Researchers at The University of Queensland have identified a molecule essential for regulating the repair of injured nerves, which could help people recover from nerve damage. The finding was made using the nematode worm C. elegans which has long been studied by researchers for its ability to self-repair nerve cells. Professor Massimo Hilliard and his team at UQ’s Queensland Brain Institute (QBI) have identified that the enzyme ADM-4 is an essential protein regulating the molecular glue, or fusogen, needed for…
Tumors can use an enzyme called ART1 to thwart antitumor immune cells, making the enzyme a promising new target for immunity-boosting cancer treatments, according to a study from researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine and Albert Einstein College of Medicine. In the study, published Mar 16 in Science Translational Medicine, the researchers found strong evidence that ART1, when expressed on tumor cells, can modify a receptor on tumor-fighting immune cells in a way that triggers the death of these immune cells. In…
A challenge in materials design is that in both natural and manmade materials, volume sometimes decreases, or increases, with increasing temperature. While there are mechanical explanations for this phenomenon for some specific materials, a general understanding of why this sometimes happens remains lacking. However, a team of Penn State researchers has come up with a theory to explain and then predict it: Zentropy. Zentropy is a play on entropy, a concept central to the second law of thermodynamics that expresses…
… is another leap towards beating plastic waste. Scientists who helped to pioneer the use of enzymes to eat plastic have taken an important next step in developing nature-based solutions to the global plastics crisis. They have characterised an enzyme that has the remarkable capacity to help break down terephthalate (TPA), one of the chemical building blocks of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic, which is used to make single-use drinks bottles, clothing and carpets. The research, which is published in The…
… to pass into the narrow tubes of the lung. Engineers and scientists have developed proof of concept for a robot that can reach some of the smallest bronchial tubes in the lungs – to take tissue samples or deliver cancer therapy. Known as a magnetic tentacle robot, it measures just 2 millimetres in diameter, about twice the size of the tip of a ballpoint pen. Magnets on the outside of the patient will be used to guide the tentacle…
A study at the Hector Institute for Translational Brain Research (HITBR) at the Central Institute of Mental Health (CIMH) in Mannheim shows that cerebral organoids open up new insights into the development of the human brain and associated disorders. Human pluripotent stem cells cultured as 3D aggregates in a petri dish with nutrient liquid have the capacity to self-organize and develop into so called brain organoids. Under the microscope, these brain organoids display structures that closely resemble the developing brain,…
Stampede2, Frontera simulations model plate tectonics of bend in seamount chain. The Hawaiian-Emperor seamount chain spans almost four thousand miles from the Hawaiian Islands to the Detroit Seamount in the north Pacific, an L- shaped chain that goes west then abruptly north. The 60-degree bend in the line of mostly undersea mountains and volcanic islands has puzzled scientists since it was first identified in the 1940s from the data of numerous echo sounding ships. A team of scientists have now…
An anticounterfeiting and tampering prevention system using ultraviolet and visible light has been recently proposed by a POSTECH research team. This technology was developed using the metasurface, capable of freely controlling light and anticipated to be applicable in various industries. This study is significant in that it has resolved a long-standing issue for metasurface, which could not be operated in the ultraviolet regime. A POSTECH research team led by Professor Junsuk Rho (Department of Mechanical Engineering and Department of Chemical…
Magnetic interactions could point to miniaturizable quantum devices. From MRI machines to computer hard disk storage, magnetism has played a role in pivotal discoveries that reshape our society. In the new field of quantum computing, magnetic interactions could play a role in relaying quantum information. In new research from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory, scientists have achieved efficient quantum coupling between two distant magnetic devices, which can host a certain type of magnetic excitations called magnons….
Laboratory studies of lung tissue usually require the removal of large amounts of human or animal tissue. Now scientists from the University of Freiburg’s Faculty of Medicine have succeeded in collaboration with American researchers in generating tiny quantities of lung tissue, so-called organoids, from just a few body cells in the lab. The tissue forms a three-dimensional structure as it develops, complete with the tiny hairs on the surface typical of lung tissue. These organoids can play an important part…
Controlling how cells grow is fundamental to ensuring proper brain development and stopping aggressive brain tumors. The network of molecules that control brain cell growth is thought to be complex and vast, but now McGill University researchers provide striking evidence of a single gene that can, by itself, control brain cell growth in humans. In a paper published recently in Stem Cell reports, Carl Ernst, an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at McGill University and his team have shown that…
Converting carbon dioxide to ethylene holds commercial promise, professor says. Engineers at the University of Cincinnati have developed a promising electrochemical system to convert emissions from chemical and power plants into useful products while addressing climate change. UC College of Engineering and Applied Science assistant professor Jingjie Wu and his students used a two-step cascade reaction to convert carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide and then into ethylene, a chemical used in everything from food packaging to tires. The study was…
Currently, flatbed screen printing is the standard process used for the metallization of silicon solar cells and many other electronic components. Using a new production machine developed jointly with ASYS Automatisierungssysteme GmbH, researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE have now managed to increase the print throughput by a factor of 1.5. In order to achieve this, rotation screen printing and flexographic printing were used for the first time. With the new machine, the research team achieved…
Increasing wildfires in a warming climate can reinforce the circum-Arctic warming and further contribute to global warming, forming a concerning feedback loop. Rapid warming in the Arctic and accelerated glacier and sea ice melting have a huge impact on the global environment. Greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, and black carbon aerosols are well-known warming agents. In contrast, atmospheric, light absorbing brown carbon particles belong to the least understood and most uncertain contributors in the Arctic and surrounding regions. An…
– genetic “botanical crime scene investigation” reveals diet. SNSB researchers determine the exact diet of Australian carnivorous plants by analyzing the genes of their prey. Even tiny parasites on captured insects could be detected in this way. The scientists have now published the results of their study in the journal Scientific Reports. Carnivorous plants attract, catch and digest small animals in order to obtain extra nutrients which they cannot get from the nutrient-poor soils they grow in. Hence, carnivorous plants…
Findings could have implications for our understanding of distant, water-rich planets. UNLV researchers have discovered a new form of ice, redefining the properties of water at high pressures. Solid water, or ice, is like many other materials in that it can form different solid materials based on variable temperature and pressure conditions, like carbon forming diamond or graphite. However, water is exceptional in this aspect as there are at least 20 solid forms of ice known to us. A team…
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