864 A pair of new shoebox-size NASA satellites will help unravel an atmospheric mystery that's bedeviled scientists for years: how the behavior of clouds and water vapor at Earth's polar regions affects our planet's climate. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-twin-nasa-satellites-ready-gauge.html Earth Sciences Environment Thu, 30 May 2024 14:43:04 EDT news636298981 Researchers discovered that microscopic liquid droplets swim toward solvent conditions that favor their dissolution. This mechanism may underlie some transport processes within living cells, and could be exploited to develop fluid micro robots. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-droplets-dissolution-fluid-microbots.html Materials Science Fri, 24 May 2024 10:07:42 EDT news635764058 Splash a few drops of water on a hot pan and if the pan is hot enough, the water will sizzle and the droplets of water seem to roll and float, hovering above the surface. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-method-aquatic-levitation-temperature-implications.html General Physics Soft Matter Fri, 24 May 2024 05:00:01 EDT news635695621 In media articles about unprecedented flooding, you'll often come across the statement that for every 1°C of warming, the atmosphere can hold about 7% more moisture. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-supercharged-thunderstorms-underestimated-climate-extreme.html Earth Sciences Environment Thu, 09 May 2024 11:26:04 EDT news634472761 Our bodies are made up of trillions of different cells, each fulfilling their own unique function to keep us alive. How do cells move around inside these extremely complicated systems? How do they know where to go? And how did they get so complicated to begin with? Simple yet profound questions like these are at the heart of curiosity-driven basic research, which focuses on the fundamental principles of natural phenomena. An important example is the process by which cells or organisms move in response to chemical signals in their environment, also known as chemotaxis. https://phys.org/news/2024-04-synthetic-droplets-primordial-soup-chemotaxis.html Biochemistry Analytical Chemistry Thu, 25 Apr 2024 10:14:04 EDT news633258841 A team led by atmospheric scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory has demonstrated the first-ever remote observations of the fine-scale structure at the base of clouds. The results, just published in npj Climate and Atmospheric Science, show that the air-cloud interface is not a perfect boundary but rather is a transition zone where aerosol particles suspended in Earth's atmosphere give rise to the droplets that ultimately form clouds. https://phys.org/news/2024-04-scientists-high-resolution-lidar-birth.html Earth Sciences Environment Wed, 24 Apr 2024 12:45:04 EDT news633181501 Imagine being able to look inside a single cancer cell and see how it communicates with its neighbors. Scientists are celebrating a new technique that lets them study the fatty contents of cancer cells, one by one. https://phys.org/news/2024-04-scientists-lipids-cell-cancer.html Biochemistry Analytical Chemistry Tue, 23 Apr 2024 19:00:02 EDT news633101221 Lipids are biomolecules essential for the proper functioning of the living cell. They are found in the cell membranes and are also integral components of cell signaling pathways. Plant cells possess subcellular structures or organelles called lipid droplets (LDs) in the leaves and seeds, which store excess lipids (fats). https://phys.org/news/2024-04-unveiling-molecular-functions-lipid-droplet.html Plants & Animals Molecular & Computational biology Tue, 23 Apr 2024 14:31:03 EDT news633101461 Healthy cells respond appropriately to changes in their environment. They do this by sensing what's happening outside and relaying a command to the precise biomolecule in the precise domain that can carry out the necessary response. https://phys.org/news/2024-04-liquid-droplets-cells.html Cell & Microbiology Molecular & Computational biology Mon, 22 Apr 2024 17:49:04 EDT news633026942 Microscopic chasms forming a sea of conical jagged peaks stipple the surface of a material called black silicon. While it's commonly found in solar cell tech, black silicon also moonlights as a tool for studying the physics of how water droplets behave. https://phys.org/news/2024-04-physicists-unknown-droplets-superhydrophobic-surfaces.html General Physics Soft Matter Tue, 16 Apr 2024 10:18:57 EDT news632481534 University of Wollongong researchers achieved a significant milestone in novel soft-matter transport by demonstrating the transfer of liquid metal from an anode to a cathode without creating a short circuit, defying conventional expectations. https://phys.org/news/2024-04-liquid-metal-anode-cathode-short.html Analytical Chemistry Materials Science Thu, 11 Apr 2024 10:20:02 EDT news632049038 In a new study, researchers have observed the freezing of saltwater droplets at a molecular level, offering new insights for de-icing and anti-icing technologies. Contrary to conventional wisdom, these droplets don't conform to the typical freezing patterns observed in pure water. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-ice-molecular-insights-saltwater-droplet.html Condensed Matter Soft Matter Mon, 25 Mar 2024 08:30:02 EDT news630331309 Polymer systems composed of multiple components can spontaneously induce emulsion or microdroplets by mechanical mixing, as an intermediate state of macroscopic phase separation. Unfortunately, the size of generated droplets is nonuniform and their spatial-arrangement is rather random. In addition, they tend to grow larger with time (coarsening). https://phys.org/news/2024-03-spontaneous-microdroplets-quasi-dimensional-confinement.html Polymers Analytical Chemistry Wed, 20 Mar 2024 10:54:03 EDT news630150841 A more efficient way to capture fresh water from the air could be inspired by a phenomenon of motion first glimpsed in bowls of breakfast cereal. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-droplets-harvesting.html General Physics Soft Matter Thu, 07 Mar 2024 10:59:48 EST news629031586 When clouds meet clear skies, cloud droplets evaporate as they mix with dry air. A new study involving researchers from the University of Gothenburg has succeeded in capturing what happens in a model. Ultimately, this could lead to more accurate climate modeling in the future. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-cloud-climate.html General Physics Wed, 21 Feb 2024 10:31:15 EST news627733871 Biologists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have demonstrated a new way to boost the oil content of plant leaves and seeds. As described in the journal New Phytologist, the scientists identified and successfully altered key portions of a protein that protects newly synthesized oil droplets. The genetic alterations essentially protect the oil-protector protein so more oil can accumulate. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-genetic-strategy-breakdown-oils-biofuels.html Biotechnology Agriculture Thu, 08 Feb 2024 09:00:01 EST news626604225