Real-time observation of signal transmission in proteins provides new insights for drug research. Proteins transduce information and signals within the human body by changes in their structures. For example, hormones binding to their target proteins cause a structural change which in turn opens new binding sites for other proteins elsewhere on the surface of the protein. Researchers refer to this coupling of different, distant binding sites as allostery. An interruption of this coupling leads to signals not being passed on….
The effectiveness of cancer treatment is often hampered by cancer cells being heterogeneous. This is the case for EGFR-mutated lung cancer: drugs based on biomolecules of a type known as tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) have been used to treat the disease, but with various levels of efficacy. (EGFR stands for “epidermal growth factor receptor”, a protein playing an important role in signaling processes from the extracellular environment to a cell.) Sometimes, tumor cells are simply resistant to the drug. Now,…
Led by the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, a study of a solar-energy material with a bright future revealed a way to slow phonons, the waves that transport heat. The discovery could improve novel hot-carrier solar cells, which convert sunlight to electricity more efficiently than conventional solar cells by harnessing photogenerated charge carriers before they lose energy to heat. “We showed that the thermal transport and charge-carrier cooling time can be manipulated…
Interdisciplinary team of researchers combines image-based particle analysis with artificial intelligence. From pollen forecasting, honey analysis and climate-related changes in plant-pollinator interactions, analysing pollen plays an important role in many areas of research. Microscopy is still the gold standard, but it is very time consuming and requires considerable expertise. In cooperation with Technische Universität (TU) Ilmenau, scientists from the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) and the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) have now developed a method that…
Sharpness of star-forming image matches expected resolution of Webb Space Telescope. NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is still more than a year from launching, but the Gemini South telescope in Chile has provided astronomers a glimpse of what the orbiting observatory should deliver. Using a wide-field adaptive optics camera that corrects for distortion from Earth’s atmosphere, Rice University’s Patrick Hartigan and Andrea Isella and Dublin City University’s Turlough Downes used the 8.1-meter telescope to capture near-infrared images of the Carina…
Meta-analysis by research team from the universities of Bielefeld and Jena shows that in animals, difficult living conditions increase risk-taking behaviour in later life The lives of animals in the wild are full of risky situations with uncertain outcomes. Whether they are exploring new habitats in unfamiliar terrain or searching for new food sources, they run the risk of being caught and killed by a predator. In many instances, their very survival depends on a single decision. Whether an animal…
The carnivorous Venus flytrap snaps shut when a prey touches it twice within 30 seconds. In the journal Nature Plants researchers report on how this plant’s short-term memory and counting system works. The carnivorous Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) can count to five: A team led by biophysicist Rainer Hedrich, professor at Julius-Maximilians-Universität (JMU) Würzburg in Bavaria, Germany, proved this in 2016. This finding received worldwide attention in science and the media. In 2019, the JMU plant scientist was awarded the…
To achieve food security, to promote peace, to ensure access to quality education and clean water and sanitation, to improve health, to take action to combat climate change, to restore ecosystems and to reduce inequalities: these are some of the 17 SDG identified by the UN to address the global challenges faced by societies. Research can be used to achieve these interrelated goals, by not only producing reliable knowledge and data, offering innovative solutions and assessing progress but also in…
Bayreuth research: Tropical nature reserves to be particularly affected. The Earth’s nature reserves are the basis for the preservation of global biodiversity. They are set to be affected by future climate change in very different ways. Detailed local knowledge of climate change impacts can therefore make a significant contribution to the management of protected areas and the preservation of their ecological function. A biogeographic study by the University of Bayreuth in the journal “Diversity and Distributions” draws attention to this…
Dual-energy CT adds value to routine interpretation of emergency department imaging studies by increasing radiologists’ diagnostic confidence, leading to a reduction in downstream imaging and associated costs. According to an open-access article in ARRS’ American Journal of Roentgenology (AJR), dual-energy CT (DECT) added value to routine interpretation of emergency department (ED) imaging studies by increasing radiologists’ diagnostic confidence, leading to a reduction in downstream imaging and associated costs. William D. Wong of Vancouver General Hospital and colleagues queried his institution’s…
Two-dimensional crumpled nanostructure with 40% higher efficiency. Super-micro, low-power sensors and devices that can send and receive signals and information anytime, anywhere will become an integral part of people’s lives in a hyper-connected world driven by the Internet of Things (IoT). The question is how to continually supply electricity to the countless electronic devices connected to the system. This is because it is difficult to reduce the size and weight of the battery using the conventional way of charging and…
Researchers from TU Graz and Ruhr University Bochum show in the journal ACS Catalysis how the catalytic activity of cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae, can be significantly increased. This brings biotechnological and thus eco-friendly application a big step closer. Cyanobacteria, despite staining water green through their special pigments, are colloquially known as “blue-green algae”, and convert light energy into chemical energy particularly effectively thanks to their highly active photosynthetic cells. This makes them attractive for biotechnological application, where they…
Researchers at the University of Freiburg established the world’s largest collection of moss species for the peat industry and science. Peatlands with their huge diversity of peat moss species store about 30 percent of the earth’s soil carbon. This means they store roughly twice as much carbon as all the world’s forests combined. However, peat harvesting and climate change are threatening these long-term carbon stores because there is not enough founder material for cultivating peat mosses on a large scale….
An interdisciplinary team of scientists at the Max Planck Institutes for Intelligent Systems and Solid State Research has developed a biocompatible microswimmer made of carbon nitride, which they can propel forward through light. The particle can also store solar energy similar to miniature solar cells equipped with batteries, and can thus also swim in the dark using the stored energy. Even if the illumination is turned off, it can move forward for about half an hour with just 30 seconds…
Agricultural scientists and engineers at the University of Adelaide have identified a potential new tool for screening cereal crops for frost damage. Their research, published this week in the journal Optics Express, has shown they can successfully screen barley plants for frost damage non-destructively with imaging technology using terahertz waves (which lie between the microwave and infrared waves on the electromagnetic spectrum). “Frost is estimated to cost Australian grain growers $360 million in direct and indirect losses every year,” says…
Communications in space demand the most sensitive receivers possible for maximum reach, while also requiring high bit-rate operations. A novel concept for laser-beam based communications, using an almost noiseless optical preamplifier in the receiver, was recently demonstrated by researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden. In a new paper published in the scientific journal Nature: Light Science & Applications, a team of researchers describes a free-space optical transmission system relying on an optical amplifier that, in principle, does not add…
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