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Hydrothermal vents supply a geochemical precursor of ATP that could have powered early life
Science News

Hydrothermal vents supply a geochemical precursor of ATP that could have powered early life

Where did the energy come from to power the chemical origin of life, and how did phosphate come to be the universal energy currency of cells? Biologists from the Institute of Molecular Evolution at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) have uncovered a new source of energy that drove primordial chemical reactions on the early Earth forward to kick-start metabolism. Their findings, now published in The FEBS Journal, identify phosphite and palladium, substances that naturally occur in H2-producing hydrothermal vents, as an inorganic precursor of ATP.

📅 2026-10-06 22:00:11    •    Phys.org
Young infants see saliva sharing as a sign of a close bond, experiments suggest
Science News

Young infants see saliva sharing as a sign of a close bond, experiments suggest

Imagine you're an infant. Just a few months in the world, trying to gather your faculties, testing gravity—you're pretty helpless and fully reliant on the people around you. As a result, one of your primary tasks as a new person—even before hand-eye coordination and responding to your own name—is to figure out how the people you've just met are connected to each other.

📅 2026-10-06 21:50:01    •    Phys.org
Tetrahedral iron can help clays exchange electrons about ten times faster
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Tetrahedral iron can help clays exchange electrons about ten times faster

Smectites are clay minerals that can contain large amounts of structural iron. Unlike iron oxides, they do not dissolve when their iron is reduced, so they can be reduced and reoxidized many times. This makes them a recyclable pool of redox-active iron that supports microbial respiration, transforms contaminants and influences nutrient and trace element cycling.

📅 2026-10-06 21:40:09    •    Phys.org
Newly available satellite data show just how flawed some river models can be
Science News

Newly available satellite data show just how flawed some river models can be

"Is there enough water? What's happening with climate change? How do I operate my hydro plant? In a world of water problems, there are problems that we need a good model to solve," says Colin Gleason, a hydrologist in the Riccio College of Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. But the models are only as good as the math that they're based on, and short of measuring every river in the world, there is no way to check this on a global scale.

📅 2026-10-06 21:40:01    •    Phys.org
AI techniques behind image creation improve flash flood forecasts across U.S. river basins
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AI techniques behind image creation improve flash flood forecasts across U.S. river basins

A flash flood can devastate a community for years in a matter of minutes. These disasters account for roughly 85% of floods and cause thousands of deaths annually worldwide, with water levels capable of shooting up 30 feet (9 meters) and receding to normal levels in the span of a single, unpredictable day, according to the National Weather Service.

📅 2026-10-06 21:30:01    •    Phys.org
X-ray technique reveals how quantum materials respond to laser pulses in real time
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X-ray technique reveals how quantum materials respond to laser pulses in real time

Creating a quantum device often begins by intentionally damaging a crystal. Scientists fire an ultrafast laser pulse into a material, knocking atoms out of place and leaving behind tiny imperfections called vacancies. Far from being flaws, these vacancies can behave as qubits—the fundamental building blocks of quantum information.

📅 2026-10-06 21:20:08    •    Phys.org
Highly sensitive biosensor enables rapid detection of cerebrospinal fluid leaks
Science News

Highly sensitive biosensor enables rapid detection of cerebrospinal fluid leaks

A research team has developed a highly sensitive electrochemical biosensor capable of rapidly and accurately diagnosing cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leaks that may occur following head surgery or trauma. The team established a diagnostic platform that uses enzymes to detect subtle differences in sugars attached to protein surfaces and converts these differences into measurable electrical signals.

📅 2026-10-06 21:20:01    •    Phys.org
Hydra loses its immortality after cold triggers switch to sexual reproduction
Science News

Hydra loses its immortality after cold triggers switch to sexual reproduction

The freshwater polyp Hydra oligactis is essentially immortal and reproduces asexually by cloning itself. Except when it gets too cold: then the animal switches to sexual reproduction, begins to age, and eventually dies. A research team at the University of Innsbruck has now investigated the metabolic changes that accompany this process. One of the findings: the aging process is accompanied by a sharp decline in taurine.

📅 2026-10-06 21:00:08    •    Phys.org
Which eggplant farming practices pay off?
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Which eggplant farming practices pay off?

Fabrice Diangoné Bi Tra, a doctoral student in the 100 Ph.D.s for Africa program of the UM6P-EPFL Excellence in Africa initiative, has published a new study in Agriculture.

📅 2026-10-06 21:00:02    •    Phys.org
Earth is in the firing line of a strange new type of cosmic object, astronomers say
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Earth is in the firing line of a strange new type of cosmic object, astronomers say

Researchers have observed the strongest candidate yet for a "microblazar" — a dazzling object that has long been predicted to exist but never spotted. Observations of microblazars would give astronomers closer views of black holes emitting powerful jets of energy and help them understand how these extreme objects behave. Blazars are some of the most energetic objects in the universe. They are a type of quasar — a brightly glowing object fueled by a supermassive black hole stripping material from its host galaxy and then ejecting some of it in powerful, opposing jets of particles and radiation. To qualify as a blazar, one of those near-light-speed jets needs to point directly at Earth. Astron...

📅 2026-10-06 20:41:50    •    Live Science
Flexible protein gate controls access to mitochondrial folds, simulations suggest
Science News

Flexible protein gate controls access to mitochondrial folds, simulations suggest

Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, mitochondria in our cells churn out energy from the food we eat, which keeps our bodies functioning. Much of this work happens along cristae—deep pockets in the mitochondria's inner membrane. To work properly, cristae must maintain their shape while carefully controlling which molecules enter and exit. At their narrow entrances sits a protein complex called MICOS, which helps stabilize these pockets and acts as a molecular filter. When this architecture is disrupted, the consequences can include neurodegenerative diseases and cancer. But exactly how MICOS works has remained unclear.

📅 2026-10-06 20:40:20    •    Phys.org