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...

Organic polymeric scintillators excite the X-ray community

X-ray detection is of great importance in diverse applications, such as radiation detection, medical diagnosis, and security inspection. A popular way to achieve X-ray detection is to integrate a photodetector with a luminescent material called a scintillator, which emits energy in the form of light. Scintillators can convert high-energy X-ray photons to low-energy visible luminescence.

New metasurface-based device creates different images depending on light and environmental conditions

Researchers have developed a new metasurface-based device that can produce multiple distinct holographic images depending on the surrounding medium and the wavelength of light used. The ability to store information that is only retrievable with the right set of keys—such as a certain light wavelength combined with wet conditions—could be further developed to design simple yet effective...

First animals developed complex ecosystems before the Cambrian explosion

Early animals formed complex ecological communities more than 550 million years ago, setting the evolutionary stage for the Cambrian explosion, according to a study by Rebecca Eden, Emily Mitchell, and colleagues at the University of Cambridge, UK, publishing May 17th in the open-access journal PLOS Biology.

Study gives animal testing alternatives a confidence boost

As part of a government effort to reduce animal testing, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have worked with the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and Inotiv Inc. to produce a new protocol for screening skin allergens. The method is potentially cheaper and faster than animal testing, while maintaining a similar performance.

Friendly fungi announce themselves to their hosts

For many years after discovering a diverse population of sometimes dangerous microbes constantly living in our intestines, scientists described the situation as a form of living with the enemy. But when it comes to commensal populations of the fungus Candida albicans, the dreaded invader may be better seen as a helpful friend arriving with gifts.

Aerodynamics of perching birds could inform aircraft design

If you have ever watched a bird land on a tree branch, you may have noticed that it rapidly pitches its wings upward at a high angle to execute a smooth landing. However, for some birds, they land by folding their wings as they perch instead, creating a sweeping motion as they decelerate.

A new law unchains fusion energy

Physicists at EPFL, within a large European collaboration, have revised one of the fundamental laws that has been foundational to plasma and fusion research for over three decades, even governing the design of megaprojects like ITER. The update shows that we can actually safely use more hydrogen fuel in fusion reactors, and therefore obtain more energy than previously thought.

Statins may provide protection against depression

Statins have been hailed as a wonder drug; the cholesterol-lowering drugs have been prescribed to tens of millions of people since their approval in the late 1980s to prevent heart attack and stroke. But the drugs may yet have additional benefits, some research has hinted, including on mental health. Now, a new study examines the influence of statins on emotional bias, a marker for risk of...

Scientists see signs of traumatic brain injury in headbutting muskox

Scientists saw for the first time hallmarks of concussions and other head trauma in the brains of deceased headbutting animals -- muskoxen and bighorn sheep. The results may contradict the commonly-held belief that ramming animals do not suffer brain injuries and support the notion that studies on animals with brains evolutionarily similar to those of humans may help researchers understand and...