Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a technique to study how unicellular micro-algae, known as diatoms, create their complex cell walls. Researchers hope to learn how diatoms assemble these nanometer-patterned, intricate micro-architectures to find better methods for creating nanomaterials in the laboratory.
Virginia Tech researchers used novel methodology and the university’s System X supercomputer to carry out what is probably the first simulation that explores full range of motions of a DNA strand of 147 base pairs, the length that is required to form the fundamental unit of DNA packing in the living cells — the nucleosome. Contrary to a long-held belief that DNA is hard to bend, the simulation shows in crisp atomic detail that DNA is considerably more flexible than commonly thought.
Vistasp Karbhari, a professor of structural engineering at UC San Diego, has developed fiber-reinforced polymer composites as strong, lightweight materials for aerospace, automotive, civil and marine applications, so he thought, “If they work so well in highway bridges, why not dental bridges.”
Mobile DNA, which inserts foreign genes into target cells, is a powerful force in the march of evolution and the spread of disease. Working with the lambda virus and E. coli bacteria, Brown University biologists have solved the structure of a six-protein complex critical to performing this gene-grafting surgery. The technique they developed could be used to reveal the structure of other critical protein complexes, landing the work on the cover of Molecular Cell.
The traditional idea that immigrants cluster together in neighborhoods with their countrymen after coming to the United States and move away after achieving economic success is far from universal. New research indicates that who immigrants marry or partner with has a strong influence on where they live.
After decades of intensive effort by both experimental and theoretical physicists worldwide, a tiny particle with no charge, a very low mass and a lifetime much shorter than a nanosecond, dubbed the “axion,” has now been detected by the University at Buffalo physicist who first suggested its existence in a little-read paper as early as 1974.
Scientists have created novel “spintronic” devices that could point the way for the next generation of more powerful and permanent data storage chips in computers. Physicist at the Universities of Bath, Bristol and Leeds have discovered a way to precisely control the pattern of magnetic fields in thin magnetic films, which can be used to store information.
CQU Rockhampton is now the headquarters of an Australian research team seeking better ways to prevent respiratory infections which kill millions of people worldwide every year.
A key enzyme that cuts short our cellular lifespan in an effort to thwart cancer has now been linked to body mass.Until now, scientists believed that our relatively long lifespans controlled the expression of telomerase — an enzyme that can lengthen the lives of cells, but can also increase the rate of cancer.
Not everyone enjoys a murder mystery with a surprise ending, new research suggests. People who have lower levels of self-esteem prefer crime and detective stories that confirm their suspicions in the end, while those with higher self-esteem enjoy a story that goes against expectations.