Membrane-associated proteins play a vital role in a variety of cellular processes, yet little is known about the membrane-association mechanism. Lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 (Lp-PLA2) is one such protein with an important role in cardiovascular health, but its mechanism of action on the phospholipid membrane was unknown. To address this, researchers at University of California San Diego...

Natural camouflage is one of nature's most interesting traits. Materials scientists have now developed a material that can mimic the camouflage capabilities of marine mollusks. They created a starfish-shaped soft robot that responds to heat and pressure with deformation, movement, and color changes. Cut-off tentacles can be welded together, and the material can be fully recycled, they write in the...

Mutations in genes encoding mitochondrial aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases are linked to diverse diseases. However, the precise mechanisms by which these mutations affect mitochondrial function and disease development are not fully understood.

The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, TESS, was launched in 2018 with the goal of discovering small planets around the sun's nearest neighbor stars. TESS has so far discovered 172 confirmed exoplanets and compiled a list of 4703 candidate exoplanets. Its sensitive camera takes images that span a huge field of view, more than twice the area of the constellation of Orion, and TESS has also...

Carbon dioxide can be harvested from smokestacks and used to create commercially valuable chemicals thanks to a novel compound developed by a scientific collaboration led by an Oregon State University researcher.

Prochlorococcus are the smallest and most abundant photosynthesizing organisms on the planet. A single Prochlorococcus cell is dwarfed by a human red blood cell, yet globally the microbes number in the octillions and are responsible for a large fraction of the world's oxygen production as they turn sunlight into energy.

The microbes that live inside our mouths, collectively known as the oral microbiome, impact our overall health in many ways that are not yet fully understood. Some bacteria cause inflammation, leading to periodontitis and other systemic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Other oral organisms have been associated with certain types of cancer. Scientists are working to understand...

NASA's new space telescope is on the verge of completing the riskiest part of its mission—unfolding and tightening a huge sunshade—after ground controllers fixed a pair of problems, officials said Monday.

New research by the Tennessee Education Research Alliance at Vanderbilt University's Peabody College reveals that Black and male teachers in Tennessee have received lower observation scores than white and female teachers every year since the state's evaluation system began in 2011. Those gaps among race and gender remain even when comparing similarly qualified teachers who perform the same...

One afternoon, during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in Panama, a bored teenager with a slingshot and a clay ball accidentally shot entry and exit holes in a Cecropia tree trunk. These are "ant-plant" trees, which famously cooperate with fierce Azteca ants; the trees provide shelter and food to the ants, and in exchange the ants defend their leaves against herbivores. The next morning, to...

Why the sun's corona reaches temperatures of several million degrees Celsius is one of the great mysteries of solar physics. A "hot" trail to explain this effect leads to a region of the solar atmosphere just below the corona, where sound waves and certain plasma waves travel at the same speed. In an experiment using the molten alkali metal rubidium and pulsed high magnetic fields, a team from the...

Research led by UC Davis Professor Garen Wintemute shows that violence indirectly impacts most Californians. Though relatively few may experience or witness a violent act, a large majority of surveyed Californians reported having an "experience of violence" (EV). These included hearing gunshots in their neighborhood, encountering a sidewalk memorial to a violent death or learning about a violent...

Even American women who identify as quite passionate sports fans don't watch athletic events much more frequently than women who say they aren't as interested in sports, a new national study finds.

A new, Yale-led study suggests the 21st century will see an expansion of hurricanes and typhoons into mid-latitude regions, which includes major cities such as New York, Boston, Beijing, and Tokyo.

Between wildfires, drought, a trade war, and the COVID-19 pandemic, the last few years have been hard on California farmers. But recent research by agricultural economists from UC Davis and the University of Connecticut suggests that economic losses to California agriculture from recent supply chain disruptions may have an even greater economic impact. Their models estimate that there was a 17%...

Nuclear pore complexes (NPCs) are massive multi-protein complexes that act as passageways for the transport of molecules into and out of the nucleus. Given their central role in gene expression, growth and development, it is not surprising that NPC defects are linked to many diseases such as viral infections, cancers and certain neurodegenerative diseases, and that nuclear transport is a target...

Popular baby names, just like fashion styles and other pop culture trends, keep on changing. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University developed a mathematical model to understand why these behavioral patterns are constantly shifting, and it points to a tug-of-war between the need to stand out in the crowd and the need to fit in with the pack. The motives to conform and to be unique interact to...

PSI scientists have shed light on an important component of the eye: a protein in the rod cells of the retina which helps us see in dim light. Acting as an ion channel in the cell membrane, the protein is responsible for relaying the optical signal from the eye to the brain. If a genetic disorder disrupts the molecular function in a person, they will go blind. Scientists have deciphered the...

The use of genetic information is now indispensable for modern plant breeding. Even though DNA sequencing has become much cheaper since the human genome was decoded for the very first time in 2003, collecting the full genetic information still accounts for a large part of the costs in animal and plant breeding. One trick to reduce these costs is to sequence only a very small and randomly selected...

When it comes to creating next-generation electronics, two-dimensional semiconductors have a big edge. They're faster, more powerful and more efficient. They're also incredibly difficult to fabricate.

California begins the new year in much better shape for escaping its drought thanks to a massive October atmospheric river and wet December that delivered more rain and snow so far than the state saw in all of its last paltry precipitation season.

From the Terminator to Spiderman's suit, self-repairing robots and devices abound in sci-fi movies. In reality, though, wear and tear reduce the effectiveness of electronic devices until they need to be replaced. What is the cracked screen of your mobile phone healing itself overnight, or the solar panels providing energy to satellites continually repairing the damage caused by micro-meteorites?

A strong earthquake struck off the coast of eastern Taiwan on Monday evening with shaking felt in the capital Taipei, but authorities said there were no immediate reports of widespread damage or injuries.

After a bruising holiday week of flight cancellations and record surges in COVID-19 cases, a powerful winter storm Monday further snarled US transport and shuttered the federal government and schools.