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74 articles from ScienceDaily

No deliveries: How cells decide when to accept extracellular packages

Endocytosis, a fundamental process that cells use to take in macromolecules, functions a lot like an airlock on a spaceship -- but squishier, says a researcher. Researchers have studied how cells initiate and perform endocytosis since the 1960s, but in a new article they finally describes how cells shut down this important cellular machinery. And their findings are not without controversy.

Multimaterial 3D printing manufactures complex objects, fast

3D printing is super cool, but it's also super slow -- it would take 115 days to print a detailed, multimaterial object about the size of a grapefruit. A new method allows printing with up to 8 different inks in a fraction of the time, thanks to special printheads that can seamlessly switch inks up to 50 times per second.

Researchers unravel protective properties of telomere t-loops

Loops at the ends of telomeres play a vital protective role preventing damage to chromosomes, according to new research. The study showed how the winding and unwinding of 't-loops' at the end of telomeres prevents chromosomes from being recognized as DNA damage. The study also uncovered how this process is regulated.

Extinct giant ape directly linked to the living orangutan

Researchers have succeeded in reconstructing the evolutionary relationship between a two million year old giant primate and the living orangutan. It is the first time genetic material this old has been retrieved from a fossil in a subtropical area. This allows the researchers to accurately reconstruct animal, including human, evolutionary processes way beyond the limits known today.

Slowing the progression of multiple sclerosis

Over 77,000 Canadians are living with multiple sclerosis, a disease whose causes still remain unknown. Presently, they have no hope for a cure. Researchers have now identified a molecule named ALCAM which, once blocked, delays the progression of the disease. Their results, obtained from in vitro human and in vivo mouse studies, could lead to the development of a new generation of therapies to...

Microparticles could help fight malnutrition

Researchers have now developed a new way to fortify staple foods with these micronutrients by encapsulating them in a biocompatible polymer that prevents the nutrients from being degraded during storage or cooking. In a small clinical trial, they showed that women who ate bread fortified with encapsulated iron were able to absorb iron from the food.

Something old, something new in the ocean's blue

Microbiologists have discovered a new metabolic process in the ocean. Ranging from molecular structures of individual genes and detection of their global distribution, their results give insight into the pathway process and its degradation products and thus provide valuable information for future calculations of the ocean`s carbon dioxide balance.

Tuna carbon ratios reveal shift in food web

The ratio of carbon isotopes in three common species of tuna has changed substantially since 2000, suggesting major shifts are also taking place in the phytoplankton populations that form the basis of the ocean's food web, according to a new international study. Much of the change occurring in phytoplankton physiology and species composition may be driven by increased ocean stratification, an...

Precisely poking cells en masse to cure cancer

A novel microfluidic device addresses one of the most costly steps in the engineered cell therapy manufacturing process, namely gene delivery. Deterministic mechanoporation, or DMP, uses fluid flow to pull each cell in a large population onto its own tiny needle. The flow is then reversed to release the cells from the needles, leaving a singular and precisely defined pore within each cell that...