Macromolecule

St. Patrick's Day has passed. If your liver is still functional (meaning you didn't down too many Salty Dogs) and you're curious why the grapefruit juice in one might finish the job, here's a cool biochemistry lesson.

Sarah Sterling, the director of the Cryo-EM core facility at MIT.nano, often compares her job to running a small business, with each day bringing a unique set of jobs ranging from administration to advising.

Adenosine diphosphate (ADP) or adenosine triphosphate (ATP)-containing important biological molecules can modify macromolecules like proteins and nucleic acids to alter their function in the cell. Synthesizing ADP- and ATP-containing molecules using traditional methods is challenging, however.

Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have created the first-ever atomic movies showing how atoms rearrange locally within a quantum material as it transitions from an insulator to a metal. With the help of these movies, the researchers discovered a new material phase that settles a yearslong scientific debate and could facilitate the design of new transitioning…

Small-angle scattering (SAS) is a powerful technique for studying nanoscale samples. So far, however, its use in research has been held back by its inability to operate without some prior knowledge of a sample's chemical composition. Through new research published in The European Physical Journal E, Eugen Anitas at the Bogoliubov Laboratory of Theoretical Physics in Dubna, Russia, presents a more advanced approach,…

In a recent paper, biologists outlined a three-part hypothesis for how all life as we know it began.

Each year, about 1 million individuals worldwide become infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. To replicate and spread the infection, the virus must smuggle its genetic material into the cell nucleus and integrate it into a chromosome.

After four decades of microgravity research, NASA and the ISS National Lab have identified numerous applications that are within reach for NASA's In Space

Over the past decade, CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing has revolutionized science. It has been lauded as a breakthrough in biogenetics and medicine, with the potential to treat or eliminate many chronic or genetic diseases.

Professor Nicolas Doucet and his team at Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS) made a major breakthrough earlier this year in the field of evolutionary conservation of molecular dynamics in enzymes. Their work, published in the journal Structure, points to potential applications in health, including the development of new drugs to treat serious diseases such as cancer or to counter antibiotic…

There is a need for new drugs. For example, many of the antibiotics that we have been using for a long time are becoming less effective. Chemists and pharmaceutical scientists are frantically searching for new active substances, especially those that can penetrate cell membranes, as these are the only ones that patients can take orally in the form of a tablet or syrup.

The phenomenon of chemically synthesized life in extreme deep-sea environment is an international research hotspot in deep-sea science and life science. However, due to the extremely low concentration of organic macromolecules such as extracellular metabolites synthesized by deep-sea chemicals and the complex surrounding environment, there is no in-situ detection technology so far.

Virus-enveloping macromolecular shells or tilings can prevent viruses from entering cells. Here, we describe the design and assembly of a cone-shaped …

A new type of polysulfate compound that can form thin, flexible films has properties that could make it a material of choice for many high-performance electrical components, according to a study from chemists and materials scientists at Scripps Research and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL).

Polymers are lightweight, durable, and easily processed into fabricated parts, features that promoted polymers to become the most relevant class of engineering materials by volume. However, recycling polymers is a challenge that materials scientists have been researching for decades.

They also warn that future Martian expeditions run the risk of tainting the red planet -- permanently.

If you have always suspected you might just be a mosquito magnet, scientists now have evidence for you: Mosquitoes indeed are attracted to certain humans more than others, according to a new study.

Article URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aestivation Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33231840 Points: 1 # Comments: 0

A new drug capsule developed at MIT can help large proteins such as insulin and small-molecule drugs be absorbed in the digestive tract. The capsule has a robotic cap that spins and tunnels through the mucus barrier when it reaches the small intestine, allowing drugs carried by the capsule to pass into cells lining the intestine.

Computer simulations visualize how an essential stem cell protein opens wrapped DNA