165 articles from FRIDAY 23.7.2021

'Cyborg soil' reveals the secret microbial metropolis beneath our feet

Dig a teaspoon into your nearest clump of soil, and what you'll emerge with will contain more microorganisms than there are people on Earth. We know this from lab studies that analyze samples of earth scooped from the microbial wild to determine which forms of microscopic life exist in the world beneath our feet.

Fatal flaw uncovered in green pigmented concrete

As Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University researchers completed their research on colored architectural concrete, they found a surprising result—green pigmented cement had impurities that produced porous, poor quality concrete. Meanwhile, red and blue pigments had little effect.

Autonomous self-healing seen in piezoelectric molecular crystals

A team of researchers from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research in Kolkata, the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur and RWTH Aachen University, has found a type of piezoelectric molecular crystal that is capable of autonomous self-healing. In their paper published in the journal Science, the group describes their work with piezoelectric molecular crystals and the crystals...

How caring for children can help Aboriginal Elders during lockdown

Pandemic-induced lockdowns have provided stories of both hardship and resilience. This extends to families in the community caring for children in out-of-home care, a group which has weathered unique challenges as children are physically and sometimes virtually cut off from contact with their biological families.

A device that cracks milk protein

After gaining world attention by 'unboiling' egg protein, Flinders University scientists have now used an Australian-made novel thin film microfluidic device to manipulate Beta-lactoglobulin (β-lactoglobulin), the major whey protein in cow, sheep and other mammal milks.

Exploring topology in biology

When can we say that a certain property of a system is robust? Intuitively, robustness implies that, even under the effect of external perturbations on the system, no matter how strong or random, said property remains unchanged. In mathematics, properties of an object that are robust against deformations are called topological. For example, the letters s, S, and L can be transformed into each...

Water resources: Defusing conflict, promoting cooperation

Rivers are lifelines for many countries. They create valuable ecosystems, provide drinking water for people and raw water for agriculture and industry. In the Global South in particular, there is strong competition for access to freshwater resources. The increasing use of hydropower has recently intensified this competition further.

Hunting for TB's most vulnerable genes

Developing drugs to combat tuberculosis, or TB, can be frustrating business. A gene essential to the bacteria's lifecycle is discovered, scientists rush to develop drugs that inhibit the target, and then—disappointment. Volleys of compounds hurled at the essential gene target have little impact on microbial growth. The bacteria live on. The scientists return to the drawing board.

Artificial Intelligence Helps Improve NASA’s Eyes on the Sun

Portal origin URL: Artificial Intelligence Helps Improve NASA’s Eyes on the SunPortal origin nid: 472681Published: Friday, July 23, 2021 - 10:00Featured (stick to top of list): noPortal text teaser: A group of researchers is using artificial intelligence techniques to calibrate some of NASA’s images of the Sun, helping improve the data that scientists use for solar...

Bacteria navigate on surfaces using a 'sense of touch'

Many disease-causing bacteria such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa crawl on surfaces through a walk-like motility known as "twitching." Nanometers-wide filaments called type IV pili are known to power twitching, but scientists ignore which sensory signals coordinate the microbes' movements.

Planetary nebulae in distant galaxies

Using data from the MUSE instrument, researchers at the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) succeeded in detecting extremely faint planetary nebulae in distant galaxies. The method used, a filter algorithm in image data processing, opens up new possibilities for cosmic distance measurement—and thus also for determining the Hubble constant.

DeepMind and EMBL release the most complete database of predicted 3D structures of human proteins

DeepMind is partnering with EMBL to make the most complete and accurate database yet of the predicted human protein structures freely and openly available to the scientific community. The AlphaFold Protein Structure Database will enable research that advances understanding of these building blocks of life, accelerating research across a variety of fields. AlphaFold's impact is already being...

Reverse optogenetic tool developed

A new optogenetic tool, a protein that can be controlled by light, has been characterized by researchers at Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB). They used an opsin—a protein that occurs in the brain and eyes—from zebrafish and introduced it into the brain of mice. Unlike other optogenetic tools, this opsin is not switched on but rather switched off by light. Experiments also showed that the tool...