Can a salamander or starfish hold secrets that could one day help cure human diseases? University of Florida McKnight Brain Institute researchers aim to find out.
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Researchers in Japan have developed a pair of molecular-scale scissors that open and close in response to light. The tiny scissors are the first example of a molecular machine capable of mechanically manipulating molecules by using light, the scientists say.
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Electrical noise, like the crackle heard on AM radio when lightning strikes nearby, is a nuisance that wreaks havoc on electronic devices. But within cells, a similar kind of biochemical "noise" is beneficial, helping cells transform from one state to another, according to a new study led by a UT Southwestern Medical Center researcher.
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Imagine the power of knowing the three-dimensional structures of all proteins. The 3D-structure can provide information about critical protein-protein interactions both from a global perspective as well as all the way down to the level of minuscule molecular and biochemical detail. In much the same way, structural information can reveal a lot about the protein's evolutionary relationships and functions.
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Perceived attractiveness is the result of compatibility of biological sex and gendered cues--masculinity and femininity as specified within the society-according to a study by researchers at New York University and Texas A & M University. The findings appear in the most recent issue of the journal, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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People are known to differ markedly in their response to sleep deprivation, but the biological underpinnings of these differences have remained difficult to identify. Researchers have now found that a genetic difference in a so-called clock gene, PERIOD3, makes some people particularly sensitive to the effects of sleep deprivation.
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Danish scientists challenge the accepted scientific views of how nerves function and of how anesthetics work. Their research suggests that action of nerves is based on sound pulses and that anesthetics inhibit their transmission.
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As thin as it gets: the carbon membranes recently created by Max Planck scientists are only one atom thick. For electrons, such membranes are almost completely transparent - using an electron microscope, scientists may thus be able to examine absorbed individual molecules on the membranes, and image the atomic structure of complex biological molecules. Such ultra-thin membranes may also be used to filter out gases.
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Flavonoids, a group of compounds found in fruits and vegetables that had been thought to be nutritionally important for their antioxidant activity, actually have little or no value in that role, according to an analysis by scientists in the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University.
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The European Molecular Biology Laboratory [EMBL] has developed a new computational tool that makes images obtained with cutting-edge microscopes even sharper. The technological advance and its applications are published in this week's online issue of the journal Nature Methods.
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In an effort to detect biological threats quickly and accurately, a number of detection technologies have been developed.
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The future of cancer detection and treatment may be in gold nanoparticles - tiny pieces of gold so small they cannot be seen by the naked eye. The potential of gold nanoparticles has been hindered by the difficulty of making them in a stable, nontoxic form that can be injected into a patient.
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