In the 1980s, scientists captured the precise mechanics of a protein machine. It looked strange, to researchers its tall thin structure with stubby legs invoked the enchanted broomstick that stole the show in "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" segment of Disney's 1940 Fantasia film.
String theory is a hypothetical framework where particle physics is replaced by one-dimensional objects called strings. It was originally proposed as a way to explain the strong force, then advocates re-purposed it for quantum gravity, and now it is being reconfigured again, with "commutation rules" of quantum mechanics.The heart of what became string theory began in the early 20th century and then got jumbled in with a lot of philosophical ideas - 'what if there are dimensions we can't see?' A fifth dimension was a nice discussion, but without being detected it was just that. As the century moved on, Kaluza-Klein theory, S-matrix theory, everyone kept coming up with new stuff and it all eventually became what we now know as String Theory.
A recent study has found that some Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bugs in United Kingdom hospitals can be traced back to a type of bacteria found in farm animals. A strain of drug-resistant bacteria carried by some livestock –Staphylococcus aureus CC398 – has also been found in patients.
People and animals generally harbor distinct variants of CC398, which the team say evolved from the same original bacteria. However, the CC398 strain found in livestock can be transmitted to humans, and the study shows that this has happened on many occasions. It provides new evidence that the livestock-associated CC398 strain could spread in hospitals, including those with newborn babies.
Academic science has been in a bit of a cultural schism; groups like the National Science Foundation and universities have spent billions of dollars promoting the idea that academic science is the only real science - discovery - which has led to a glut of PhDs who want to stay at universities.But when it comes to diversity and fairness, the corporate world is way ahead.
A professor with a company and the idea of commercial success with something they developed is very common, in everything from biotechnology to software. But the 'Valley of Death' between the lab and a company is daunting.
In Physics World, James Dacey
notes that the challenges facing all start-up companies as they move from prototype to product are somewhat harder for physicists because of two factors: physics-based inventions are usually far less market-ready than academics think and the corporate world is more complicated.
Natural pollen makes honey bees significantly more resistant to pesticides than an artificial diet and pesticide exposure causes changes in gene expression related to diet and nutrition, according to a new study.
Improve your eating habits and will improve your health, common medical wisdom goes.
A new article in the Journal of Leukocyte Biology finds that we might as well keep eating poorly. They contend that the effects of poor eating habits persist after dietary habits are improved. In their mouse study, even after successful treatment of atherosclerosis (including lowering of blood cholesterol and a change in dietary habits) the effects of an unhealthy lifestyle still affected the way the immune system functions.
A new test may help eliminate onchocerciasis, commonly known as river blindness, which is a leading cause of preventable blindness in Africa. The SD BIOLINE Onchocerciasis IgG4 antibody-based test
is manufactured and distributed by Standard Diagnostics, Inc. and designed for use in disease surveillance.
Modern biology has a problem - how to find meaning in the rising oceans of genomic data, such as the reams of cancer mutations that genome-wide studies are publishing every week. The challenge is finding efficient ways to parse the signals from the noise.
There are efforts to fuse statistical mechanics and a learning algorithm into a mathematical toolkit that can turn cancer-mutation data into multidimensional models that show how specific mutations alter the social networks of proteins in cells. From this, biologists can deduce which mutations among the myriad mutations present in cancer cells might actually play a role in driving disease.
Statistical mechanics describes large phenomena by predicting the macroscopic properties of microscopic components.
Antibodies that recognize and home in on molecular targets are among the most useful tools in biology and medicine - now those kinds of techniques are getting smaller and easier to produce in the form of nanobodies.
Improved behavior and learning in the classroom by primary school students can be achieved in just for minutes according to new research by Brendon Gurd.
Since the education industry needs to buy something, they can put a "FUNterval" in the budget - an outline or a book or a DVD explaining how to do high-intensity interval exercise for Grade 2 and Grade 4 students. A recent pilot study found it reduced behaviors like fidgeting or inattentiveness in the classroom.
A study that collected sea lion fecal samples and mussels from the ocean near the mouths of rivers as well as from the shore near sea lion haul-out sites along the central coast of California found that the pathogen Giardia duodenalis is present and the authors blame freshwater run-off sites.
One of the G. duodenalis strains found is known to infect humans; the two others occur mostly in dogs and other canids. The scholars used polymerase chain reaction (PCR) followed by DNA sequence analysis to investigate whether the pathogens were present. PCR is a method for "amplifying DNA," by making large numbers of copies of it.
An active region on the sun labeled AR 12192 rotated into view on Oct. 18th. It was already an area of intense and complex magnetic fields and soon grew into the largest such region in 24 years.
It fired off 10 sizable solar flares as it traversed across the face of the sun and became so large it could be seen without a telescope (don't ever look without with eclipse glasses) as many did during a partial eclipse on Oct. 23rd.
