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Experimental “Living Medicine” Created To Treat Drug-Resistant Infections

Lead image: Scanning electron microscope image of Mycoplasma pneumoniae cells, small bacteria that are naturally adapted to the human lung. Credit: María Lluch/CRG Experimental treatment dissolves antibiotic-resistant biofilms in mice. Researchers at the Center for Genomic Regulation (CRG) and Pulmobiotics S.L have created the first ‘living medicine’ to treat antibiotic-resistant bacteria growing on the surfaces of medical implants. The researchers created the treatment by removing a common bacteria’s ability to cause disease and repurposing it to attack harmful microbes instead. The experimental treatment was tested on infected catheters in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo, successfully treating infections across all three testing methods. According to the…

Supercomputers Reveal the Secrets of How X Chromosomes Fold and Deactivate

Lead Image: RNA particles swarm an X chromosome from a mouse in a new visualization of X chromosome inactivation. Credit: Los Alamos National Laboratory Combining lab data with supercomputing power reveals role of RNA and chromosome structure in regulating gene expression. Using supercomputer-driven dynamic modeling based on experimental data, researchers can now probe the process that turns off one X chromosome in female mammal embryos. This new capability is helping biologists understand the role of RNA and the chromosome’s structure in the X inactivation process, leading to a deeper understanding of gene expression and opening new pathways to drug treatments…

Experiments Show Quantum Computers Can Be Better Than the Sum of Their Parts

Lead Image: A chip containing an ion trap that researchers use to capture and control atomic ion qubits (quantum bits). Credit: Kai Hudek/ JQI Quantum computer experiments at UMD show that combining quantum computer pieces doesn’t have to mean combining their error rates. Pobody’s nerfect—not even the indifferent, calculating bits that are the foundation of computers. But JQI Fellow Christopher Monroe’s group, together with colleagues from Duke University, have made progress toward ensuring we can trust the results of quantum computers even when they are built from pieces that sometimes fail. They have shown in an experiment, for the first…

NASA’s Psyche Spacecraft To Explore Unique Asteroid for Clues to Early Solar System

Lead image: NASA’s Psyche mission to a distant metal asteroid will carry a revolutionary Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) package. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU Set to launch next year, NASA’s Psyche mission marks the first time the agency has set out to explore an asteroid richer in metal than rock or ice. More than 150 years have passed since novelist Jules Verne wrote “Journey to the Center of the Earth,” but reality has yet to catch up with that science fiction adventure. While humans can’t bore a path to our planet’s metallic core, NASA has its sights set on visiting a giant…

Hidden Mangrove Forest Deep in the Heart of the Yucatan Peninsula Reveals Ancient Sea Levels

Lead image: The aquatic life of the San Pedro Mártir River in Tabasco, Mexico, finds refuge in the submerged roots of the red mangrove forests. Credit: Octavio Aburto Researchers investigate an ancient coastal ecosystem found more than 120 miles from the nearest ocean, revealing sea level impacts from the last interglacial period. Deep in the heart of the Yucatan Peninsula, an ancient mangrove ecosystem flourishes more than 200 kilometers (124 miles) from the nearest ocean. This is unusual because mangroves—salt-tolerant trees, shrubs, and palms—are typically found along tropical and subtropical coastlines. A new study led by researchers across the University…