To understand the machinery of life, this scientist breaks it on purpose
University of Arizona"I'm fascinated with life, and that's why I want to break it."
"I'm fascinated with life, and that's why I want to break it."
Researchers from the National University of Singapore have identified a new avenue to maintain bone health, which opens up new and potentially more effective osteoporosis treatments.
Corals in the Ocean are made up of coral polyps, a small soft creature with a stem and tentacles, they are responsible for nourishing the corals, and aid the coral’s survival by generating self-made currents through motion of their soft bodies.
Researchers from Tufts have discovered neural mechanisms in mice specific to females that switch estrogen from playing a protective role in glucose metabolism to a disruptive role. The discovery could provide clues to the increased risk of insulin resistance and diabetes among post-menopausal women.
Geologists from Florida State University’s Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science have discovered how carbon-rich molten rock in the Earth’s upper mantle might affect the movement of seismic waves.
ORNL Story Tips: Pandemic impact, root studies, neutrons confirm, lab on a crystal and modeling fusion
Harsh conditions in early life are a fundamental cause of adult stress, and according to new research from the University of Notre Dame on wild baboons, this effect is not explained by a lack of social support in adulthood.
University of Utah researchers find that stable isotopes in hair reveal a divergence in diet according to socioeconomic status (SES), with lower-SES areas displaying higher proportions of protein coming from cornfed animals. It’s a way, the authors write, to assess a community’s diet and their health risks.
Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) have for the first time identified stem cells in the region of the optic nerve, which transmits signals from the eye to the brain. The finding presents a new theory on why the most common form of glaucoma may develop and potential for new therapies.
Iowa State and University of Texas engineers have developed computational models of replacement heart valves to examine the performance of biological tissues built into the valves. They found thinner tissues create problematic flutter.
The goal of room temperature superconductivity took a small step forward with a recent discovery by a team of Penn State physicists and materials scientists.
A Ludwig Cancer Research study has identified a new instance in which the simultaneous mutation of two nonessential genes—neither of which is on its own vital to cell survival—can cause cancer cell death.
A team of developmental biologists at the Morgridge Institute for Research has discovered a means by which schistosomes, parasitic worms that infect more than 200 million people in tropical climates, are able to outfox the host’s immune system.
Taking a bottom-up approach to synthetic biology, UC San Diego chemists and physicists show that lipid sponge droplets can be programmed to internally concentrate specific proteins, host and accelerate biochemical transformations and control enzymatic reactions.
DALLAS – July 23, 2020 – Deleting a key gene in mice in just their fat made tissues throughout these animals insulin resistant, in addition to other effects, a new study by UT Southwestern researchers shows. The findings, reported in a recent issue of PNAS, could shed light on Type 2 diabetes and other insulin resistance disorders, which remain poorly understood despite decades of study.
A new cell profiling technology combines high throughput imaging and machine learning to provide a rapid, cost-effective way to determine how specific compounds act to destroy the bacterium that causes tuberculosis. It could speed discovery of anti-TB drugs and be applied to other pathogens.
A Cornell University-led collaboration has used state-of-the-art computational tools to model the chaotic behavior of Planckian, or “strange,” metals. This behavior has long intrigued physicists, but they have not been able to simulate it down to the lowest possible temperature until now.
PDE5 inhibitors, such as sildenafil, activate protein quality-control systems and improve cells’ ability to dispose of misfolded proteins. Researchers find lowered accumulation of mutant proteins and reduced cell death and anatomical defects in zebrafish models of neurodegeneration after treatment.
New research has revealed when it comes to flying the largest of birds don't rely on flapping to move around. Instead they make use of air currents to keep them airborne for hours at a time.
Scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute have shown that the blood protein vitronectin is a promising drug target for dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a leading cause of vision loss in Americans 60 years of age and older. The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), also holds implications for Alzheimer’s and heart disease, which are linked to vitronectin.
It was a surprising thing to see on the otherwise lifeless peak of a South American volcano — a mouse, specifically a yellow-rumped leaf-eared mouse, or Phyllotis xanthopygus, scurrying among the rocks on the summit.The find was especially startling because the mouse was living at an elevation of 22,100 feet, a higher elevation than scientists had ever observed mammals living at previously.
Addressing potential threats from predators has not slowed the dramatic decline of mountain caribou in British Columbia and Alberta, according to a new study by scientists from the University of Alberta and two other western Canadian universities.
An interventional therapy aimed at improving survival chances and reducing the need for critical care treatment due to COVID-19 is being investigated by physicians at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth). The clinical trial is underway at Memorial Hermann and Harris Health System’s Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital.
New research reveals how winners & losers from climate change can be identified based on their ability to adapt to rising future temperatures.
DALLAS – July 2, 2020 – Two new studies led by UT Southwestern scientists outline how individual cells maintain their internal clocks, driven both through heritable and random means. These findings, published online May 1 in PNAS and May 27 in eLife, help explain how organisms’ circadian clocks maintain flexibility and could offer insights into aging and cancer.
How did the earliest proteins arise, given that the amino acids needed to make them are themselves produced by other proteins – enzymes? The Weizmann Institute's Prof. Dan Tawfik and colleagues recreated primordial proteins to find the answer.
