Molecular simulation AI tool reveals unresolved structure of transporter protein (07/02/2024)
In a groundbreaking study,
researchers have unveiled a previously unknown conformational state of a
crucial transporter protein, OxlT, which plays a vital role in preventing
kidney stone formation. This discovery, achieved through advanced computational
methods, offers new insights into protein function and potential therapeutic
targets.
Synthetic microbes gang up to safely smash weeds and fuel wheat growth (05/02/2024)
Herbicides were touted as ‘miracle’ chemicals when they
changed farming practices forever in the late 1940s, but researchers are now
desperate to find a more sustainable, soil-friendly and non-toxic way of
wrangling weeds while promoting crop growth. Now, researchers out of China
believes they've made a major breakthrough that could give wheat crops an
eco-friendly future.
Turning glass into a 'transparent' light-energy harvester (01/02/2024)
What
happens when you expose tellurite glass to femtosecond laser light? That's the
question that Gözden Torun at the Galatea Lab at Ecole Polytechnique Federale
de Lausanne, in collaboration with Tokyo Tech scientists, aimed to answer in
her thesis work when she made the discovery that may one day turn windows into
single material light-harvesting and sensing devices. The results are
published in Physical Review Applied.
Dipole-dipole interactions: Observing a new clock systematic shift (01/02/2024)
In a
new study published in Science today, JILA and NIST (National
Institute of Standards and Technology) Fellow Jun Ye and his research team have
taken a significant step in understanding the intricate and collective
light-atom interactions within atomic clocks, the most precise clocks in the
universe.
Potential use of topological magnets for magneto-thermoelectric energy conversion (01/02/2024)
In
the pursuit of efficient energy utilization, scientists are looking into
thermoelectric materials that can efficiently turn heat into electricity. One
specific type, called topological magnets, is getting a lot of attention
because they exhibit the anomalous Nernst effect. In the anomalous Nernst
effect, a voltage is generated perpendicular to both the temperature gradient
and an applied magnetic field in a ferromagnetic material.
Revolutionizing plastics: Upcycling agricultural waste boosts performance and sustainability (29/01/2024)
Researchers
from Thailand have pioneered the conversion of waste HDPE milk bottles into
high-stiffness composites, using PALF reinforcement for a 162% increase in
flexural strength and 204% in modulus. This eco-friendly upcycling boosts
mechanical properties while sequestering carbon, presenting a promising path
for sustainable materials.
Magnesium still has the potential to become an efficient hydrogen store, says study (27/01/2024)
It
is easy to be optimistic about hydrogen as an ideal fuel. It is much more
difficult to come up with a solution to an absolutely fundamental problem: How
to store this fuel efficiently? A Swiss-Polish team of experimental and
theoretical physicists has found the answer to the question of why previous
attempts to use the promising magnesium hydride for this purpose have proved
unsatisfactory, and why they may succeed in the future.
Water self-purification achieved via electron donation: Novel catalyst enables sustainable wastewater treatment (27/01/2024)
Emerging
contaminants (ECs) in natural water bodies, including endocrine disruptors,
pharmaceuticals, and synthetic dyes, pose a grave threat to public water
safety. Current wastewater treatment technologies, while somewhat effective,
fall short of efficiently removing these contaminants due to their hydrophobic
nature and low-level concentrations.
New simulation tool advances molecular modeling of biomolecular condensates (26/01/2024)
A
University of Massachusetts Amherst team has made a major advance toward
modeling and understanding how intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) undergo
spontaneous phase separation, an important mechanism of subcellular
organization that underlies numerous biological functions and human diseases.
Researchers find new multiphoton effect within quantum interference of light (23/01/2024)
An international team of
researchers from Leibniz University Hannover (Germany) and the University of
Strathclyde in Glasgow (United Kingdom) has disproved a previously held
assumption about the impact of multiphoton components in interference effects
of thermal fields (e.g., sunlight) and parametric single photons (generated in
non-linear crystals). The journal Physical Review Letters has
published the team's research.
