151 articles from TUESDAY 17.5.2022

New protein structures to aid rational drug design

In a major advance for rational drug design, a Texas A&M AgriLife team has described several protein structures of a crucial player in cellular processes. The advance could bring new ideas for treatments of diseases such as Alzheimer's, AIDS, cancer and others.

Team develops automated platform for plasmid production

Plasmids have extensive use in basic and applied biology. These small, circular DNA molecules are used by scientists to introduce new genes into a target organism. Well known for their applications in the production of therapeutic proteins like insulin, plasmids are broadly used in the large-scale production of many bioproducts.

Automated platform for plasmid production

Researchers have developed PlasmidMaker, a versatile automated platform for plasmid design & construction. These circular DNA molecules are used by scientists to introduce new genes into a target organism, and have extensive use in basic and applied biology. In particular, they have applications in the large-scale production of bioproducts.

Chemists skew the odds to prevent cancer

A theoretical framework shows how to increase the odds of identifying cancer-causing mutations before tumors take hold. Researchers demonstrate that only a few energetically favorable pathways are likely to lead to cancer.

New protein structures to aid rational drug design

In a major advance for rational drug design, chemists have described several protein structures of a crucial player in cellular processes. The advance could bring new ideas for treatments of diseases such as Alzheimer's, AIDS, cancer and others.

Image: Hubble reveals a river of star formation

This newly revised NASA Hubble Space Telescope image of the Hickson Compact Group 31 (HCG 31) of galaxies highlights streams of star-formation as four dwarf galaxies interact. The bright, distorted clump of young blue-white stars (top-right of center) is NGC 1741. Although it appears to be a single galaxy, NGC 1741 is actually a pair of colliding dwarf galaxies. Another dwarf, cigar-shaped galaxy...

Spectacular ceiling frescoes discovered in the Temple of Khnum at Esna

In the Temple of Khnum at Esna, Upper Egypt, German and Egyptian researchers have uncovered a series of vibrantly-colored ceiling frescoes. The relief images in the central section of the ceiling, Professor Christian Leitz from the University of Tübingen reports, make up a total of 46 depictions of the Upper-Egyptian vulture goddess Nekhbet and the Lower-Egyptian serpent goddess Wadjet. Both are...

Marine ecologists warn of coral extinction by the end of the century

Vibrant coral reefs teeming with marine life are diminishing throughout the Caribbean as global temperatures rise. Coral reefs are habitats that support the seafood industry, are barriers for coastal communities from storms, flooding and sea level rise, and are attractions for tourism. Their net economic value worldwide is estimated to be tens of billions of dollars. However, if atmospheric and...

New algorithm approach paves the way for larger, more complex metalenses

Compact and lightweight metasurfaces—which use specifically designed and patterned nanostructures on a flat surface to focus, shape and control light—are a promising technology for wearable applications, especially virtual and augmented reality systems. Today, research teams painstakingly design the specific pattern of nanostructures on the surface to achieve the desired function of the lens,...

Algorithms empower metalens design

Researchers have developed a new method for designing large-scale metasurfaces that uses techniques of machine intelligence to generate designs automatically. The method will enable new metasurface designs that can make an impact on virtual or augmented reality, self-driving cars, and machine vision for embarked systems and satellites.

Congress is Finally Taking UFOs Seriously, 50 Years After Its Last Hearing on the Mysterious Subject

The House Intelligence Committee’s Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence, and Counterproliferation subcommittee would like to make one thing very clear: They did not spend 90 minutes this morning conducting public hearings into the existence of UFOs. Yes, they were discussing unidentified objects, and yes those objects were seen to be flying, but the term for them today is...

mRNA vaccines like Pfizer and Moderna fare better against COVID-19 variants of concern

A comparison of four COVID-19 vaccinations shows that messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines -- Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna -- perform better against the World Health Organization's variants of concern (VOCs) than viral vector vaccines -- AstraZeneca and J&J/Janssen. Although they all effectively prevent severe disease by VOCs, the research suggests that people receiving a viral vector vaccine are more...