Researchers at ETH Zurich recently developed highly realistic simulations of the proteins on sperm and egg cells coupling together before they fuse. These findings enabled the research team to solve several mysteries of fertilization at once‚ which could help to accelerate development of more targeted infertility treatments.

In a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Jan. 30‚ a research team reports a new understanding of how light affects plant growth.

High pressure has revealed surprising physics and created novel states in condensed matter. Exciting examples include near room temperature superconductivity (Tc >; 200 K) in high-pressure hydrides such as H3S and LaH10.

Ammonia is essential for food and future energy supply. In the industry‚ it is mainly produced by the Haber-Bosch process‚ which operates at high temperatures and pressures. Due to the high energy consumption and carbon emissions of ammonia industry‚ it is important to develop alternative materials and approaches for efficient N2 reduction to ammonia driven by renewable energy.

A team of biologists and veterinary scientists from the University of Sassari‚ Parc Naziunal Svizzer‚ Gran Paradiso National Park‚ and the University of Ferrara reports that Alpine ibex have been altering their grazing habits over the past several years in response to rising temperatures. In their study‚ published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B‚‚ the group tracked the behavior of Alpine ibex living in a part of the Alps over the years 2006 to 2019.

A team of molecular engineers have developed a type of plastic that can be shape-shifted using tempering. In their paper published in the journal Science the team‚ from the University of Chicago‚ with a colleagues from the US DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory‚ Aberdeen Proving Ground‚ the National Institutes of Standards and Technology and the NASA Glenn Research Center‚ describe how they made their plastic and how well it was able to shape shift when they applied various types of tempering.

In multicellular organisms‚ cell migration and mechanosensing are essential for cellular development and maintenance. These processes rely on talin‚ the key focal adhesion—or FA—protein‚ central in connecting adjacent cellular matrices and enabling force transmission between them.

Rocks once buried deep in ancient subduction zones—where tectonic plates collide—could help scientists make better predictions of how these zones behave during the years between major earthquakes‚ according to a research team from Penn State and Brown University.

Fruit flies have provided scientists with new insight into the genetic basis for the rapid evolution of male external genitalia driven by sexual selection.

In the fossil record‚ trees typically are preserved with only their trunks. They don't usually include any leaves to show what their canopies and overall forms may have looked like. But now‚ researchers reporting in the journal Current Biology describe fossilized trees from New Brunswick‚ Canada with a surprising and unique three-dimensional crown shape.