COLUMBUS, Ohio--Scientists are getting closer to directly observing how and why water is essential to life as we know it.
A study in this week's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences provides the strongest evidence yet that proteins--the large and complex molecules that fold into particular shapes to enable biological reactions--can't fold themselves.
In a collaborative study by the University of Oklahoma, University of Chicago, University of California, Merced, and Uppsala University, researchers conduct the first ancient DNA investigation of the Himalayan arc, generating genomic data for eight individuals ranging in time from the earliest known human settlements to the establishment of the Tibetan Empire. The findings demonstrate that the genetic make-up of high-altitude Himalayan populations has remained remarkably stable despite cultural transitions and exposure to outside populations through trade.
NEW YORK (June 20, 2016)--Countries that contain most of the world's species biodiversity are also spending the least on a per-person basis to protect these natural assets, according to scientists from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the University of Queensland. The authors also noted that spending appears to be associated with the country's social and governance organization.
To see right through something is to know its true intent--the same could be said to apply to biological tissues, especially tumors.
Bioluminescence imaging with a firefly enzyme, called luciferase, and its substrate D-luciferin, is widely used to monitor biological processes. However, the emission wavelength of bioluminescence produced by D-luciferin limits the sensitivity of this technique. At 562 nm, this light does not effectively penetrate biological tissues.
WACO, Texas (June 20, 2016) - A new study from Baylor University's Hankamer School of Business helps leaders better understand how to manage innovators, specifically scientists and engineers.
"Our study suggests that leaders who understand how to manage their employees' commitment to both their organizations and professions may be the most successful at motivating and retaining innovators," said the study's lead author, Sara Perry, Ph.D., assistant professor of management in Baylor's Hankamer School of Business. "Innovators represent a highly valued workforce."
The same 20-sided solid that was morphed into geodesic domes in the past century may be the shape of things to come in synthetic biology.
For University of Washington Institute of Protein Design scientists working to invent molecular tools, vehicles, and devices for medicine and other fields, the icosahedron's geometry is inspiring. Its bird cage-like symmetry and spacious interior suggest cargo-containing possibilities.
Over 90 per cent of mammal species were wiped out by the same asteroid that killed the dinosaurs in the Cretaceous period 66 million years ago, significantly more than previously thought.
Lattice structures are widely studied due to the applications allowed by their periodic symmetry. The physics involved in electrons moving through crystals is all related to the properties of the lattices: How waves move through them and the resulting energy band structures. By constructing the lattice in precise topological or structural ways, it is possible to achieve specific regions which can confine, limit, or eliminate propagation of waves navigating the system but which leaves the system itself undistorted.
Giant Ice Age species including elephant-sized sloths and powerful sabre-toothed cats that once roamed the windswept plains of Patagonia, southern South America, were finally felled by a perfect storm of a rapidly warming climate and humans, a new study has shown.
Research led by the Australian Centre for Ancient DNA (ACAD) at the University of Adelaide, published today in Science Advances, has revealed that it was only when the climate warmed, long after humans first arrived in Patagonia, did the megafauna suddenly die off around 12,300 years ago.
WASHINGTON -- Researchers have developed a new enhanced DNA imaging technique that can probe the structure of individual DNA strands at the nanoscale. Since DNA is at the root of many disease processes, the technique could help scientists gain important insights into what goes wrong when DNA becomes damaged or when other cellular processes affect gene expression.
The new imaging method builds on a technique called single-molecule microscopy by adding information about the orientation and movement of fluorescent dyes attached to the DNA strand.
We tend to think the contours of biodiversity are well known, especially in extensively studied areas. However, this is not necessarily the case and sometimes strikingly new species are discovered even in well-trod areas. A case in point is the country of the Dominican Republic, which has been thoroughly studied by biologists for more than 40 years, particularly by herpetologists who have exhaustively catalogued the reptiles and amphibians there for several decades.
Researchers from the 'Angiogenesis signaling pathways' research group of the Institute of Biomedical Investigation of Bellvitge (IDIBELL), led by Dr. Mariona Graupera, have unveiled the potential therapeutic benefit of a selective inhibitior of the PI3-kinase (PI3K) protein in pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PanNETs). The study, published in the Clinical Cancer Research journal, provides a significant advance in understanding the role of PI3K signaling in cancer and opens new therapeutic opportunities for this and other types of cancer.
Uptake of potassium by bacteria is regulated by a single protein that senses the concentration of this cation both inside the cell and in the external medium, and controls the expression of the corresponding transport protein accordingly.
Researchers from the Mechanobiology Institute (MBI) at the National University of Singapore have developed a new method, using super-resolution microscopy, to determine the length of stretched proteins in living cells, and monitor the dynamic binding of proteins, at sub-second timescales. This study was published in Nano Letters in May 2016.
Monitoring force-induced talin stretching and the dynamic binding of vinculin to talin
In the 1950s, thalidomide (Contergan) was prescribed as a sedative drug to pregnant women, resulting in a great number of infants with serious malformations. Up to now, the reasons for these disastrous birth defects have remained unclear. Researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have at last identified the molecular mechanism of thalidomide. Their findings are highly relevant to current cancer therapies, as related substances are essential components of modern cancer treatment regimens.