New study explores the machinery of gene regulation. Researchers at Arizona State University have made a significant advance in understanding how genes are controlled in living organisms. The new study, published in the journal Nucleic Acids Research, focuses on critical snippets of RNA in the tiny, transparent roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans). The study provides a detailed map of the 3’UTR regions of RNA in C. elegans. 3’UTRs (untranslated regions) are segments of RNA involved in gene regulation. The new map is a…

A international team of astronomers led by Université de Montréal has made an exciting discovery about the temperate exoplanet LHS 1140 b: it could be a promising “super-Earth” covered in ice or water. When the exoplanet LHS 1140 b was first discovered, astronomers speculated that it might be a mini-Neptune: an essentially gaseous planet, but very small in size compared to Neptune. But after analyzing data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) collected in December 2023 – combined with…

Library of operating data enables analysis of complex electric grid. Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have opened a new virtual library where visitors can check out waveforms instead of books. The Grid Event Signature Library is an open-access online collection of datasets containing waveforms, which are visual representations of behaviors of the electric grid. Utilities and research institutions contributed anonymized data including voltage, current and frequency information collected by operating equipment. So far, more than 350 users worldwide have utilized…

A method to screen a wide variety of drug candidates without laborious purification steps could advance the fight against drug-resistant bacteria. Efforts to combat the increasing threat of drug-resistant bacteria are being assisted by a new approach for streamlining the search for antimicrobial drug candidates, pioneered by researchers at Hokkaido University, led by Assistant Professor Kazuki Yamamoto and Professor Satoshi Ichikawa of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences. Their methods, developed together with researchers elsewhere in Japan and in the USA,…

Engineers and scientists of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA), led by Oliver Krause, developed crucial optical elements for the Coronagraph Instrument (CGI) of the Roman Space Telescope and delivered them to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in the USA. The fully assembled and tested CGI recently arrived at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre (GSFC), where it will be integrated into the telescope. The CGI will test an innovative camera design that enables direct imaging and spectroscopy of…

A collaboration yields a powerful combination of high-throughput computation and precise fabrication techniques to accelerate the discovery of quantum defects. Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and several collaborating institutions have successfully demonstrated an innovative approach to find breakthrough materials for quantum applications. The approach uses rapid computing methods to predict the properties of hundreds of materials, identifying short lists of the most promising ones. Then, precise fabrication methods are used to make the…

OHSU-led research uses innovative vaccine platform to target interior of virus; scientists validate theory using 1918 flu virus. New research led by Oregon Health & Science University reveals a promising approach to developing a universal influenza vaccine — a so-called “one and done” vaccine that confers lifetime immunity against an evolving virus. The study, published today in the journal Nature Communications, tested an OHSU-developed vaccine platform against the virus considered most likely to trigger the next pandemic. Researchers reported the…

Researchers at Berkeley Lab’s 88-Inch Cyclotron successfully made superheavy element 116 using a beam of titanium-50. That milestone sets the team up to attempt making the heaviest element yet: 120. Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) are credited in the discovery of 16 of the 118 known elements. Now they’ve completed the crucial first step to potentially create yet another: element 120. Today, an international team of researchers led by Berkeley Lab’s Heavy Element…

Mechanical Engineering professor publishes findings in Current Biology. Why do flies buzz around in circles when the air is still? And why does it matter? In a paper published online July 26, 2024 by the scientific journal Current Biology, University of Nevada, Reno Assistant Professor Floris van Breugel and Postdoctoral Researcher S. David Stupski respond to this up-until-now unanswered question. And that answer could hold a key to public safety — specifically, how to better train robotic systems to track…

Thousands of athletes are currently competing for medals at the Olympic Games in Paris. And in some cases, questions will be asked about whether medals were won fairly or whether doping was involved. Software developed by a team led by Wolfgang Maaß, professor of business informatics at Saarland University, could help to answer these questions in future competitions. The software, which is currently being presented at the International Joint Conference on AI (3–9 August in South Korea), needs only a…

