Life & Chemistry

Life & Chemistry

Are Glasses a Hidden Health Risk? New Research Insights

In 2018 approximately 44.2 million Germans over the age of 14 wore glasses on a regular or occasional basis. Research has been done on the bacterial…

Life & Chemistry

Chromatin Opening Elements Enable Tetracycline-Induced Gene Expression

Ever since the discovery of the reprogramming of normal (somatic) body cells in so-called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells), the development of cell…

Life & Chemistry

Scientists Unveil Enzymes for Glowing Organisms

In daylight, Neonothopanus nambi is a rather unremarkable brown fungus. But a surprise hides behind the drab façade: at night, the fungus glows ghostly green.

Life & Chemistry

Nuclear Architecture Diagnostics: New Technique from Münster Scientists

Scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Biomedicine in Münster and of the Medical Faculty of the University of Münster have developed a technique…

Life & Chemistry

New Light Switch Activates Enzymes in Living Organisms

Whether animals, plants, fungi, bacteria or people: enzymes containing iron are at work in almost all living organisms. In the human liver, such an enzyme acts…

Life & Chemistry

Next Step in Type 1 Diabetes Replacement Therapy Advances

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease destroying the insulin-producing beta cells in the patient’s pancreas. Current approaches for replacement therapies…

Life & Chemistry

Microbes 'MacGyver' membrane transport

A general concept in biology is that cells use two different systems to transport substances across their membrane: selective pores, which allow passive transport driven by a concentration gradient, and active transport complexes, which use energy to transport substances against a gradient. Now scientists from the University of Groningen, together with colleagues from Germany and Spain, have described a system that combines a pore and a transporter to import potassium ions into cells against an extreme concentration gradient. The results…

Life & Chemistry

Golden Age of Particle Analysis: Unveiling New Insights

Even in the Middle Ages, gold particles were used to create vibrant red and blue colours, for example to illustrate biblical scenes in stained glass windows….

Life & Chemistry

Uncovering the Mystery Behind Brown Trout Deaths

The setting is always in the same river sections. And the victims are always brown trout. Within a matter of days, their skin turns dark and the animals…

Life & Chemistry

How frogs' tongues become sticky

Frogs' capture their prey with the sticky mucus covering their tongues, but this mucus isn't inherently adhesive. Frog mucus is thought to be…

Life & Chemistry

Deep-Sea Microbes: Nature’s Solution to Greenhouse Gases

In a paper published in Nature Communications this week, researchers documented extensive diversity in the microbial communities living in the extremely hot,…

Life & Chemistry

Draw Your Own Electrodes: Boosting Micro Detection Devices

New generations of these devices are being made that manipulate molecules or work with smaller concentrations of molecules, for example detecting rare cancer…

Life & Chemistry

Enhancing Protein Access Control: A New Approach Explained

To travel by public transport, passengers must present a valid ticket. Often, tickets are checked before departure, so that only passengers with a ticket are…

Life & Chemistry

Sunlight-Powered Process Cleans Water Pollutants Efficiently

The chemists at MLU rely on electrons moving freely in water, so-called hydrated electrons, to degrade dissolved pollutants.

Life & Chemistry

Self-Assembling Molecules Boost Perovskite Solar Cell Efficiency

In recent years, solar cells based on metal halide perovskites have achieved an exceptional increase in efficiency.

Life & Chemistry

Unlocking Cellular Transport: Innovations in Mitochondrial Function

Mitochondria are not only responsible for many vital processes within a cell; they also produce energy for the cell's metabolism, which is why they are…

Feedback