Body

Light cannot be used to image any structures smaller than half its wavelength - for a long time, this was considered to be the ultimate resolution limit in light microscopy. The development of superresolution microscopy, however, showed that there are certain loopholes to this rule. By imaging individual molecules at different points in time, their exact positions can eventually be combined to one clear picture. In 2014, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded for this idea.

There may soon be a new way to make molecules to form the basis of pharmaceuticals, fuels, agrochemicals, materials, and an array of other products in our modern life. Chemists at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have successfully married chemistry and biology to create reactions never before possible.

DARIEN, IL - A new study of adolescents suggests that obtaining an insufficient amount of sleep increases variability in sadness, anger, energy and feelings of sleepiness. The study also showed that nightly fluctuations in sleep in healthy adolescents predict worse mood the next day, and worse mood any given day largely predicts unusually bad sleep the next night.

URBANA, Ill. - Adding carbon dioxide gas to water, a process similar to making carbonated soda water, could help control the movement and behavior of invasive carp in the Great Lakes basin, according to a recent study.

"This study demonstrates the ability of carbon dioxide to act as a non-physical barrier on a large scale," says University of Illinois researcher Cory Suski. " Work on this topic to date has primarily been performed in small, laboratory studies, and so this work showed the potential for CO2 to be effective at larger scales more relevant to field applications."

Halfway between Hawaii and American Samoa lies a group of small islands and inlets. Among them is Palmyra Atoll, an almost 5-square-mile ring of coral.

The lagoons of Palmyra -- part of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument -- provide sanctuary for a variety of mobile species including sharks, manta rays and turtles.

Researchers have developed a technique for coating polymer implants with a bioactive film that significantly increases bonding between the implant and surrounding bone in an animal model. The advance could significantly improve the success rate of such implants, which are often used in spinal surgeries. The work was done by researchers at North Carolina State University, the University of Cambridge and the University of Texas at San Antonio.

(PHILADELPHIA) - Research is finally beginning to shed light on some of the reasons that extra weight is difficult to shed permanently. Now, a new study has uncovered another method by which the gut senses how much food a person eats and relays that to the brain. When the gut senses too many calories, a pathway that promotes the feeling of fullness becomes blocked. The new research was published in the journal Nutrition & Diabetes, published by Nature.

In late 2015, former President Jimmy Carter announced that he was free of the metastatic melanoma that had spread to his liver and brain. In addition to surgery and radiation, Carter was treated with an immunotherapy drug, a new approach in cancer treatment that has a promising outlook.

Troy, N.Y. - A few snippets of protein extracted from the fossil of an extinct species of giant beaver are opening a new door in paleoproteomics, the study of ancient proteins. Ancient proteins can be used to place animals on the evolutionary tree, and could offer insights into how life and Earth's environment have evolved over time. Typically, paleoproteomics relies on fossils collected for the purpose.

From a virus's point of view, invading our cells is a matter of survival. The virus makes a living by highjacking cellular processes to produce more of the proteins that make it up.

From our point of view, the invasion can be a matter of survival too: surviving the virus. To combat viral diseases like HIV-AIDS, Ebola, and Zika, scientists need to understand the "life cycle" of the virus and design drugs to interrupt it. But seeing what virus proteins do inside living cells is extremely difficult, even with the most powerful imaging technologies.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (June 15, 2016) -- As men and women grow older, their chances for coronary heart disease also increase. Atherosclerosis is a condition in which plaque builds up inside the arteries, which can lead to serious problems, including heart attacks, strokes or even death. Now, researchers at the University of Missouri have found that Insulin-like Growth Factor-1 (IGF-1), a protein that is naturally found in high levels among adolescents, can help prevent arteries from clogging.

LA JOLLA--When the body is fighting an invading pathogen, white blood cells--including T cells--must respond. Now, Salk Institute researchers have imaged how vital receptors on the surface of T cells bundle together when activated.

This study, the first to visualize this process in lymph nodes, could help scientists better understand how to turn up or down the immune system's activity to treat autoimmune diseases, infections or even cancer. The results were published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Women who put in long hours for the bulk of their careers may pay a steep price: life-threatening illnesses, including heart disease and cancer.

Work weeks that averaged 60 hours or more over three decades appear to triple the risk of diabetes, cancer, heart trouble and arthritis for women, according to new research from The Ohio State University.

The risk begins to climb when women put in more than 40 hours and takes a decidedly bad turn above 50 hours, researchers found.

Geneticists from KU Leuven, Belgium, have shown that tumour protein TP53 knows exactly where to bind to our DNA to prevent cancer. Once bound to this specific DNA sequence, the protein can activate the right genes to repair damaged cells.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Cancer cells and normal cells both divide and move, but with cancer cells it's like they're on steroids: everything is bigger, faster, more.

A new study explains how cancer cells use energy to fuel this switch between motion and proliferation. The researchers identified for the first time a connection between a cancer gene that controls motility and how cancer cells metabolize energy to move and divide so quickly.