One of the grand challenges with using CRISPR-based gene editing on humans is that the molecular machinery sometimes makes changes to the wrong section of a host’s genome, creating the possibility that an attempt to repair a genetic mutation in one spot in the genome could accidentally create a dangerous new mutation in another. But now, scientists at The University of Texas at Austin have redesigned a key component of a widely used CRISPR-based gene-editing tool, called Cas9, to be…
Genomes are made up of thousands of individual pieces – genes – which are expressed at different levels. Researchers at EMBL have shed light on how the placement of a gene affects its expression, as well as that of its neighbours. The celebrated physicist Richard Feynman is credited with the quote, “What I cannot create, I do not understand.” As well as informing Feynman’s approach to theoretical physics, it’s a good way of describing the motivations of synthetic biologists, with…
NIH study in ground squirrels suggests dual function for mitochondria in photoreceptor cells. Researchers at the National Eye Institute (NEI) have discovered that power-producing organelles in the eye’s photoreceptor cells, called mitochondria, function as microlenses that help channel light to these cells’ outer segments where it’s converted into nerve signals. The discovery in ground squirrels provides a more precise picture of the retina’s optical properties and could help detect eye disease earlier. The findings, published today in Science Advances, also…
Noah rode out his flood in an ark. Winnie-the-Pooh had an upside-down umbrella. Fire ants (Solenopsis invicta), meanwhile, form floating rafts made up of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of individual insects. A new study by engineers at the University of Colorado Boulder lays out the simple physics-based rules that govern how these ant rafts morph over time: shrinking, expanding or growing long protrusions like an elephant’s trunk. The team’s findings could one day help researchers design robots that…
Levante the new, fourth high-performance computing system for Earth system research (HLRE-4) will start its operation on March 3, 2022, at the German Climate Computing Center (DKRZ) in the first expansion stage. The supercomputer, which like its predecessor “Mistral” is provided by the company Atos, will quadruple the computing power at DKRZ with 14 PetaFLOPS. This enables researchers to perform, for example, more or longer simulations with particularly high-resolution global climate and Earth system models on the DKRZ system. Such…
In humans, only nerves and muscle cells are electrically excitable, whereas in plants almost all cells are. This is due to a sophisticated mechanism in an ion channel of the vacuole. Plant cells use electrical signals to process and transmit information. In 1987, as a postdoc of Erwin Neher in Göttingen, biophysicist Rainer Hedrich discovered an ion channel in the central vacuole of the plant cell, which is activated by calcium and electrical voltage, using the patch-clamp technique (Nobel Prize…
The new review paper on magnetic topological materials of Andrei Bernevig, Princeton University, USA, Haim Beidenkopf, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel, and Claudia Felser, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids, Dresden, Germany, introduces the new theoretical concept that interweave magnetism and topology. It identifies and surveys potential new magnetic topological materials, mentions their possible future applications in spin and quantum electronics and as materials for efficient energy conversion. The review discusses the connection between topology, symmetry and magnetism…
Original technique predicts and guides the ordered creation of strong, yet flexible, diamond nanothread. As hard as diamond and as flexible as plastic, highly sought-after diamond nanothreads would be poised to revolutionize our world—if they weren’t so difficult to make. Recently, a team of scientists led by Carnegie’s Samuel Dunning and Timothy Strobel developed an original technique that predicts and guides the ordered creation of strong, yet flexible, diamond nanothreads, surmounting several existing challenges. The innovation will make it easier…
Special shell protects Antarctic scallop from ice build-up. Airplane wings that don’t ice up or solar cells that generate electricity even in winter – ice-free surfaces are important for many applications. A team of scientists led by Konrad Meister, professor at the University of Alaska Southeast and group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, has now studied an Antarctic scallop species that opposes the icing process with the help of its shell surface. Due to their special…
New experimental finding reveals the potential of plasma as energy booster for high-rate accelerators. An international team of researchers led by DESY scientists has demonstrated for the first time at the FLASHForward experiment that in principle it is possible to operate plasma accelerators at the repetition rates desired by particle physicists and photon scientists. This opens the opportunity to utilise such high-gradient accelerators as booster stages in existing high-repetition-rate facilities, such as the large-scale X-ray free-electron lasers FLASH and European…
Record-breaking and readily available… Chemists at the University of Jena, Germany have set a new record, having discovered a fluorescent aluminium complex with the highest quantum yield known to date. For virtually every photon absorbed by the substance, a photon is emitted. This could be of benefit in applications such as LED technology. “This discovery was literally a case of serendipity,” explains Robert Kretschmer, Junior Professor for Inorganic Chemistry of Catalysis at Friedrich Schiller University Jena. “We actually wanted to…
A new study led by the Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM-CSIC) and the University of Barcelona (UB) shows how a great diversity of marine organisms attach themselves to plastics and, with these, are dragged along by marine currents. A new study led by the Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM-CSIC) and the University of Barcelona (UB) has revealed that marine plastic pollution could contribute to the introduction and transport of non-native species that attach to these particles of anthropogenic…
In cooperation with the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH), the Universität Hamburg, the University of Applied Sciences (HAW) and the University of Aachen (RWTH), researchers from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon Institute for Coastal Environmental Chemistry investigated changes in pollutant levels in the North Sea over an interval time. The results showed that a diverse cocktail of chemicals has been polluting the environment, especially during the last 100 years. They also found out that a decrease in pollution only became apparent…
The highly adaptable materials could lead to new classes of wearable devices, diagnostic sensors and biological-electronic hybrid organisms. UCLA researchers have developed a unique design of ultrathin films for highly flexible yet mechanically robust bioelectronic membranes that could pave the way for diagnostic on-skin sensors that fit precisely over the body’s contours and conform to its movements. Science recently published a paper describing the research co-led by Xiangfeng Duan, professor of chemistry and biochemistry; and Yu Huang, professor and chair…
Water is an abundant and essential compound, found everywhere on earth. Yet despite its familiarity and simple structure, water displays many unusual physical properties. For more than a century, scientists have turned their attention to the study of water, attempting to better interpret its structure. An international team of researchers, led by a scholar from Hiroshima University, has developed a procedure allowing them to reproduce the double peak feature of x-ray emission spectroscopy (XES) spectra in liquid water. The study…
Novel technology could prevent repeat operations to replace a faulty bioprosthetic heart valve. Many patients implanted with a bioprosthetic heart valve are forced to undergo complicated valve replacement surgery ten years later due to valve calcification. Novel technology offers more durable valves based on genetic engineering preventing expression of foreign sugars, thereby minimizing structural valve deterioration due to calcification. An international study led by a researcher from Tel Aviv University offers a novel technology that can assist many patients implanted…
Feedback
