The origin of many diseases begins at the cellular level and involves multiple molecular interactions. However, previous methods have struggled to accurately observe changes in individual cells. Analyzing average values across thousands of cells made it challenging to detect the early signals of disease. [...]
Many proteins have a complex architecture that enables biological functions. Molecules can bind to specific sites on a protein and alter its function. A team at HZB has now investigated the Nsp1 protein, which plays a role in infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. They analyzed protein crystals, previously mixed with molecules from a fragment library, and discovered a total of 21 candidates as starting points for drug development. At the same time, they also decoded the 5000th structure at BESSY II. The study is published in the journal Acta Crystallographica Section D Structural Biology. [...]
Finding Earth-like planets orbiting sun-like stars and identifying signs of life such as oxygen or water is a major goal in astronomy and a key interest for the public. Addressing this challenge speaks directly to one of humanity's most fundamental questions: Are we alone in the universe? However, these planets are about 10 billion times dimmer than their stars in visible light, making direct detection extremely challenging. [...]
A research team affiliated with UNIST has engineered a microbial strain capable of rapidly growing in high concentrations of methanol, marking a significant step forward in biorefinery technology. This breakthrough provides a foundational platform for sustainable biomanufacturing using microbial processes. [...]
Innate immune sensors—known as pattern recognition receptors (PRRs)—detect specific molecular components of bacterial or viral intruders. The PRRs forward the signals which results in the production of interferons, which in turn guide the immune cells. However, until now the precise mechanism of how these signals are forwarded has remained enigmatic. [...]
A new study published in Nature Astronomy indicates that the dense, star- and dark-matter–rich environments around supermassive black hole binaries pack on the order of a million solar masses into each cubic parsec. The team used gravitational-wave data from pulsar timing arrays to probe galactic centers that are otherwise impossible to observe directly. [...]
EPFL researchers have developed a light-based method that can produce proteins that switch states, respond to signals, and even compute, using light and the cell cycle. [...]
What if there were a way to create accurate replicas of ancient and historical instruments that could be played and heard?In late 2024, senior MIT postdoc Benjamin Sabatini wrote MIT Professor Eran Egozy to ask just that, and about a collaborative research project between the Center for Materials Research in Archaeology and Ethnology (CMRAE) and the MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (SHASS) to CT scan, chemically and structurally characterize, and produce replicas of the ancient and historical musical instruments housed at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA). [...]
The tall black-and-white residents of Antarctica, who waddle around its icy landscape, are in peril thanks to the rapidly warming global climate. Emperor penguins go through an annual transformation called catastrophic molting, during which they replace all of their feathers over a short period. This process begins in December and is usually completed before the end of February. During this time, the penguins depend on stable ice to stay warm and dry because the protective coat that normally makes them waterproof and cold-proof is still growing in. [...]
The unofficial soundtrack of every basketball, squash or hard-court tennis match is the constant high-pitched squeak or shriek of the players' shoes. But can this squeak be designed out of them while retaining the grip? [...]
Mammals are not especially diverse. Roughly 6,800 mammal species are known to exist, compared with about 8,800 species of amphibian, 11,000 species of bird and 12,500 of reptile. Yet when most people picture biodiversity, they often think of charismatic mammals first: pandas, orangutans, elephants or tigers. [...]
Here's one less thing to worry about—or to look forward to: NASA has ruled out any chance that an asteroid called 2024 YR4 will hit the moon in 2032. Last year, the uncertainty surrounding the space rock's orbital path held out a slight chance of impact, but fresh observations from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope confirm that it'll be a miss. [...]
To avoid the worst effects of climate change, many billions of metric tons of industrially generated carbon dioxide will have to be captured and stored away by the end of this century. One place to store such an enormous amount of greenhouse gas is in Earth itself. If carbon dioxide were pumped into the cracks and crevices of certain underground rocks, the fluid would react with the rocks and solidify carbon into minerals. In this way, carbon dioxide could potentially be locked in the rocks in stable form for millions of years without escaping back into the atmosphere. [...]
Earth is not infinite. Pollution beyond certain levels threatens the climate and ecosystems. To prevent this, scientists have proposed planetary boundaries, defining the safe operating limits of the Earth system. A KAIST research team recalculated climate change and nitrogen pollution using the same standard and found that current carbon emissions already exceed the planet's sustainable limit by more than double. [...]
Global warming has accelerated since 2015, according to a new study by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). After accounting for known natural influences on global temperature, the research team detected a statistically significant acceleration of the warming trend for the first time. [...]