Physicists use modeling to forecast a black hole’s feeding patterns with precision. The dramatic dimming of a light source ~ 860 million light-years away from Earth confirms the accuracy of a detailed model developed by a team of astrophysicists from Syracuse University, MIT and the Space Telescope Science Institute. Powerful telescopes like NASA’s Hubble, James Webb, and Chandra X-ray Observatory provide scientists a window into deep space to probe the physics of black holes. While one might wonder how you…

Researchers from the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD), the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Queensland University of Technology (QUT) have made groundbreaking advancements in the field of soft robotics by developing film-balloon (FiBa) soft robots. These innovative robots, designed by a team led by Dr Terry Ching and corresponding author Professor Michinao Hashimoto, introduce a novel fabrication approach that enables lightweight, untethered operation with advanced biomimetic locomotion capabilities. The core innovation for these robots involves the development…

Enhanced two-photon microscopy method could reveal insights into neural dynamics and neurological diseases. Researchers have developed a new two-photon fluorescence microscope that captures high-speed images of neural activity at cellular resolution. By imaging much faster and with less harm to brain tissue than traditional two-photon microscopy, the new approach could provide a clearer view of how neurons communicate in real time, leading to new insights into brain function and neurological diseases. “Our new microscope is ideally suited for studying the…

A common practice among software developers is to use so-called code snippets from the platform Stack Overflow. A study by CISPA researcher Alfusainey Jallow now shows that this can lead to security risks in the long run. One of the reasons for this is that security-relevant updates to the code snippets often do not find their way into the software in which the snippets are used. Jallow published the results of his study in the paper “Measuring the Effects of…

Invitation to the journalists’ seminar “On the hunt for new antibiotics and active substances from bacteria” at the DSMZ in Braunschweig, Germany, on the 14th of November 2024. A growing and worrying antibiotics crisis is threatening people worldwide. Antibiotic resistance is on the rise globally and costing millions of human lives. Research groups around the world are searching for new antibiotics. Some such research is being carried out by the Department of Bioresources for Bioeconomy and Health Research headed by…

Exploring a valley and caves on Mars, searching for life: These are the goals of the German research initiative VaMEx. The Professorship for Space Technology at the University of Würzburg is involved. An enormous canyon stretches across Mars: Valles Marineris is 3,000 kilometres long, 600 kilometres wide and on average eight kilometres deep. Its Latin name goes back to the Mars orbiter “Mariner”, which discovered the valley in the early 1970s. Since 2012, this largest known canyon in the solar…

The SLF is researching permafrost and snow in Bhutan at an altitude of over 5000 meters and, together with the local population, is developing measures to reduce climate-related risks in the mountains. The Swiss National Science Foundation is funding the Cryo-Spirit project. Almost two years of intensive preparation were required. Now the time has come: Nadine Salzmann, head of the Alpine Environment and Natural Hazards research unit at the SLF, will set off for Bhutan next Saturday, September 14. In…

The novel technique could be used to treat damaged tissue in a range of medical applications, including reconstructive and plastic surgeries. A technology most often used for medical imaging is being repurposed as a new tool for restoring blood flow in tissue damaged from disease, injury, and reconstructive surgery. Biomedical engineers at the University of Rochester are leveraging ultrasound waves to organize endothelial cells—the building blocks of blood vessels—into patterns that can promote the growth of new vessel networks within days. “We…

In Search of the Origin of an Underwater Plateau. Today, the research vessel SONNE sets off on an expedition to the southwestern Indian Ocean. From 12 September to 28 October 2024, a team of 25 scientists, led by PD Dr Jörg Geldmacher from the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, will investigate the seabed south of Madagascar. Expedition SO307 will focus on geological and biological investigations to improve the understanding of the geology and biology of the seabed and…

Columbia Engineers develop new powerful battery “fuel” — an electrolyte that not only lasts longer but is also cheaper to produce. Renewable energy sources like wind and solar are critical to sustaining our planet, but they come with a big challenge: they don’t always generate power when it’s needed. To make the most of them, we need efficient and affordable ways to store the energy they produce, so we have power even when the wind isn’t blowing or the sun…