Brain
Prion diseases are a group of rapidly progressive, fatal and infectious neurodegenerative disorders affecting both humans and animals: Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) or 'mad cow' disease is one of the most famous since in 1996 scientists found that the agent responsible for the disease in cows, is the same agent responsible for the so-called variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD), a disease affecting humans.
Even in the world of the smallest particles with their own special rules, things cannot proceed infinitely fast. Physicists at the University of Bonn have now shown what the speed limit is for complex quantum operations. The study also involved scientists from MIT, the universities of Hamburg, Cologne and Padua, and the Jülich Research Center. The results are important for the realization of quantum computers, among other things. They are published in the prestigious journal Physical Review X, and covered by the Physics Magazine of the American Physical Society.
A chemist from RUDN University, working with a group of colleagues, synthesized three new chalcogenides (compounds that contain metals and elements from group 16 of the periodic table). The team suggested an unusual approach to synthesis that was based on iodine. An article about the work was published in the Dalton Transactions journal.
DURHAM, N.C. -- Duke researchers have been studying something that happens too slowly for our eyes to see. A team in biologist Philip Benfey's lab wanted to see how plant roots burrow into the soil. So they set up a camera on rice seeds sprouting in clear gel, taking a new picture every 15 minutes for several days after germination.
While most adults over 50 understand that overuse of antibiotics is a problem, and say they're cautious about taking the drugs, a sizable minority have used antibiotics for something other than their original purpose, and appear to think the drugs could help treat colds, which are caused by viruses not bacteria.
Cracow, 18 February 2021
Creation of matter in an interaction of two photons belongs to a class of very rare phenomena. From the data of the ATLAS experiment at the LHC, collected with the new AFP proton detectors at the highest energies available to-date, a more accurate - and more interesting - picture of the phenomena occurring during photon collisions is emerging.
LA JOLLA--(February 17, 2021) In structural biology, some molecules are so unusual they can only be captured with a unique set of tools. That's precisely how a multi-institutional research team led by Salk scientists defined how antibodies can recognize a compound called phosphohistidine--a highly unstable molecule that has been found to play a central role in some forms of cancer, such as liver and breast cancer and neuroblastoma.
An analysis published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society indicates that while adults aged 75 years and older do not benefit from taking aspirin to prevent cardiovascular disease, many do so on a regular basis. Also, although statins are known to help prevent heart problems in older adults who have experienced a cardiovascular event, many of these individuals do not take a statin.
A University of Sydney-led international team of scientists has revealed the shape of one of the most important molecular machines in our cellsthe glutamate transporter, helping to explain how our brain cells communicate with one another.
Glutamate transporters are tiny proteins on the surface of all our cells that shut on and off the chemical signals that have a big role in making sure all cell-to-cell talk runs smoothly. They are also involved in nerve signalling, metabolism and learning and memory.
Geologists have developed a new theory about the state of Earth billions of years ago after examining the very old rocks formed in the Earth's mantle below the continents.
Assistant Professor Emma Tomlinson from Trinity College Dublin and Queensland University of Technology's Professor Balz Kamber have just published their research in leading international journal, Nature Communications.
To provoke more interest and excitement for students and lecturers alike, a professor from Florida Atlantic University's College of Engineering and Computer Science is spicing up the study of complex differential mathematical equations using relevant history of algebra. In a paper published in the Journal of Humanistic Mathematics, Isaac Elishakoff, Ph.D., provides a refreshing perspective and a special "shout out" to Stephen Colbert, comedian and host of CBS's The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. His motivation?
Research teams from Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) and the University of Copenhagen have therefore developed an approach that can predict the optimal composition and confirm its accuracy with high-throughput experiments. They report in the journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition of 28. December 2020.
Much less expensive elements than previous catalysts
WASHINGTON -- Researchers have developed an extremely sensitive miniaturized optical fiber sensor that could one day be used to measure small pressure changes in the body.
"Our new pressure sensor was designed for medical applications and overcomes many of the issues of using silica-based fibers," said research team leader Hwa-Yaw Tam from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. "It is sensitive enough to measure pressure inside lungs while breathing, which changes by just a few kilopascals."
Atropisomers are a class of stereoisomers (chemical compounds that differ in spatial arrangement of atoms) arising from restricted rotation around a single bond and have various applications in chemistry. To date, most research on atropisomers has focused on "biaryl atropisomers" (due to the rotational restriction around a carbon-carbon bond), but it is also possible for atropisomers to arise from rotational restrictions around a nitrogen-carbon (N-C) bond.
Many steep valleys in the European Alps show the relicts of large rockslides, during which several hundreds of million cubic metres of rocks get instable, collapse and impact everything on their path. "For most of these, we still do not know how they are caused, because these rockslides occurred long before the start of written history in the region about 1000 years ago," says Patrick Oswald, PhD student at the Department of Geology of the University of Innsbruck and lead author of the study.