Phys.org news
Phys.org / Living brain gene activity revealed noninvasively through programmable blood test
Cell function is determined by how DNA is expressed into proteins. That process includes two main steps—transcription, when messenger RNA (mRNA) makes copies of active genes; and translation, when mRNA guides protein assembly.
Dialog / Bridged or not? Scientists uncover a key step in hydrogenase assembly
How does nature build one of the most sophisticated catalytic metal centers found in biology? An international team of researchers has now resolved a long-standing debate surrounding the assembly of the active site of [FeFe]-hydrogenases—enzymes ...
Phys.org / How drought rewires roots, cutting iron uptake across major food crops
New research by scientists at the University of Calgary has found that plants, ranging from canola to rice to tomatoes, actively shut down their own ability to take up iron when they experience drought. It's a finding that ...
Phys.org / Fifty-year protein mystery breaks open as acid-driven water loss comes into view
Proteins systematically lose their protective hydration shell when their environment becomes more acidic. Until recently, this was just a theory. State-of-the-art imaging techniques have helped researchers at Martin Luther ...
Phys.org / Cold-grown plankton shells sharpen Arctic climate reconstructions
Researchers at iC3 have found a way to improve records of past high latitude ocean change using tiny plankton shells called foraminifera. By growing these foraminifera under controlled cold-water conditions, the team has ...
Phys.org / Low-cost workflow creates 100,000 uniform cell capsules with standard lab tools
Cells are typically studied outside the body under controlled laboratory conditions. However, conventional flat cell culture methods do not fully reproduce the complex three-dimensional environments that cells experience ...
Phys.org / Atmospheric wave theory falls short in explaining rising extreme weather, study suggests
Across much of the northern hemisphere, extreme weather events like heat waves and heavy precipitation have increased in frequency and severity over the last several decades. A new study from the Harvard John A. Paulson School ...
Phys.org / Box jellyfish reveal secret life cycle with implications for coastal safety
Box jellyfish are often feared as dangerous animals, with some species capable of causing severe or even fatal stings. However, box jellyfish nematocysts—organelles responsible for this toxic sting—are theorized to also play ...
Phys.org / 'Molecular movie' technology reveals a better way to thwart environmental pollutant
The latest production from the "molecular movie" imaging technology developed at Oregon State University is a new, inexpensive way of dealing with a common environmental pollutant. Based on short-pulse lasers, the imaging ...
Phys.org / Famous wildlife coexistence scheme is slipping due to frozen funding
A celebrated scheme for human-wildlife coexistence is now at risk of failing due to lack of long-term government investment, new research has found.
Phys.org / New 'SMArT' platform makes gene editing in hematopoietic stem cells more efficient and safer
A team of researchers led by Luigi Naldini at the San Raffaele Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy (SR-Tiget) has developed a new strategy to significantly improve the precision and safety of CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing in human ...
Phys.org / Synthesized peptides can slip into cells to block hard-to-target protein interactions
Many diseases are driven by proteins interacting with each other inside cells. But blocking these interactions with drugs is difficult because typical "small-molecule" drugs often prove to be too small to grip the broad, ...
