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- Researchers have developed a novel class of nanotube membranes that enable ultrafast ion transport. The findings open new pathways for high-efficiency clean energy generation, lithium recovery and molecular separation.
- On the edge of the Mongolian steppe, overlooking where two rivers meet, lies an ancient cemetery. Buried within are two families, traced through ancient DNA across six generations, surrounded by dozens of "strangers." The obvious assumption is that this was a family cemetery. But a recent study used machine learning and a technique borrowed from evolutionary biology to reveal that what really mattered was wealth, status and political power, not blood.
- Aptamers are short DNA or RNA strands that can recognize and bind to a specific target molecule with high precision. Similar to antibodies, they can be used to detect these molecules or modulate their activity. Unlike antibodies, they are much more stable, can be produced synthetically and can be chemically modified to achieve the desired properties. As a result, they can offer capabilities that cannot be achieved with antibodies.
- Scientists predict that the next three to five decades provide a critical window to anticipate and plan for Antarctic ice loss and its contribution to sea level rise. Research published in Nature, led by Monash University researcher Dr. Felicity McCormack from Securing Antarctica's Environmental Future (SAEF), looks at the predictability of Antarctic ice loss and what this means for sea level rise projections.
- Proteins are the molecular workhorses of the human body. They perform a vast range of essential functions, from building tissues and transporting molecules to regulating cellular communication and defending against infection. Many medicines, including antibody therapies for cancer and insulin therapy for diabetes, among many others, work by interacting with specific proteins or by replacing proteins that are missing or malfunctioning. Because proteins carry out so many critical biological tasks, the ability to predict and engineer how they interact with one another could open new possibilities for treating disease.
- An international research team led by a Korean scientist has succeeded in designing large-scale protein structures that faithfully replicate the self-assembly principles found in naturally occurring viruses, using artificial intelligence (AI).
- Researchers reported this week a deadly outbreak of plague in Siberia 5,500 years ago, revealing that Yersinia pestis evolved lethal genetic traits far earlier than suspected. A drug developed for heart tissue repair may also help kidney tissue repair and regeneration. And neighborhood socialization opportunities could shape children's brain development.
- Nanorobots have shown great promise in precision medicine over the past few decades. Yet one key challenge remains: how to track and guide these tiny devices in real time as they move through complex physiological environments. Existing imaging approaches often require long exposure times to detect ionizing radiation or suffer from blurred images because of strong light scattering in living tissues.
- Like humans, wildlife is increasingly vulnerable as climate change fuels longer and more intense heat waves, disrupting feeding and breeding and, in extreme cases, proving fatal.
- Need some good news on a Friday after a long week? The Earth may not be engulfed by the expanding fireball of the dying sun, which has long been assumed to be our home planet's ultimate fate, according to scientists.
- A new study from Caltech demonstrates that soil bacteria can adapt under stress, particularly when a key nutrient, phosphorus, is running low in their environment. The work is important for understanding the complex relationships between microorganisms and the roots of plants, which has implications for soil health and food sustainability as the climate changes.
- New antibiotic candidates for drug-resistant bacteria may reside inside prions, misfolded proteins in the brain best known for rare and fatal degenerative brain diseases. Prion and prion-like proteins may hide short peptides, called "prionins," that can kill bacteria, suggesting proteins best known for their role in neurodegeneration may contain molecular features linked to immune defense, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
- An international research team from Tohoku University, Tokyo University of Science, Vanderbilt University and the University of Adelaide has discovered a novel, exceptionally simple method to precisely synthesize extremely small iridium nanoclusters in ambient air. Such a feat was previously considered highly challenging. In addition, the nanoclusters outperform conventional, commercially available iridium catalysts by 1.5 times in mass activity, while maintaining sustained operational stability without degradation for more than 20 hours.
- A stunningly concentrated and hefty galaxy cluster, from a time in the universe's history when such massive structures aren't expected to have fully formed yet, is challenging cosmic evolution theories. Across a series of three recent papers, a team led by researchers from IPAC—a science and data center for astrophysics and planetary science at Caltech—have revealed that the cluster is the most distant example of strong gravitational lensing with a galaxy cluster.
- In a paper published in Science Advances, researchers at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) in collaboration with the University of Minnesota and Kyung Hee University have found a new way to control quantum light sources, which is one of the key elements needed before quantum technologies can be used reliably in real-world systems.
- When H5N1 bird flu first began infecting U.S. cattle in early 2024, diagnosis was elusive because, in cows, the disease looked completely different. Instead of affecting the lungs, as H5N1 does in other mammalian species, it caused severe infection in the cows' udders, largely sparing the lungs.
- Companies working at the frontier of aerospace, energy and computing are constantly looking for new materials to improve performance. But in order to understand how those materials will actually behave once they're inside rockets or on computer chips, companies first have to make the material and then test it. That's because even the most powerful simulation techniques struggle to model the complex chemical arrangements in most of today's solid materials. The problem adds cost and time to materials innovation.
- Fungi are key constituents of the soil microbial community, playing a major role in moving carbon and energy through the soil food web. A recent analysis carried out by Professor Matthias C. Rillig from Freie Universität Berlin highlights the importance of soil fungal communities for ecosystem stability, agricultural productivity and carbon storage.
- Superfluids are intriguing states of matter in which particles behave like a giant collective wave, allowing them to flow without any friction. When this fluid flows past a fixed obstacle at a velocity below a specific threshold, it moves around it without slowing down or exerting any drag. Above this critical velocity, however, the superfluid state starts to break down, and the energy from the flow dissipates in the form of ripples and vortices in the fluid.
- In biology, cytokinins were long considered regulators exclusive to the plant kingdom, where they control, among other things, growth and responses to stress. Until now, little research has been conducted into whether these substances might also play a significant role in the human body.
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