Rydberg atoms are atoms with one or more outer electrons excited to very high energy levels, which interact very strongly with each other. These atoms are widely used to run quantum simulations and develop quantum technologies, as they can give rise to exotic and rare phases of matter. [...]
If you follow media coverage of koalas, you could be forgiven for feeling confused. Recent stories describe a "koala paradox": endangered in the north of Australia, abundant in the south; genetically diverse in some regions, genetically depleted in others. [...]
The world's first lab-based tick feeding system for bush ticks, developed by researchers at the University of Melbourne, has transformed the study of ticks and how they transmit disease. The novel, host-free technology reduces the need for animal experiments in tick studies, facilitating more ethical, reproducible research. [...]
Thousands of birds, including beloved purple martins, died in "The Great Texas Freeze" of 2021. A study published in Nature Ecology & Evolution led by biologists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, reveals not only the extent of the die-off—up to 27% of the birds' breeding population in Texas and Louisiana—but that recovery may take decades, and that we can expect weather-driven mass mortality events, increasingly common in the era of global climate change, may increasingly wreak havoc on animal populations. [...]
It infects nearly one-third of the global population, yet its microscopic size makes the parasite difficult for scientists to study. That parasite is Toxoplasma gondii, a widespread organism that infects humans and animals. To better understand how it functions, infectious disease researchers at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine adapted a fluorescent imaging system typically used to study human cells to observe the parasite's growth in real time—paving the way for future treatments. [...]
Solar water splitting is one of the most direct ways to produce green hydrogen using sunlight. However, most photocatalysts and photoelectrodes absorb only a limited portion of solar radiation, mainly ultraviolet and part of the visible spectrum. A large share of solar energy, particularly infrared photons, remains unused. This spectral mismatch significantly limits the efficiency of hydrogen production from sunlight. [...]
Wild animal species respond very differently to human development, and as a result, they use ecological corridors in agricultural and urban areas in distinct ways. This emerges from research in Botswana by ecologist Marlee Tucker of Radboud University published in Integrative Conservation. [...]
Soybean cyst nematode (SCN) is among the most damaging pests affecting soybean crops around the world, with current management strategies relying primarily on a very narrow set of resistant soybean varieties, along with crop rotation and chemical nematicides. Now, researchers at the North Central Agricultural Research Laboratory, part of the USDA Agricultural Research Service, in Brookings, South Dakota, report new evidence that the key to stronger protection may lie not just in plant genetics or chemicals but in the soil microorganisms surrounding the roots. [...]
Certain species of wasps and frogs share a pain and inflammation peptide similar to one found in vertebrates to help defend against predators—a discovery that contributes to a shifting view of how evolution works, say researchers. Their paper is published in the journal Science. [...]
After decades of intense research, surprises in the realm of semiconductors—materials used in microchips to control electrical currents—are few and far between. But with a pair of published papers, materials engineers at Stanford University debut a promising approach to using a well-studied semiconductor to improve infrared light-emitting diodes and sensors. They say the approach could lead to smaller, sleeker, and less expensive infrared technologies for environmental, medical, and industrial uses. [...]
Between 2023 and 2025, more than 30 million hectares burned in Canada due to wildfires. The threat from increasingly frequent and intense wildfires goes beyond fire and smoke—the heat can also transform naturally occurring metals in soil into more toxic forms that could pose a threat to human health. [...]
A new report from the University of East Anglia (UEA) warns that the potential reputational damage of charities using AI-generated images in their campaigns is more complex than many organizations realize. It comes as humanitarian budgets tighten and production pressures increase, with many charities and NGOs turning to AI tempted by the offers of speed, cost efficiency and creative flexibility. [...]
Can the bend of a banana give us insight into cancer? What does the shape of a rice grain have to do with infertility? The proteins that give plants their shape and structure are also involved in human disease. A team led by researchers at the University of California, Davis, has mapped out the structure of a key player, augmin, in exhaustive detail. Their work is published in the journal Nature Communications. [...]
A team of researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) has introduced a novel framework for monitoring structural vibrations using diffractive optical processors. This new technology uses artificial intelligence to co-optimize a passive diffractive layer and a shallow neural network, allowing the system to encode time-varying mechanical vibrations into distinct spatiotemporal optical patterns. [...]
For riverside communities along the Amazon, fish is not a menu choice—it is a lifeline. Millions of people in the Brazilian Amazon depend on fish as their primary source of protein, consuming it daily in quantities far above the national average. When we began fieldwork across five municipalities in western Pará, we knew this reality well. What the data then showed us was that this dietary dependence comes with a health cost that standard food safety frameworks are not designed to capture. [...]