Scientists have simulated conditions on water-rich exoplanets to learn more about their geological composition, and found a new transition state between rock and water.
A study identified which pairs of atoms in a catalyst nanoparticle are most active in a reaction that breaks down a harmful exhaust gas in catalytic converters. The results are a step toward engineering cheaper, more efficient catalysts.
SS-31, an experimental drug that has been shown to improve the function of diseased and aged mitochondria, binds to 12 key proteins involved in energy production, researchers at the University of Washington School of Medicine have found.
A research team from Empa and EPFL has developed a molecular motor which consists of only 16 atoms and rotates reliably in one direction. It could allow energy harvesting at the atomic level. The special feature of the motor is that it moves exactly at the boundary between classical motion and quantum tunneling - and has revealed puzzling phenomena to researchers in the quantum realm.
Scientists have discovered an important cell signalling pathway in the kidney which if stopped, could hold the key to treating chronic kidney disease as well as other deadly conditions, including heart attack and stroke.
In one of the largest educational field experiments ever conducted, a team co-led by a Cornell researcher found that promising interventions to help students complete online courses were not effective on a massive scale – suggesting that targeted solutions are needed to help students in different circumstances or locations.
Delta opioid receptors have a built-in mechanism for pain relief and can be precisely targeted with drug-delivering nanoparticles—making them a promising target for treating chronic inflammatory pain with fewer side effects, according to a new study from an international team of researchers. The study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), was conducted using cells from humans and mice with inflammatory bowel disease, which can cause chronic pain.
Researchers from Columbia Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, and Graz University of Technology propose a new computational system to expand the understanding of the brain at an intermediate level, between neurons and cognitive phenomena such as language. They have developed a brain architecture based on neuronal assemblies, and they demonstrate its use in the syntactic processing in the production of language; their model is consistent with recent experimental results.
Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) have identified how certain gene mutations cause amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. The finding could offer potential new approaches for treating this devastating condition.
An analysis of high-speed raindrops hitting biological surfaces such as feathers, plant leaves and insect wings reveals how these highly water-repelling veneers reduce the water’s impact.
To succeed in modern life, people need to accomplish challenging tasks effectively. Many successful entrepreneurs, businesspeople, students, athletes and more, tend to be more strategic – and hence, more effective – than others at meeting such challenges. A new study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that one important psychological factor behind their success may be a “strategic mindset”.
Tanycytes are glial cells, which communicate with neurons in the brain to inform it of what we have eaten. Researchers from the School of Life Sciences at the University of Warwick have found when tanycytes are selectively stimulated appetite was increased.
Using a unique combination of nanoscale imaging and chemical analysis, an international team of researchers has revealed a key step in the molecular mechanism behind the water splitting reaction of photosynthesis, a finding that could help inform the design of renewable energy technology.
New research from the lab of Hening Lin, professor of chemistry and chemical biology in the College of Arts and Sciences, finds that a protein called TiPARP acts as a terminator for several cancer-causing transcription factors, including HIF-1, which is implicated in many cancers, including breast cancer. The research demonstrates that TiPARP, therefore, is a tumor suppressor.
A new technique overcomes a serious hurdle in the field of bacterial design and engineering Researchers develop method to identify proteins that enable highly efficient bacterial design Approach has potential to boost efforts in bacterial design to tackle infectious diseases, bacterial drug resistance, environmental cleanup and more
Watching and measuring what happens in tissues inside the human embryo is currently not possible, and it’s difficult to do in mammalian models. Because humans and the fruit fly Drosophila share so many biological similarities, Columbia Engineering and Syracuse University researchers tackled this problem by focusing on fruit flies. The team reports today that they can predict when the tissue will begin to rapidly flow just by looking at cell shapes in the tissue.
Cornell researchers combined genetic engineering, single-molecule tracking and protein quantitation to get a closer look at this mechanism and understand how it functions. The knowledge could lead to the development of more effective antibacterial treatments.
Upon exposure to human skin, ultraviolet light from the sun almost instantly generates two types of "lesions" that damage DNA. Scientists at UW Medicine in Seattle determined which of these lesions is responsible for activating a process that may increase cancerous mutations in cells.
A recent study from the Mechanobiology Institute at the National University of Singapore has shown that rejuvenated fibroblasts can recover their ability to self-contract. This encouraging discovery holds great potential for applications in regenerative medicine and stem cell engineering.
Glass frogs are well known for their see-through skin but, until now, the reason for this curious feature has received no experimental attention.
Researchers zeroed in on a key step in photosynthesis in which a water molecule moves in to bridge manganese and calcium atoms in the catalytic complex that splits water to produce breathable oxygen. What they learned brings them one step closer to obtaining a complete picture of this natural process, which could inform the next generation of artificial photosynthetic systems that produce clean and renewable energy from sunlight and water. Their results were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences today.
This odd behavior may promote the material's ability upon cooling to perfectly conduct electricity in a way unexplained by standard theories.
A multi-institutional clinical trial is shedding new light on the one third of metastatic, castration-resistant prostate cancers that don't respond to enzalutamide and similar drugs.